Page 6 - index

4
Foreword
The International Horseback Archery Alliance (IHAA) was launched in January 2014.
One of its primary aims was to produce a standardised set of rules, for two main
reasons: to reduce the variation between countries and the potential for confusion, and
to allow the IHAA Grading system and IHAA Postal matches to run worldwide. The
IHAA's rulebook was first published in May 2018. Since then some rule changes have
been implemented to keep pace with the growth of expertise in athletes, and other new
tracks lend variety and cultural relevance.
The IHAA's focus is on the multi-discipline event which we have termed Horseback
Archery Eventing (HBAE). This recognises the expertise of the archer and horse who
have the skills and adaptability to succeed in three varied events; the Tower, Raid and
Hunt tracks as all three contribute equally to the overall result. As in 3-day eventing, the
HBAE partnership must be versatile and exhibit a range of skills. Greater horsemanship
and archery expertise is required here than in mastering any single element. The
IHAA's HBAE rules have been designed specifically to work within the multi-
disciplinary event structure and to allow people to be competitive on any speed of
horse.
Of course the rules here may also be used for stand-alone events in local competitions
or for the IHAA's postal matches or grading. This rulebook is copyrighted in USA and
Europe, however the rulebook and the rules are freely available for all of the horseback
archery community to use.
The www.ihaa.eu scoring system is set up according to these rules and must be used
for "IHAA Record & Ranking" competitions and "IHAA A filiated" status events.
Reporting postal match results is done here and it can be used for your local
competitions too. For more information see the IHAA website (www.ihaa.info).
In 2022 the IHAA launched its Judge qualification pathway, and Hunt Track course
designer training will follow soon. Through a multi-lingual online learning programme
we o fer a fordable global access to our training for judges and other ground crew roles.
Assessments and requirements for ongoing learning ensure excellent standards of
judging which are standardised across all IHAA member nations. Judging levels
recognise the expertise and experience of judges and determine which level of
competition they may run.