Myself

Tasha and I

Me at a Belegarth event.

My name is Katie Stearns (aka The Flying Dutchess, or Morwen), and I am a student at the University of Oregon, majoring in Anthropology. I have been very passionate about horses my whole life, and am now working to become a professional horse trainer. My first encounter with mounted archery was when I purchased a Kassai horse bow to use in my Belegarth fighting. Because of its size and light weight, the bow seemed ideal for running around and shooting at people. The bow came with a book titled, “Horseback Archery,” wrote by Kassai Lajos in Hungary. I became hooked, and immediately began to desensitize my horses to archery. I have now been practicing mounted archery for about five years, after attending my first clinic with Lukas Novotny (he also made my current horse bow, check out his Saluki Bows website) in April of 05. Lukas is an amazing bowyer, and mounted archery teacher, as well as a good friend. Since that first clinic and the formation of the Pacific Horde (Holm, Jet, and myself), I have become addicted, and now compete annually in Korea at the International Horseback Archery Competition, as well as give clinics and teach mounted archery. Aside from mounted archery, I train horses and teach riding lessons. Other than anything involving horses, I also love history, medieval warfare, art, sewing, drawing/painting, scuba diving, snowboarding, cooking (and eating), and especially traveling. I am a member of the Mounted Archery Association of the Americas, the World Horseback Archery Federation, Belegarth Medieval Combat Society (here for the Forum), as well as go to as many SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms.) events as I can afford. I love mounted archery, and all horseback martial arts. To schedule lessons, or for any information, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at katie@mountedarchery.net . Or you can send me a message on Facebook, just search for Katie Stearns.

My family is also very important to me. Without my mom and dad I would not be the person I am today. I am a very fortunate person to have the supporting family I have been blessed with. But that is not only my mom and dad; my step mom Lin has been a wonderful parent figure for me. My father has really made it possible for me to do the things I love, as well as prepared me for my future by supporting me through college. I also have many surrogate parents, two of them being Holm and Susan Neumann. They take care of me as if I was their daughter, and I consider them my parents.

Dad, me, and Lin (horses: Tanner, Jebe, and Silver)

Lauren, Mom, Me, Anthony

Because my horses are a huge part of my life, I am going to put them in here with my family.

• Tasha – 20 year old Arabian mare. I have had her since I was 11 years old, and she was my first horse. (see picture at top of page). Tasha and I are very bonded. She knows what I am thinking before I tell her, and visa versa. Even though she is getting older and more arthritic, she was recently clocked running 40 miles per hour by the Mythbusters (Discovery Channel) crew, while filming us for one of their myths in 08.

• Areté (pronounced Air-eh-tey)- Tasha’s baby by Oxum (Susan Neumann’s Mangalarga Marchador stallion). She is a 3 year old half Arabaian, half Mangalarga Marchador filly. Smartest little brat ever! (in my opinion). She has recently been started under saddle, and is super sensitive, and confident. I can hardly wait until she is fully developed, because I know she will be an amazingly talented horse.

• Jebe (pronounced Jeh-bey)- 11 year old Polish Arabian gelding. I got him from Lukas in the summer of 08. He is a very laid back goofy guy that just goes with the flow. Never in too much of a hurry, but not lazy. He is one of my favorite horses to ride, especially when I use him for mounted archery. Jebe also seems to have a natural talent for the SCA medieval horse games. Nothing seems to bother him, in the arena, or on the trails. He and I have become very close very quickly, and I love him to pieces!

• Traituba Zumbido – 9 year old Mangalarga Marchador stallion from Brazil. Zumbido or “Zoom,” was given to me by Susan Neumann at the end of the summer of 09, because she was tired of having to manage 3 stallions. He is a beautifully Picada gaited Marchador; meaning he has a four-beated lateral gait. However, his canter is so smooth, I am looking forward to starting him in mounted archery. He is very sensible for a stallion, and so far has been easy to handle. I am currently working on getting him tuned up and in shape so that we can take some better pictures of him. I will be posting more videos as his training progresses.