Learn to shoot, for what lies between the two marks is one of the gardens of Paradise.
Unlike the European knights who look down upon bows of any sort as common weapons unfit for their station, Arab warriors of all sorts revere archery as a noble pursuit. It is well known that the Prophet was an expert bowman and for many, the pursuit of skill with bows is a religious obligation. The great number of archers in the armies of Islam often provided them a decisive advantage in the early years of the Crusades.
Shoot and ride! Of the two, I would rather have you shoot than ride. Anything in which a man passes his time is vain except for shooting with his bow, training his horse, or dallying with his wife. These three things are right. He who abandons archery after having learned it is ungrateful to the one who taught him.
Arab generals employ their archers not only as infantry but also, to the great dismay of the Crusaders, as cavalry. Arab horse archers use a specially manufactured composite bow which is short enough to be easily wielded from the saddle. These archers receive intensive training from childhood which permits them to make fantastic shots in any direction from the back of a galloping horse.
In combat, any bow may be used by a rider on a motionless mount with a +2 penalty to the ease factor.
Only a horse bow, or similarly short bow, may be used by a rider on a moving mount. In this case, the normal ease factor is doubled unless the archer has the virtue of Horse Archer Training. In that case, the ease factor penalty is halved.
Horse Bow Expense: stan Rate: +4 AtkB: 0 WpnDam: +6 Str: 0 Load: 0 Range: 160