My name is Beverley Heffernan. I live in Sandy, Utah and I’m a member of Alpine Mounted Archery. I’ve been enjoying mounted archery for 7 years, having attended a clinic conducted by Stacey Youlios on February 20, 2016.
I was attracted to the sport because since moving to Utah in 1995 from Virginia, I haven’t had as much opportunity to participate in my favorite sport, foxhunting, which I’ve been doing since 1971, so I’m always looking for fun new things to try.
Prior to my first clinic I had also attended a mounted shooting clinic- also fun, but not as fun as bows and arrows! In my first year of this new sport, I thought if I ever made it to Horse Archer 1 it would be a miracle! That first year I thought I’d never ever hit the Raid double, even going slow! But practice works, and I did achieve HA 1, and had three of four necessary scores needed for HA 2 by summer of 2019. Sadly, I broke my femur that September, and that proved to be a six month warm-up period for Covid, which shut down everything for 2020, so those scores are long gone! I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to my pre-injury form as I am awfully close to being an adult, but the journey is still fun! I’ve been able to compete in Utah, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Colorado and Alaska, and this year I am looking
forward to competing at Gauchoux in France as well as Storm the Beach in California along with perennial favorites. There’s a lot to like about mounted archery! Mastering skills in partnership with your horse, the camaraderie at competitions where everyone is supportive and encouraging, and the eternal hope of laying down a good run! My standard goal is to outscore myself, though admittedly it’s also satisfying now and then to beat someone decades younger! I’ve been riding as long as I can remember and have a picture of me on a pony around age 2. My Dad made the mistake of telling me in 1965 he’d buy me a horse if I got straight A’s- Hah! So, I have owned at least one horse since then and presently have four. Luke and Bo (20 and 18) are quarter horses and have been my archery mounts since the beginning. Cleveland Bay mare Firefly is in the wings at age 8, and her filly Lily is now 10 months old and figures to be my main mount when I’m competing for the 80 and over world championship! In my youth I rode and showed western and pretty much competed in every discipline available. At age 10 my Mom gifted me with English riding lessons, stating that if I was going to be a horse crazed girl I should at least learn how to ride English! I rode jumpers when I lived in France for a year, and have done hunters, foxhunting, dressage and eventing beginning in college. In Utah I’ve also done the annual Pony Express re-ride and the annual bison roundup at Antelope Island, team sorting and penning, and lots and lots of trail riding including camping in the back country. The list of horse sports I’ve tried is probably too long- maybe it’s easier to say the only one I haven’t tried is polo! Well okay I haven’t raced as a jockey, but I have galloped race horses.