Biographies

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Dana Hotko – Association President

Dana, a resident of Indiana and a radiologist specialist by profession has been shooting off a horse informally since 1994. His formal training in mounted archery started in 2000 after observing the work of Kassai Lajos and later training with him at the International Horse Archery Festival, Ft Dodge, Iowa. By 2003 he had risen to assistant trainer under Lukas Novotny at the Fort Dodge Festivals. Dana does countless mounted archery demonstrations and training events throughout the country and internationally. For years he has bred the Blue Star bloodline of Arab horses, an ancient desert bloodline where the studbook is closed to all other Arab horses to protect the purity of the Blue Star line.

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Lukas Novotny – Former Association President

Mr. Novotny was born in the Czech Republic and was educated and trained there as a glass sculptor. He came to the States in his early twenties and worked at various artistic and commercial glass enterprises. Lukas started making genuine horn bows and other traditional bows in the 90’s, and then trained under the master Hungarian, Kassai Lajos in Hungary, and for three years at the International Horse Archery Festival in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He became the head trainer at that Festival and is now is in demand for clinics and demonstrations throughout the Americas as well as internationally. He is also known world-wide for his superb archery products through his Saluki Bow company.

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Katie Stearns – Association Vice President

Katie Stearns is soon to graduate from the University of Oregon with her degree in Anthropology and a focus of Archaeology. She first began riding when she was 2 years old, and was given her first horse when she was 11 (a rescue Arabian named Tasha). Her horseback archery career began when Katie found Holm Neumann and they attended a clinic taught by Lukas Novotny, with the help of Barb Leeson, in April of 05. Now Katie lives in Bend, Oregon, apprenticing with Clint Surplus for horse training and colt starting. She also teaches horseback riding, and horseback archery at the Cascades Mounted Archery Center, at the Neumann Ranch. Every year Katie gives many demonstrations at various horse events as well as SCA events around the USA, and competes internationally whenever possible. For more information on Katie Stearns, please visit her website here.

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Helen Donnell – Association Secretary

Helen is a Certified Public Accountant and Chief Financial Officer of a small business consulting firm. Her passion, though, is and always has been horses. In addition to mounted archery, Helen is currently training and competing in eventing, dressage, and endurance/competitive trail riding. She has also shown hunters, jumpers, western performance, and Arabian Native Costume, managed a stable of motion-picture trick horses, rodeoed, and ridden in parades, demonstrations, and historic reenactment events. Now in her second year as Secretary of MA3, she has led efforts to build the association’s membership and infrastructure, as well as starting the process required to gain MA3 tax-exempt status in the United States.

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Hilary Hargreaves – Association Treasurer

A native of Florida, Hilary grew up in a dressage oriented home and was very involved in the local dressage club, spending much time as a ‘horse show slave’. As a youth she showed both her own and other people’s horses at local Dressage and Open Pleasure shows. In 1980, at the age of 11, she became involved in the sport of carriage driving, first in Pleasure Carriage driving, then as a teenager working and traveling with a 4-in-Hand of Coaching Horses.

For several years she promoted all aspects of Carriage Driving giving driving demonstrations driving single, pair, tandem and unicorn hitches with her own ponies and manning educational booths at various equestrian events. She also participated in demonstrations with a local group of International Side Saddle Organization members. Over the last 20 years she has primarily focused on Combined Driving, competing at Live Oak CDE several years in a row. When her daughter showed an interest in driving Hilary transitioned to showing at the more abbreviated Arena Driving Trials. Along with her mother, Stephanie and her daughter, Eryn, she was featured in an article in The Driving Digest representing a rare 3 generations of Whips competing at the same events.

In 2005 she joined the SCA and as a result of her highly competitive nature became proficient in most the medieval mounted martial games including Jousting. Through the SCA, she and her daughter took up archery and in 2007 discovered the marriage of her two favorite pastimes: Archery and Horses. In April of 2009 Hilary and Eryn, who had just turned 11, were invited to participate in the 4 day Florida Horse Park MA3 demo. Hilary has been hooked on Mounted Archery ever since and has been active in promoting Mounted Archery in Florida including building small target archery range and a separate mounted archery course at her barn.

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Barb Leeson

Already involved in equestrian sports such as jousting Barb Leeson traveled to Ft Dodge in 2003 to participate in mounted archery training at the International Horse Archery Festival. It was a great experience that set her on the road to building her own mounted archery course and introducing as many people as possible to the sport. Since then she has organized clinics taught by Lukas Novotny in Ontario and Oregon as well as incorporating mounted archery competitions into the skill at arms and jousting tournaments she manages. Barb lives with her husband, James Merrilees, in Southwestern Ontario near the shores of Lake Erie.

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David Gray

David is a retired psychology professor in Pennsylvania. He and his wife Phyllis started the Krackow Company in 1996 in order to make the implements of traditional international archery more available. David was instrumental in bringing Kassai Lajos to the States to give major demonstrations and later training. After training for three years at the International Archery Festival David began giving introductory instruction and demonstrations. He has written “Bows of the World” and co-edited with Lukas Novotny “Mounted Archery in the Americas”. Each Tuesday night through the winter finds him and several students practicing the discipline in an inside arena.

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Scott Lesinski

From early childhood, Scott spent his summers living at a camp with his family and spending most of his day with the horses and with the bow. His first formal instruction with horse archery was at the 2003 International Horse Archery Festival, where he was trained by Lukas Novotny. Having trained in the martial art of Taekwondo since 1985, he has come to understand that the bow, or any weapon, is an extension of the body, and the way it is used tells much of the self. Horse archery is by all means, a martial art emphasizing balance and peace. Scott lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children and teaches martial arts at his school, Tae San Taekwondo Academy in CT.

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Holm Neumann

Holm is a semi-retired surgeon and anthropologist. He and his wife, Susan, are breeders of Brazilian Marchador horses in Oregon. He had been a Cowboy Action shooting competitor, but became interested in mounted archery in 2003 when he was introduced to the discipline at the International Horse Archery Festival in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. He has trained under Lukas Novotny, and Bjarke Rink at the International Riding School in Brazil. He has earned two gold medals at the International Mounted Archery Federation competition South Korea. Regular mounted archery clinics and demonstrations are conducted at their ranch and he is a major liaison with Brazil and Korea.

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