Both horses and martial arts have been interests of mine since I was a child. I lived on a small cattle ranch on which my father also kept about 40 horses for his guide outfitting business. Moving cattle by horseback on the range remain some of my most fond memories. At about age 7, I bought my very first book – a small book of self defense techniques – which I studied more fervently than any school book!

As an adult, horses and martial arts have been the focus of much of my life as a guide outfitter and a teacher of Kyokushin karate. Today I operate with my wife a trail riding facility with access to 1000+ hectares of land on which the horses can roam.  We currently have 17 horses and mules, eight of them trained for equine archery.

I first learned about mounted archery around 2009 when I saw a small ad in a horse magazine for a horseback archery competition in Mt. Currie, British Columbia. I knew immediately that this was a way to combine my passions into a lifestyle, and in 2011 built a rudimentary track. I mostly practiced in isolation as a hobby, coming together with other equestrian archers once or twice a year for competitions, sometimes traveling to the USA or Korea.

In 2015 I became a founding member of the Canadian Federation of Mounted Archery, with a desire to help develop this sport in a unified and respectful way across Canada.

I am drawn to the Kassai system because it mirrors many of the same values I hold. The system embodies a focus on personal values and inner disciplines, while providing a framework for physical and mental development at any skill level or ability.