Early horse archery, depicted on the Assyrian carvings, involves two riders, one controlling both horses while the second shoots.

The heavy horse archers first appear in the Assyrian army in the seventh century BCE after abandoning chariot warfare and form a link between light skirmishing cavalrymen and heavy cataphract cavalry.

The heavy horse archers usually have mail or lamellar armor and helmets, and sometimes even their horses are armored.

Heavy horse archers, instead of skirmishing and hit-and-run tactics, form in disciplined formations and units, sometimes intermixed with lancers, and shoot as volleys instead of shooting as individuals.

The usual tactic is to first shoot five or six volleys at the enemy to weaken him and to disorganize them, then charge.

Heavy horse archers often carry spears or lances for close combat.