Semana Criolla, El Martes

Our second day at Semana Criolla wasn’t really much more enlightening than our first… but it was every bit as fun!

Even though I didn’t get to ask any of my gringo questions, we were able to see two new events, and I was able to confirm that I’m an idiot when I noticed right off today that none of the gaucho saddles, riding or bucking, have any riggings in them whatsoever; nor are they cinched down similar to most North American saddles: with D rings attached to the saddles’ trees or skirts, and with latigos attached to these D rings and to the cinch, holding the saddles in place.  Rather, the gaucho saddles are “strapless”.  They are placed directly on the horses’ backs with the big sheepskin pads placed over the saddles.  Then, a combined latigo/cinch apparatus is run over the top of everything and cinched down into place.  This setup makes it easy to see why the cinch ends up in such a center-fire position, but it doesn’t clarify why this is preferable, or why it’s used.

 

Okay, enough about saddles; I’m even putting myself to sleep now.  What I really want to do today is describe the two new events we got to see, and post some more of these fun pictures.

First, the Semana Criolla-style “barrel-racing” we watched (even though you’re probably thinking that I should be able to tell you the real names of these events by now, I promise that trying to read this little program and these various websites makes me feel as if I’m missing a decoder ring or something) is more similar to North American pole-bending than to barrel-racing, although it does use barrels instead of poles.  But unlike both of those events, there are two courses set up, side by side, and the two riders in each heat race head to head, with the winner advancing to the next round.  Each rider starts at the end of a row of five barrels – spread evenly, about 10 yards apart – and with a running start they each race straight to the far end, run around the first barrel and, heading back the way they came, zig-zag through the remaining four, then spin around barrel five and end in a dead sprint to a finish line that is past barrel number one.  Some of these races got wooly; some were phoned in; but everyone seemed to be having a great time – including me and Joy as we Comanche-called our favorites to the finish line (Joy’s, of course, was the lone girl in this morning’s event).

The other new event we got to see today, after watching a few more “saddle-broncs”, is the “bareback riding”.  Like the broncs, these bareback bucking horses are snubbed and blindfolded, but unlike the broncs, there is no saddle for my simple mind to get confused by.  There are only one short strap, wrapped around the base of the horses’ necks and used with a mane-hold, and two very long-shanked spurs.  Very Long Shanks.  I told Joy that it looked a little bit like cheating, but I really shouldn’t say anything because I doubt I could have stayed on one even with those five-inch-long wheels… and a seat belt.

So the barrel-racing was entertaining, and the bareback riding was exciting, but you’ve probably noticed that we still haven’t seen any great reining demonstrations, or a cow, one.  There might be more events in the next few days, but it doesn’t seem likely, and that’s just fine, because watching these gauchos ride has been a fun addition to our adventure.

Oh… there’s one more thing we found out today, and its discovery has led me to regret the sarcastic remarks I made about churro vendors yesterday, because the churros at Semana Criolla are amazing!  Seriously, don’t eat any.  They are nothing but dough and oil and sugary, fried goodness that will lead you to forget all your New Year’s resolutions… not to mention your name, where you’re from, and how to get home.  They are that good.