Horse Tales

The past week has been another hectic week, what with all of the festivals on going as well as bringing our two horses into their new home. The stables are very nice as you can see below.

After just three days both Moet and Chandon have adapted to their new location and routine extremely well. We have been riding them for several hours a day almost every day and they seem to enjoy trail riding very much. Both of these horses were previously involved in Charreada so they had lots of experience with riding in the ring, but not very much trail riding.

Here you can see Jo Ann is enjoying herself with Moet out in the compo.

We have also had a slight change in our animal family. Our ranch hand, Tomas, has a elderly friend who broke his leg this past summer and because of osteoporosis he is not able to walk any more and needed something to be able to ride to the market. So we gave him one of our burros that we had used to ride before (Pascale) and also one other as burros, like horses and dogs, are pack animals and we did not want to have Pascale leave a lone. So this week we also said goodbye to Pascale and Panchita, but it is great to know that they are going to a place that they can really make a difference and will be loved and well cared for.

We have one other horse story that we wanted to share. Last week as we were preparing to ride our horses from where we had been stabling them, we talked with our vet who also gives riding lessons. She told us that horses have great healing and development capabilities. She once was given the challenge to try to teach two young girls whose parent's had been serious drug users. These children had terrible learning and attention disabilities, and had recently been given to their grandparents to try to raise them. They required special tutors and schooling as they could not properly interact with other children and could not grasp the lessons at the public schools. After almost a year of riding lessons, these two girls are now competing in competitions for youth horse riding. But even better because of these sessions with the horses the girls have now advanced so that they are able to go to the public schools and have a normal childhood that they can enjoy. Now that is something amazing.

So as we pass 2006 and enter 2007, Feliz Año Nuevo y espero que usted tenga un Año Nuevo próspero!

Feliz Navidad at Rancho Viejo School

Last week we were invited by Agistina to attend the Christmas pageant at the Rancho Viejo school. This is an annual event were each of the various classes present a play, march or song that is based on Christmas and the nativity scene.

So we arrive at the appointed hour and start the usual process of waiting for everyone to arrive before it starts (remember patience). There are a large number of interesting piñatas, that will not be broken until the last day of school celebration before they break for the holiday season.

So about 40 minutes after we arrive, the pageant commences. First there is some dancing and singing by the second and third grade classes.

Then these beautiful angels take the stage and lead a session of dancing and singing.


The final part of the pageant commences which is a scene that starts with Satan leading a group of people down the road to ruin. There is a mixture of adults (the teachers) and the children. During this part of the pageant, I find it very interesting that the skit also addresses the relationship of alcohol and evil. During the part that Satan is leading the group, the adults are portrayed as drunkards and lazy, but then an angel appears and lead them to the Nativity scene where ultimately the three kings arrive with their gifts and praise.

If you want to see more of the images from the pageant please go to my flickr set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanmiguelphotos/sets/72157594430003983/

It was great fun even for someone who does not usually partake in religious festivals. I also want to say that I am sorry that I have continued to be diligent with my postings. I have been spending a lot of time with the new Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom betas as well as preparing the new stables for our horses which now look to be arriving on Tuesday.

So there will be more postings as I start to free up more time. But in the meantime Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo.

Reflections

Wow it is hard to believe that it has been just over six months since I moved to San Miguel de Allende.  During this time I have only left my adopted country once for a short project and I can't say that I have missed much of anything of the life I left behind.  In fact I have an upcoming project that will take me to Toronto and New York and I am so not looking forward to going.

During this six months, much has happened to Jo Ann and I, we have completed a significant remodel to the house we acquired, commenced the reforestation project, adopted four burros and a compo puppy, commenced a project to stop the erosion on our rancho, became significantly involved as volunteers in the Patronatos por Niños organization, learned a new language, made many new friends (both gringos and mexicanos), had my first major biking accident in over 25 years, acquired two horses and added stables to the rancho and finally almost have completed a major landscaping project on the land that surrounds the house. 

Although we did not spend lots of money on these projects (we don't have it to spend) we did learn a great lesson about life in Mexico in general, and construction work specifically in Mexico, and that is patience.  The work is excellent, but it does not always go at the pace and schedule that you would like.

With Jo Ann up visiting her parents this past week, it made me start to think about how I compare living in Mexico to the other places we have lived .  This includes both So. Cal, San Francisco, Mendocino, Chicago and Northern Minnesota as well as comparing it to London, Paris and Southwestern France where we spent significant time due to my work commitments.  I have to say overall, I have enjoyed my time in Mexico more than all the others, although each has some wonderful traits and all of these experiences have been so enjoyable.

So what are the five things that I enjoy the most here in Mexico:

1.  The people who live here, their attitude to enjoying life, their desire to help you when you are in need and the culture of Mexico in general

2.  The food it is excellent and oh so diverse

3.  The climate

4.  The ability to bike and ride our horses in a variety of terrains and locations just by riding from our rancho.  Also not having to follow a road that we need to share with cars

5.  The vast amount of activities that always seem to be happening in and around San Miguel.  There are so many nights that we collapse into bed and say that we have never been so active in our lives.

However there are always things that we leave behind that we miss when we move to a new location and it is not any different here, so the five things that I miss about living in the US.

1.  The availability and ease to purchase just about anything.  It is much more difficult to purchase certain items like electronics, computers, landscaping supplies, etc. that were vastly available north of the border.  I never understood how good the people of the US have it as it relates to access to a multitude of goods at very cheap prices.

2.  The access to technology and the internet.  Yes I have broadband but it is not as fast nor as stable as it was nob and since I am a techno-wienie this upsets me greatly.

3.  Access to college football and basketball.  We don't have a TV down here so I do not get to see or hear much in the way of NCAA football and basketball.  Yes I get updates via ESPN and CBS on the internet, but I don't get to watch many of the games.

4.  Friends and family.  Clearly it is not easy to make visits to our old friends and family who still live nob and this limits our interactions to email and the telephone.  I do miss my almost daily conversations with Matt where we would debate college football and basketball, MLB (especially the Twins) and US politics.  These are just not topics that my friends down here have interests in so it is something I miss.

5.  Well I can't think of another items that I miss, so I will leave it at four.

All in all, I am very happy to be down here with Jo Ann and our pack of animals.  It has been a great adventure and one that I am looking to continue to explore.

Gran Charreada

I can't believe it was two weeks ago that Jo Ann and I with two of Agistina's niñas went to the Gran Charreada.  This is really the only true nationally organized sport in Mexico and is similar to the American rodeo.  We were prompted to go as the local San Miguel de Allende team was competing against two other teams, one of which took second place in the national finals last year.  To say the least it seemed like a good time to go to experience the national sport of Mexico.

So what is a Gran Charreada, it is a competition of nine different events that earn points both on skill and style.  It starts as any sporting event with a lot of pomp and ceremony, with all of the charros in formal attire and their caballos similarly decked out.

The Charreada is a family affair as many of the charros' families are in attendance and during the pre-competition events, will ride with their fathers.

After the opening ceremonies, the charros present themselves to the audience and prepare for the competition.

There are nine individual competitions, where each team is given points based on performance (time and success of achieving the objective) as well as style points, all of this based on experienced judges.

The first event Cala de Caballo is where a charro puts his horse through various exercises to demonstrate the ability of the charro and the caballo.  These exercises include a controlled slide, half, full and triple turns, a reverse walk among others.

The second event Piales en Lienzo is where a charro tries to catch a wild mare with a lariat by the rear legs of the caballo.  Points are awarded for the distance needed to stop the mare and the charro has three attempts to accomplish the task.

The third event is the Colas en el Lienzo where the charro rides alongside a bull, wraps the tail of the bull around his leg and tries to get the bull to fall and roll as he rides past. 

 

The forth and fifth events are grouped together.  It starts with bull riding where the charro tries to ride the bull until it stops bucking so that he can properly dismount.  The charro must remove the bull rope and the bell rope during the event for points. 

The fifth event  is the Terna en el Ruedo, where a team of three charros attempt to rope the bull, one by the neck, one by the rear legs and the last ties its feet together.  There is a maximum of ten minutes time allotment and points are given for rope tricks and time.

The sixth, seventh and eighth events are combined together.  The sixth is the Jineteo de Yegua which is similar to the riding of the bull earlier except it is on a wild mare ridden with only a rope.  Again the charro must ride it until the mare stops bucking and then properly dismount.

The seventh event is the Manganas a Pie where a charro on foot has three chances to rope a wild mare by its legs cause it to fall and roll once.  This and the next event were the two events that we did not enjoy as it hurt for us to see these horses fall as they did, but luckily none were seriously injured.

The eighth event is similar to the previous, except it is Manganas a Caballo, where the charro attempts to rope the wild mare from horseback.  The charro has three attempts to accomplish this and points are granted based on time and for rope tricks.

The final event is el Paso de la Muerte where a charro riding bareback attempts to leap from his horse to the bare back of a wild horse and ride it until it stops bucking.  It is clearly the most dangerous event of the nine, but also the most thrilling.

Through out the Gran Charreada there is a group of Mariachis playing in between the competitions.  Their music is so enjoyable and traditional.

So how did San Miguel do, well they performed well but only took second place.  That is very good considering the competition but I believe that they felt that they could have done better.  It was great fun and I expect that we will be back again before too long.

There are more photos in my flickr set which you can see here.