Caballeros and Caballos

We went out for the day to Mataderos where we were able to see caballeros playing on their caballos. Muy interesante. Muy muy fascinating indeed. The entertainment was fantastico - lots of dancing and music......and caballeros on caballos which were so exciting. They have to ride their caballo flat tack down the road towards a very tiny ring that is suspended from a bar which they ride under. They have to aim very skilfully with a stick (as small as a pencil) and put it through the ring and ride off with it on their stick thing. If you look carefully I have circled around the ring he is aiming for - its right in the middle of my circle. Very few managed to do it but some did and there was a great cheer for their success. One particularly clever caballero managed to do it twice in a row. Gracias to Francisco for giving me this photo - they were riding so fast that from where I was standing I only managed to get the caballos tail on the side of my photo.

There was another act that was remarkably like poi but the ends were metal and they were banged on the floor as they were swung and along with their feet clicking on the floor, they created a percussive rhythm which was estupendo. I have tried to upload video but cant seem to get it to work properly. I'll show you when I get home.

Have a look at the picture of mois...see what I'm standing next to...the black post is an original post that was used to tie up caballo's back in the 'old days'. Its in pretty good knick as well.

The fair was crowded with people and the atmosphere was buzzing. I was so tempted to buy every woollen wrap I could find but I was very restrained. Today it is freezing cold so I wish I had. It was 6 degrees this morning - a huge change from what we have been having for the past week.