We were prepared to see the worst on our visit and are happy to report just the opposite.  There was a large group of mares in pens in the back which had been purchased from auction weeks prior to the event.  While they were a bit thinner than I would have cared to see, only a couple were extremely thin and one had a foal at its side with a hernia. This mare was not used in the event.   The horses which were not able to run were not forced to do so.  They were pretty much all scratched up and several had their auction stickers still on them.  I attend the auction and can verify  that most of the horses there are “dinged up” and most of the damage occurs at the auction.  We spent time with Alex Corona and Rudy Lara, who is the commissioner at the national level for the Charreada.   We were told the horses were much thinner when they were picked up at auction and had been fed and cared for by the ranch.  The mares in the pens had the shade of large trees and shade covers over their stalls (something that we unfortunately do not always find at private owners properties).  The water was clean and they are feed at another larger location before they come to the event and are then taken back to that arena to be feed at night.  Mr. Rudy Lara explained his job, which actually would be better titled as animal welfare officer.  He is there to make sure the animals are cared for and he travels the circuit insuring this.  He was seen checking the bits of the reining horses to be sure that nothing was being used to force the animals to respond.  He told us that anyone registered in their federation, caught participating in the smaller charreadas, where he does admit that the tripping does occur, is banned from participating in the federation’s events.  Tripping has not been allowed in the federation sanctioned events for at least the last 15 years.  Mr. Lara is working diligently to clear up the bad press they receive for the federation’s events.  And he is willing to help us with changing laws here in our states.  He felt that the unsanctioned charreadas only give them a bad name. 

We watched pretty much the entire day and there was no horse tripped.  It is very difficult to rope a horse at its rear legs.  Only two riders managed to do so.  The rope was not tighted to where the animal could not run and as soon as the horse was roped, the judges awarded the points and the rope was released.  The charros had three opportunities to rope the horse as a team.   One man was on the ground with a rope and two on horse back.     An amusing thing we noted was when the charros missed with the rope and regrouped before trying again, the horse they were trying to lasso would trot over and stand near them,  watching.  In my own experience, I have never seen a frightened horse do this.  They generally are desperate to get out.  This didn’t happen. 

The ropes they use are actually made of woven grass. We were able to see and feel them.  They break under tight tension, unlike nylon ropes. 

As far as the event with the young steers goes – I am very much a softy when it comes to any kind of roping of animals and I was very surprised to see that this is much less inhumane than the typical roping in American rodeos.  When you rope a calf around the neck or a steer around the horns – and this is from an equine anatomy background – you risk causing injury to the animal’s neck, the same sort of injury that can be caused to a human neck in a car accident, or worse.  The riders had to reach down and grasp the steer’s tail with one hand while wrapping their leg around the steer’s leg doing this on a moving horse (very difficult!).  In doing this, the steer was turned around by its tail, away from the horses moving feet,  and rolled over to the ground.  They had to try to get the steer into a chalked box on the ground in order to be awarded the point.  While neither Sue nor I really like to see this with cattle, it was actually less disturbing than roping which is very accepted in our country, again understanding that I don't like to see any animal roped. 

Remember, we did not go here prepared to be seeing anything but disturbing activity.  I can’t tell you how relieved we were to be proven wrong.  These people who compete do not compete for money, which as we all know, has a been known to  cause some people to do some pretty abusive things to their horses in order to win the big bucks.  These people win a trophy and some bragging rights.  They can easily spend a thousand dollars on their own horses and win no money.  Their own horses are beautiful and well cared for.  The tenderness in which they handled their own horses was very touching.  We were able to view this behind the scenes, and unseen by the riders themselves. 

The girls drill team was amazing to watch.  These young girls must practice hours each day to have such precision and to ride as they do in a long dress and side-saddle.  Sue and I are grateful to Mr. Lara and the Corona family for taking a huge amount of time out of their schedule to allow us access to their entire property, explain their events, sit with us in the stands to explain the point system, etc since we do not speak Spanish. 

 And the best part is, Mr. Lara and Mr. Corona are very interested in talking with me to create a program to allow people to come down to purchase horses after the charreada instead of these horses going back to auction.  (So please, everyone let's start thinking of how we are going to put this into action, I need ALL of your help. There are about 40 horses)  Mr. Alex Corona expressed that he would like to see this happen at a national level and Sue and I will be happy to work with him on this.   Also, the Coronas are working with us to find the mare that was purchased from this killer buyer (Dave Quinn) and reunite her with her foal.  Some of the mares were kept down the road at a facility away from the event and the mare may be there.  I will have access to them to try to locate this mare after the event and not so much is going on with the Corona's help. 

We have no doubt that the inhumanities that we have read about do happen at events such as this, but I think it is important that we not generalize, just as we can not generalize that all people who show Arabians are putting ginger into their anal cavities to cause them to life their tails (which does happen), and all people who own Gaited Horses are not using caustic materials on their feet to force them to life their feet higher (but this does still happen despite efforts to stop it.  I would encourage anyone to attend one of the sanctioned charreada (and it must be a sanctioned event) and see for yourself.  I am so very pleased to be proven wrong in my thoughts and judgments prior to arriving at this event.  Mr. Lara was very gracious and is happy to speak with anyone who may have questions about the Federation’s Charreadas.  I can provide his phone number if anyone would like to speak with him.  They are happy to provide their bylaws to be viewed by anyone.  They are written in Spanish so they would need to be translated. 

Finally, I think it is very important to note again that the Corona's are very willing to help us find homes for these mares instead of sending them back to the auction, mexican slaughter or Dave Quinn. Believe it or not these horses have a better chance now then they did before the Corona's bought them.   More details on this will happen this following week after I meet with the Corona's again to make arrangements.  Let's take the Corona's and Mr. Lara up on their comments and have them help us to create laws for the "underground charreadas" to be stopped!!  As I told the Corona's and Mr. Lara I don't like any animal treated inhumanely and I wish I could stop all rodeos, etc.  I feel that in the big picture these animals were treated better than what I have seen at the killer brokers facilities!!   Dave Quinn is the monster here and needs to be STOPPED!