His home is the Pampa, vast expanses of almost flat land covered years ago in high Pampas grass, baked by summer heat, drenched by violent thunderstorms, and chilled by icy winds in winter. For a long time - empty of man or domesticated beast, except for wild running cattle, and wild running horses - detrius after the Spanish Conquistadores. And - the Gaucho: a loner with only his mount and dog for company, free, hardened to suffering, given to poetry and song, with fierce pride and sometimes hair trigger temper, poor and often enslaved either by army or estancia owners, subsisting exclusively on meat (wild cattle, ostriches, hares, wild fowl) water, and mate, fugitive and above all, a centaur, who seems to be part horse either on the ground or mounted in the saddle.
The horse was his friend, transport, and working tool - as well as his life saver.
The Gauchos ambition was and still is, to own a team of matched Criollos (descendants of Andalusian horses brought in centuries ago) which form his 'Tropilla'. With his tropilla he roamed the Pampa in search for work on estancias (he needs more than one horse to complete a day's hard work with cattle).
His tropilla is trained to adher like glue to a 'madrina', herd mother, often of a different colour than his tropilla. She wears a bell, which acts like a homing device for the individual animals.
This allows the gaucho, to let his team move and graze overnight in the open Pampa, without tying it up or fencing it in. He lead the 'madrina' by her halter from horseback, and his tropilla surrounds her within minutes, neck to neck and flank to flank. Even from a large mixed herd, they extradict themselves to follow the bell of their herd mother.
And he needs his loyal and well trained tropilla, as the Pampa - without a reliable horse - can be deadly.
"La pampa, señor, es como la serpiente..., lo magnetiza al hombre, lo encanta y lo adormece, y al fin se lo devora". (G.E. Hudson)
The Pampa, Sir, is like a serpent....she attracts man, she enchants him and makes him sleepy, and finally she devours him.
Some Gauchos have few horses (here the herd mother is a dark bay), some - especially today's working gauchos - have often much many more than a dozen.
Con tropillas entabladas
el hombre acortó distancias.
A bolas, facón y lanza
se hizo esta Patria sagrada.
El gaucho en cada jornada
unió la pampa y los cerros
y al chocar de los fierros,
al crujir de los cañones
fueron música y canciones
los relinchos y cencerros.
Tropilla, sos y serás
baluarte en las tradiciones,
orgullo de esos varones
que nos dieron libertad.
Tropilla gaucha: jamáste vi en mi Patria encerrada
porque vos no sos mandada...
Y antes que echarla al corral
muere el patrón y el mensual
y la tropilla entablada.
Publicado por gauchoguacho en 14:17
Etiquetas: Baguales, Julio Secundino Cabezas
With matched tropillas
man shortens distances.
With Bolas, knifes and daggers
he made this sacred Country.
Each day, the Gaucho unites
the Plains and the Mountains,
when steel meets steel,
and cannons blast,
neighing and madrina bells
were music and chant.
Tropillas, you are and will be,
bulwarks of tradition, the pride of those men,
who gave us liberty.
Tropilla of a Gaucho:
Never will you be seen shut in in my Country
because we will not force you...
And before being driven into a corral
master, servant and tropilla would die.
A gaucho holding the madrina by a lead shank, and the tropilla standing by - in a city scape.
Today's competitions between rivalling Estancias are held during many festivals.
Gauchos participate with their tropillas, each counting 8-15 or more horses. The tropillas enter the field (or huge ring) at a gallop, criss cross each other at full speed, turn tightly around poles, never moving away from the side of their respective madrina. They horses (apart from the gaucho's horse and the madrina) wear no halters - quite a spectacle to see so much horseflesh racing arond a large area, without ever crashing into each other or getting lost in the chaos. Little close-knit teams working totally absorbed within their own herd, oblivious to distractions.
For the great crescendo - the gauchos herd their tropillas into a closed off area, usually behind a 'fence' of long Argentinian flags, held up by gauchos on foot. The riders and madrinas leave the enclosure - quite a feat in itself, as the rest of the herd wants to follow.
The hundreds of horses left inside the 'enclosure' are all excited being 'abandoned', and to add to the confusion, assistant gauchos mix them up until they are all one churning big whirlpool of animals circling and circling en masse - not a tropilla left intact.
On a signal the 'enclosure' opens, and several hundred horses burst free gallopping in search of their madrina.
The competing gauchos ride at high speed amongst the moving horses, leading their madrina, whose bell can scarcely be heard above the drumming of hoofs, and cheering crowd, and commentary over loudspeakers...but, within a few minutes, the horses are all re-united right behind their madrina, almost like one multi hoofed body. The gaucho whose completed tropilla leaves the ring first - wins.
As Criollo breed, comes in every imaginable colour of horse pelt, there are overos, blacks, whites, pintos, bays, chestnuts, dappled, and 'striped' ones. They are so agile, their ears short and mobile, aware and intelligent, quick and strong - like Boston Terriers of the horse world.
On Gaucho internet sites, some of these 'tropillas' are for sale - complete. The horses may all or partly be trained under saddle. Tropilla training predates mounted training. A rideable horse that runs away from his gaucho is not worth as much as an unbroken one that sticks with him - before and after saddle training.
Here are two videos - just click on the links below, and subsequently on the little arrow inside the first frame, and they will play.
One of the videos shows the open country tropilla training of the horses - done with love, unending patience, over a long time, without force, incredible skill in understanding horse mentality. There are no instant methods to teach a practially wild horse to trust a man, or learn to follow the specific sound of the bell of the tropilla madrina. The beauty, temperament and all over good looks of the animals in executing their free movements is breathtaking - at least for a horse lover.
The other video shows a competiton in San Antonio de Areco, an hour away from Buenos Aires, where each year in November, Gauchos from all the Provinces compete for honours, as well as mounting one of the most well known Traditional Fiestas in Argentina. One fo them - as each province seem to mount at least one competiton of Doma and Folklorico per year.
Doma (Training or 'dressage') is a rather quick and very dangerous undertaking. The gaucho jumps on, and stays on through every trick the untamed horse offers - some potentially fatal for the rider. But that is a subject for anothr day...
