Sun, Oct 02, 2011 page7

• FEATURE: Mexican ‘cowgirls’ bring style to the rodeo

  • AFP, MEXICO CITY
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  Mexico’s charros or cowboys have long been famous for macho rodeo--style contests where they lasso horses or ride bulls, but their female counterparts are increasingly stealing the limelight.

  Women fought for decades to compete with their horse-riding discipline — which is fast and dangerous, but also compared to ballet on horseback — alongside men in official contests.

  In escaramuzas, Spanish for “skirmishes,” groups of eight women or girls perform tricky formations on galloping horses, riding sidesaddle, wearing full-skirted costumes alluding to the 19th century.

  

  A member of an escaramuzas team — Spanish for “skirmishes” — sets her sidesaddle while she waits for the start of her team’s presentation at a rodeo in Oaxtepac, Morelos State, Mexico, on Sept. 10.

  Photo: AFP

  The routines feature rapid turns, crosses and fan formations.

  “You always have to be watching each other and concentrating. If one makes a mistake, we all suffer,” said Areli Ribas, from the northern state of Zacatecas, with slicked-back hair tied with a bow under a cowboy hat, as she saddled her horse at a competition this month in Mexico City.

  To compete for a cash prize or a place in national finals the teams follow strict rules on matching their colorful outfits and try to move in unison.

  Some riders also race their horses to a dramatic sliding stop in the center of the arena, or lienzo charro, in a move also performed by men.

  The first ever escaramuza reputedly began when three girls and three boys performed a warm-up routine to music at the National Association of Charros in Mexico City in 1953.

  However, women were left on the sidelines of official contests of Mexico’s national sport, known as charreria, for years.

  Christina Alvarez Malo, a team trainer who started riding as a teenager, fought for women to join in.

  “The truth is that we women like competing, we like the sport, we like the rivalry,” Alvarez said at a recent competition outside Mexico City.

  The Charro Federation finally accepted the women’s discipline alongside the rough and tumble of the men’s contest in 1991.

  The federation president at the time even received a death threat for making changes to a conservative, family-led tradition harking back to a history of cattle ranching.

  In two decades, the escaramuzas have built an enthusiastic following.

  There are now more than 200 teams competing in Mexico and others in the US, while the contest grows tougher each year.

  “The rules were very easy at the start, but now it’s very complicated. You have to know a lot about riding and as trainers we have to prepare a lot,” said Alvarez, who became one of the first judges.

  However, women still have a small place on the billing and are unable to vote on how the contests are organized.

  “We’re very separated, very isolated,” Alvarez said.

  Preparing for the competitions is expensive — hats alone can cost up to US$600, and outfits and horses even more.

  Horses need to be exercised while their adornments, such as elaborately engraved stirrups and saddles, add to a hefty bill.

  Ribas trains three times a week, for three hours at a time as her team, Tuitan, eyes the national championship this month in the central state of Puebla, after climbing up state and regional competitions.

  “It’s an effort, staying up late, the long trips ... but the moment you’re on your horse with your teammates, the experience is indescribable,” she said.
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