Showing posts with label escaramuzas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label escaramuzas. Show all posts

The Connection - Horse and Rider

The Art of the Escaramuza
Lorena Bass at an Escaramuza Fair in Mexico City.
Lorena Bass tells us about a special connection that escaramua riders have with their horses in this audiovisual.

The Art of the Escaramuza spoke with her at a recent Escaramuza Fair in Mexico City where she performed with her two sisters and mother on the same team, Rancho Sovilo from Guadalajara.

Don't miss Lorena's mother explaining why she couldn't help but joint the team!

For English subtitles, after clicking ¨play,¨then click the CC at the bottom right of the youtube window.

Escaramuza Fairs

A tourist's jaw drops when she sees an escaramuza team for the fist time. After all, the women are mounted sidesaddle wearing colorful dresses and Mexican sombreros. It's a site from what would seem like from another age.

Escaramuza fairs are an untapped mine for tourists in Mexico, and not just for foreigners but for the local folks too. It outranks most options for families and couples looking for something fun and affordable to do on the weekends. Aside from the spectacle of  the horse riding performances, they're full of good food, good music, hospitality and a down home atmosphere.

How to find out when and where to see an escaramuza performance in Mexico? They can be found on the events page of this blog, as well as the blog Escaramuzas Damas Charras and the calendar page of De Charros.

The video below is from an escaramuza fair (meaning 10 or so teams perform) at a charro club in Mexico City. We asked a rider why she choose this sport. If you don't read Spanish, that's okay, there are captions in English (click the "cc" option at the bottom of the youtube window).


For English subtitles, after clicking ¨play,¨then click the CC at the bottom right of the youtube window.

If you're interested in learning how the escaramuza sport came to be, check out this video below.


For English subtitles, after clicking ¨play,¨then click the CC at the bottom right of the youtube window.

Antonio Camacho - Founding Member of the Escaramuza


El Arte de la Escaramuza

Fotografía por Leslie Mazoch. El Arte de la Escaramuza,
Antonio Camacho in 2009

Not unlike most charros, Antonio Camacho Elorriaga was born into a charro family, but unlike others, destiny put him on the first escaramuza that ever was. That was back in 1953 in Mexico City's Rancho Charro.

Antonio rode alongside his sister Guadalupe, better known as "Coco," and his brother Jose. The three other kids were from the Ruiz Loredo family: Graciela, Maria Eugenia and Arturo.

The Rancho del Charro changed its name to the Nacional Association of  Charros, and is one of hundreds of charro associations, or private rodeo clubs, across Mexico. But this association has the historic privilege of being the birth site of today's female charro sport: the escaramuza.

Antonio continues to be an active member of his life-long rodeo club of charreria, Mexico's national sport.

The art of the escaramuza