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.

Escaramuza: Riding from the Heart - Documentary Film

Mark your calendars to watch the TV premiere of ESCARAMUZA: Riding from the Heart on Oct. 5.  The US based TV station PBS is showing it on their "Voces" series at 10pm eastern (check your local listings) as part of its Hispanic Heritage Month programming.

This four year film project tells the story of the escaramuza team Las Azaleas from Perris, California, during 2008 and 2009 as they strive to make the final cut to compete among the best escaramuza teams from Mexico and the U.S. at the National Charro Championships in Mexico. They made the cut back in 2009 to compete in Guadalajara, Mexico and will also be at the 2012  competition in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Robin Rosenthal and Bill Yahraus

The film is an unprecedented look into the daily lives of the young team members, first-generation Mexican-American horsewomen, through their life journeys of goal-setting, teamwork, responsibility and sacrifice, which escaramuza riders from both sides of the border can relate to and appreciate.

This kind of intimate look into the real lives of people is characteristic of its makers, the husband-wife team of professional digital film making-artists Robin Rosenthal and  Bill Yahraus. They create long-form documentaries, educational films and industrial films through their company Pony Highway Productions based in southern California. 

 If you can't catch the premier of  ESCARAMUZA: Riding from the Heart in October it will become available for purchase as a DVD on thieir website and you can keep up with the latest news on their Facebook Page.

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