Doma Vaquera

[Leanna Whipple]

Hey all,

 

After our finesse spotlight in Kansas City, Pat was commenting on the "western" flair that Desi and I gave it, and he launched into a discussion of where Western riding originated, and he explained its origins in a discipline called "Doma Vaquera."  It was the form of riding that the Spaniards used to work cattle and also for bullfighting.  He explained that Western riding originated from "Doma Vaquera," and traditional Dressage came from "Doma Classica."  Of course, I was curious, and have snooped around on the internet about Doma Vaquera, and have found some neat videos.  Many of us saw the video that Dave Ellis showed us on youtube at the clinic - I think Brandie posted it on here also, which was amazing and I think was this style of riding - but in an actual bullfight!  They have also developed "dry" work (without cattle), and they perform with a "garrocha," which is a long pole (used to be a spear) used to round up the cattle and trip/spear the bull.  In competitions, like many other disciplines, it has been refined into a beautiful dance . . . here are some really interesting videos.  It is typically done with Andalusian horses. 

 

Leanna

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhypoKyD-Rc

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_n1yQlmT0&feature=related

[Kathy Shelley]

thanks for researching this.  both videos are really interesting- amazing riding in the first one.  while viewing these, I also found this one which looks a lot like a combo of dressage and the riding that you did with Desi- it's intriguing to see rollbacks, sliding stops, tempes and pirouettes in the same routine - I can see why Pat likes this so much:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZd6AgoMbd4&NR=1&feature=fvwp

[Leanna Whipple]

That was really neat!  Thanks for finding it Kathy!

[Anne Shelley]

Yikes! Hovercraft horsies!

Coolest videos ever.

On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 8:05 PM, Kathy Shelley <kathy....@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Anne Shelley | Assistant Librarian | Center for Transportation Studies
University of Minnesota | 612-626-8753 | ashe...@umn.edu

[Robin Harris]

All I have to say is "WOW!!"



~Robin