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May 30th, 2019: Horsing Around
Oh my, another feisty broad bucking tradition, Natalia Salazar, the horse whisperer of Columbia.
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As cool winds rustle down the surrounding mountainsides, Natalia Salazar slowly slipped her foot into the stirrup of an apprehensive, unbroken horse named Aries. As she murmured softly to the animal under her breath, he began to visibly relax, allowing her to gently swing her leg over his back. Looking around as he adjusted to the sensation of carrying a rider for the first time in his life, Aries shifted his weight and began to walk. Without so much as an untimely prance or an agitated kick, Aries – the same horse who was saddled for the first time in his life just minutes before – was being ridden with the easy-going composure of a much more seasoned mount. |
Sounds great, quicker, easier on both the trainer and the horse, a win-win, right?
Wrong wimp! This is Columbia, the Mecca of Machismo, and breaking broncos is a badge of honor.
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For centuries, we’ve collectively clung to the notion that the business of taming horses falls squarely within the realm of ‘macho’ men. Around the world, from Argentina to Mongolia to the American West, the archetypal image of a horse tamer seems to be that of a big man thrashing around on top of a bucking horse until the animal is strong-armed into submission. The culture of ‘machismo’ – a form of strong, aggressive, masculine pride – has long been central to the practice of taming horses. The term dates to Spanish traditions involving horsemanship, swordsmanship and the idea that challenges must be surmounted by force. Even in English, the word we typically use – to ‘break’ a horse – implies subjugation, dominance and even violence. |
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By age 12, Salazar was spending all her free time shadowing an older, more experienced horse trainer in hopes of learning how to train horses herself. Eventually, after taking note of the young girl’s innate ability to work with horses and retain her sense of calm even on the back of a high-strung, half-ton animal, the trainer offered her a job on a nearby horse farm. The more Salazar worked with horses, the more she began to realise that, contrary to popular belief, the animals responded much better to training methods based upon kindness and trust than they did to those that relied on exhaustion, brute force and fear. While some horse trainers admire an approach that produces quick results and poses little risk of injury to either the horse or rider, others appear deeply bothered by what, to them, amounts to a blatant smack in the face to a centuries-old trade and way of life. |
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According to Oxfam, Colombia is often considered to be one of the most machista societies in the world, reflected in rates of violence against women and marked levels of gender inequality, among other indicators. The country is even home to the ‘Movimiento Machista Colombiano’, a politically inclined group steeped in toxic masculinity that is led by Edilberto Barreto Vargas, a cattle rancher who has spent much of his life on the backs of horses broken in by brute force by hardened cowboys in Colombia’s eastern plains. To Barreto, and many men like him, there are few lines of work as profoundly and inalienably ‘macho’ as breaking a horse. In a 2016 VICE interview, Barreto likened the task to that of seducing a woman: “Seducing a woman is like preparing a horse to ride... One must walk up to the horse and make it understand that you’re about to get on it, that you’re in charge, that you’re the one that’s going to be on top.” |
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But today, she’s realising that her most important task isn’t training horses, but training people. “I see such a huge therapeutic benefit in helping people develop relationships with horses,” she said. After a 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) led to the formal conclusion of more than half a century of civil war, Salazar’s career took on a much more practical use than she ever could have imagined. Today, she dedicates a portion or her time to teach horsemanship to an unlikely group of pupils: de-mining technicians tasked with clearing the Colombian countryside of antipersonnel mines left over from the war. “So many parts of Colombia, especially those that were hit hardest by the conflict, are only reachable on foot or by horseback,” she explained. “This skill will allow technicians to carry out their dangerous work in the most isolated regions of the country.” |
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Carruthers Friday May 31 06:48 AM
I don't have any experience of 'breaking' a horse (not a term I'm comfortable with) but I have looked after young stock.
Treating a sensitive creature sensitively has always paid dividends and I don't see why anyone would advocate the opposite.
xoxoxoBruce Friday May 31 10:12 AM
To my grandfather the team of horses was not pets, it was a tool. A tool to do what he had to do to survive. A tool has no mind of it's own, no off days, no rights. He spoke(rarely) affectionately of them but took no shit from them. They did what they were told, when they were told, or there would be hell to pay. Come to think of it, he treated them like his children.
Yes, that's what I said.
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