Big debate on Mexican – Style Rodeos.

Three suertes charras, to be precise, became the central subject of the "study:" colas wild bull tailing, manganas a caballo roping wild mares by the front legs from horseback and manganas a pie roping wild mares from on foot.

Manganas are better known to the average English speaker as "horse tripping," but equestrian literate people know thoroughly well these faenas tasks involve artistry, style and absolute concentration, for the goal is to bring the wild mare down safely and effortlessly, never to endanger the animal.

Whether in the United States or México's land, the charro, vaquero and cowboy have used this highly effective method, principally when a steer breaks out of the heard during roundup or cutting out. Literature on the subject is not scarce. Like El Jefe, frontier author, Mr. Vincent Paul Rennert, faithfully documented colas in his book The Cowboy.Throwing a running animal, without the aid of the reata, "was for the cowboy to come alongside the animal, reach over and grab its tail, twist it around the saddle horn, and then have his pony cut suddenly to the side and away from the direction the animal was moving," he wrote. "Almost without fail, the animal would go down with a grunt in a cloud of dust."

professor Olga Nájera Ramírez, from UC Santa Cruz, reports in her scholarly article entitled Haciendo Patria: La Charreada and Mexican Transnational Identity, "even a cursory examination of its historical roots confirms that the charreada has been a part of Mexican culture since at least the colonial period, a time when most of the Southwestern Unites States belonged to México."

This factual truth, somehow overlooked by politicians like Mr. Sigerson Jr. and animal rights activists, is of capital relevance for the Mexican American charro, since according to the League of United Latin American Citizens LULAC, the Treaty of Guadalupe, signed on February 2, 1848, "guaranteed to protect lands, culture (including the speaking of the Spanish language,) religion and civil rights of wartime residents, who had been Mexican citizens and their descendants

My great-grandfather and my grandfather were remarkably talented horsemen and highly educated caballeros. My beloved father inherited the exact same qualities. When I see him and listen to his words, I know I'm seeing and listening to my ancestors.

Mi padre my father, is mi orgullo y mi alegría, my joy and pride. Amidst the incredibly charrísimo fine human beings I sincerely admire and tip off my hat to, he's the only hombre mexicano whom I've been calling my hero since I can remember.

Thanks to him, by age 10, I not only had a handsome horse and a torito bonito to take care of, but also four gorgeous peacocks, two dogs, four swans, two geese, one beautiful rooster and seven chickens, four rabbits, one talking parrot, one singing tzentzontle and about twenty doves that loved to fly around my parents' apple trees and casona with everyone enjoying the breathless sight in the sky.

My gallant father taught me all about taking proper care of my animals. He still does.

"If being surrounded by God's creatures makes you happy," he once said to me when my horse did not want to cooperate and I felt inclined to overuse my quirt, "then the least you can do is treat them right. There is a difference between educating and punishing. Is this understood? Do not let me see you again castigating unnecessarily any of your animals because I'll take them all away from you. ¡Faltaba más!"