Joao Moura

Cultural diversity in Xtreme sports should be preserved...



"Dressage" is for wimps...



I went straight from Barajas airport to Las Ventas, the bullfight arena of Madrid. Entries were purchased weeks ago on the edge of legitimate ticket-dealing, and were as expensive as La Scala stalls. When you fancy horsemanship you might be delighted with the fight for an Olympic Games Gold Medal in the "Dressage" category but the Equestrian Corrida (or Rejoneo, as they called it in Spain) is the real thing. The horseriders are not only at Master level in Viennese Lipizani-type artistic technicality but they have to bond with their horses in a very unique way. For a horse to overcome the fear of a pitch black bull of six-hundred-plus kilos, he really must trust his rider.

The cast was very good: Joao Moura & Son and the best that the Spanish variant can offer, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza. Both father and his 16-year old (!) son were awarded an "oreja" , the ear of the bull removed from the just-killed animal ( with a knife every pit-bull owner skinhead hooligan must dream about).

Muse was quite in awe with what was demanded from the horses and with the mix of adrenalin and beauty. "But this is a radical sport, like snowboarding off-piste!"- she shouted, when the bull horn-daggers almost established contact with the horse's flesh.