PopularPlaces-magazine6

GGAUCHO
DO BRASIL
40 ROUGH COWBOYS, 40.000 HECTARES,
20.000 HEADS OF CATTLE AND 600 HORSES
IS WHAT YOU WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH.
It’s hot, its wild and it’s for real! Arriving at the Ranch, just like the 40 local seasonal cowboys you will get;
a saddle and a Capotera (small bag to put your clothes/belongings in). You choose your bed in one of the
rooms of the hacienda and rapport yourself to El Caporal (chief of the cowboys) who will explain your job
for the next 8 days. I guess you already get the idea; this trip is no joke! :-)
If you are looking for adventure, for authenticity, for an unbelievable equestrian experience and for the time of
your life than you have to sign up to participate at the Colombian Cowboy Experience and be most welcome in
LOS LLANOS – COLOMBIA! Twice a year at the Santana farm, deep in the Colombian Llanos of the province
Casanare, 600 horses and a couple of thousand cattle are rounded up to be treated, to castrate them, to mark
them, and to break in the young horses. This will be your job! Very different as where you come from, the
Colombian vaquero’s (cowboy’s) don’t lose a lot of time to break in a horse. They saddle up the wild horse and
off they go. The bucking fury will lose its bronco temper in the big open savanna. The tired horse will surrender
and will soon follow the commands of his rider.
For the next couple of days this newly broken-in horse will be used in the field for cattle work, going with the
flow, learning the job, getting along with its rider, building up a relationship between horse and rider. That’s
the way the Llanero cowboy has been doing it for centuries, the way things are done in the big savanna. It’s
here that you will be confronted with a new culture. Very different and probably a lot harder than what you are
used to at home. Fact is that their reality is also a lot harder, so we do not judge, but learn, adapt and absorb.
As that’s what travelling is all about. See yourself as an anthropologic during this trip, jump into this adventure
and become a real Llanero. (cowboy of the llanos). You can watch, or you can participate, up to you to decide
how far you want to go into this adventure. Herding hundreds of horses from the saddle at fast speed, treating
wild horses, braking them in and schooling them. But life at a cattle farm is not only about horses, you will
also get into the saddle to do cattle work. During cattle drives you will be crossing rivers, where you might have
to swim with your horse and the cattle to get them to other grazing grounds or corrals where they have to be
treated. You will understand that if you want to be part of this cowboy team that you have to be a tough and very
experienced rider. Only good riders, not afraid of the rough action allowed on this trip!
52 I POPULAR-PLACES.COM