Presented by Endurance Net

Haras Las Cortaderas and the Gauchos

So - for one who is drawn like a magnet to anything gaucho or criollo - to find out that there was an important traditional gaucho/horse competition - the Fiesta de Tropillas - during the week of our stay with Claudia, was beyond exciting!

To back up -

After the ride at Pinamar, Claudia invited us to come and visit at her Estancia, Haras Las Cortaderas. 'Haras' roughly translates to 'Stud', as in breeding farm. And Las Cortaderas is the Argentine word for pampas grass - the tall billowing grass with the white plume flowers - the signature of the pampas. Haras Las Cortaderas is located in the 'fertile triangle'- the highly productive agricultural region in Buenos Aires province, several hours' drive south of the city of Buenos Aires. Claudia Quentin is the owner of RAS Kasal, the horse that Mercedes Tapia rode in the World Championship in Dubai. (and also the WEC in Jerez). She is a gracious and energetic woman, with a passion for Argentine history and art, and also a very strong passion for breeding Arabians. She rode horses all her life, growing up on the Estancia where horses and cattle were everyday work. She has long been involved with Arabian horses, since she acquired her first Arabian horse 40 years ago, a gift from a friend. Just the beginning. Soon Claudia began to raise Arabians, carefully developing a breeding program from Crabbet, Egyptian and Argentine Arabian bloodstock.

Always with an eye for good legs and athleticism, Las Cortaderas has produced a strong line of performance Arabians, some of which became the foundation stock for others, including Miguel Pavlovsky's Arabians. (Miguel and Celena's estancia is very close to Claudia's). Together they, and others, promoted the Arabian breed through the Argentine Arab Horse Society (Asociación Argentina de Criadores de Caballos Arabes).

In the early 1970's - not long after Endurance became an 'official' sport in the US (AERC) - Claudia hosted Argentina's first Endurance event, through the AACCA, at Las Cortaderas. Endurance in Argentina was born. And the Arabian horses of Argentina now had a venue for testing their strength and Endurance, and proving certain lines.

So, through the constant magic of this sport - the mix of people from around the world - bound in spirit by the horse and the toughness - we met Claudia. In Argentina the circle of Endurance is rather small, and the breeders of the Arabians have a significant role - in supplying the horses, and in helping to organize, support, and patronize the sport. Through Miguel we met Claudia. Through Miguel and Claudia and Endurance Net (!!) we met Mercedes and Eduardo. And now the friendships grow. (and I just spoke with Grace - she and Jan and Sheikha Madiya will be coming to Argentina for the Pan Americans! too cool!)

Now - a little more on the Gaucho (my own version 'The Beautiful Gaucho Butt')

The guacho evolved in Argentina during the 17th and 18th centuries. These people were primarily a mixture of Indian and Spanish (Andalusian) blood, but they were neither Spaniard nor Indian in culture or acceptance. They developed a distinct lifestyle - with distinct dress and cuture. They were independent and self sufficient, borrowing from the lifestyles of both the Indians and the Spaniards, but finding their own niche in vast lands of Argentina.

From writings by George W. Umphrey, University of Washington:

"Although there is considerable diversity of opinion among historians as to the extent to which they took Indian wives, it is certain that there was some intermingling of races; the gauchos were, at least in part, the descendants of the Andalusian pioneers and Indian women. Since the Andalusian had in him a strain of Arab blood, the gauchos inherited three races characteristics that were further modified by the pastoral life of the pampas. From the Indian ancestors came the love for the free life of the plains, their hatred of restraint, of law and order, their patient acceptance of hardship and physical pain; from the Arabs came their love of the noble companion of their nomadic life and their superb horsemanship, in which they rivaled, if they did not surpass, our own western cowboys. From the Andalusians they inherited their intensity of feeling, their religious superstition, and more particularly, the characteristic that brings us to the main purpose of this study, their fondness for poetry and music."

Today's gauchos are much like the present day cowboys of the States. Without the free landscape, they can't maintain the lifestyle that defined them - but they still proudly preserve the tradition, the dress, the demeanor. Grandfathers and grandchildren sit their horses with the same signature slouch, they still slide their beautiful crafted knives (which they use for everything) into their belts. They still prefer the land, the campo. And they are still superb horsemen.

And what horsemanship! next - the amazing tropillas...

Steph

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