Watching a skilled horseman who is also a master with a reata or any other type of a lasso or lariat is about as elegant as watching dancers who have spent years learning to move together as one. A man or a woman riding a horse and positioning themselves in just the right spot with the animal they are roping, sitting erect and building a perfect loop and delivering it with graceful ease is a most humbling experience, especially if you have endeavored to coordinate your own package into a such a pursuit.
After meeting Bruce Brown of "Endless Summer" fame at the Del Mar fair this summer, my wife and I decided it would be fun to accumulate footage of great ropers doing what they do best, throwing perfect loops. Not that there is such a thing, but trying to find them would be fun in itself. Anywhere there are horsemen handling stock, most likely there will be loops being thrown, consequently that is where we want to be. Like Bruce Brown, it may be an "endless pursuit". Surfing was new and old when he filmed surfers from around the world, likewise today with roping there is a renaissance of new ways of doing old things, and the loops are where you find them.
At the end of July this summer Rancho La Mentada near Rosarito Beach in Baja, decided to hold a gathering of reata ropers for the sake the old ways of doing things. Vaqueros from ranches throughout northern Baja were invited to participate and compete for the new saddles that would be given to the winners and chaps for the runner-ups. The competition was scheduled to begin and 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. As this was a first try for Raul and Enrique the organizers, when no one had arrived by 1:00 they were a little more than worried, but in typical Mexican fashion, shortly thereafter the floodgates were opened. Ropers from ranches throughout the area began to arrive. Some rode for four hours or more and many came with stock racks on the back of their ranch trucks and horses crammed inside and saddles hanging from the racks. They get it done in ways most of us haven't been around long enough to forget. I think I was most impressed with Tio, from Rancho Vallecitos who rode for four hours with his partner to join in the festivities. The 92 year young gentleman was a pleasure and an honor to be in the company of. He roped with the best of them and drank clear Tequila with the rest of them. His loops were perfect in their conception.
The merrienda began as the teams arrived. Greetings and salutations for all, as for most hadn't seen each other for months if not years. The camaraderie of distant hermanos was impressive, a true fraternity of the like minded. By 3:30 the corrals were filled with laughter and ya- hoos of the excited vaqueros, ready to cheer on all who entered, especially the cows whose obstinance chased the fun loving bunch to the top of the corral fence, avoiding the swipe from the horns of the "fresh" cattle. The teams were required to catch first the head with an impressive loop of their choice, and then grab the heels with elegance only achieved with years of practice. Each team had plenty of time to make a catch and were eliminated if they broke their reatas or roughed the cattle. There were other things, too, that I lost in the interpretation of ranch Spanish. I did what I could, but I sometimes end up upside down trying to understand what I wish I could, but don't, and laugh anyway. The 25 or so of us gringos who came to watch enjoyed thoroughly the exhibition of reata roping at its renovated best. Five reatas were broken that day, better fishing and bigger horns might have helped, but it is easy to be an arm-chair observer. It was sundown by the time all 30 teams each had two go-a-rounds. When the dust had settled the best team won, father and son, Roberto and Roberto Chavez of Rosarito charo fame took home the saddles. Funny how those who need it most seem to prevail. Papa Chavez s' saddle needed to be a swing in the front yard. He really needed a new one. The father and son team had treated us to a display of Charo Trick roping earlier in the day, I think they won by popular vote.
We were all treated to a pit barbeque of the beef we had butchered the day before. Beans, tortillas, beer and tequila added to the celebration that serenaded us until the sun came up in the morning, chasing the roosters into hibernation. Menudo was served at first light to equalize the tequila of the night before. I think that stuff really works, it was either the menudo or the scrambled eggs or maybe that first cold beer, but something sure made me feel better. Those boys sang all night! After many rounds of mucho gusto and adios, the ranch was empty and all were on their way home, by one way or another. We had so much fun that we had to stop & think about it for awhile to realize just how much. Looking back, I can't wait to do it all again. Bruce Brown doesn't have much to worry about, but we did get a lot of hours of roping that not too many people have ever had the chance to see. Maybe someday we will find that "Perfect Loop" and we will be able to throw it your way!
