Galan
by Charlie Lacy
GALAN
Now Galan was a different type of animal. Galan, as I mentioned before,
was a beautiful black Andaluz stallion, that I owed while I lived in
Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. I had an 18 year old white Andaluz
stallion and I just wanted a younger horse with more spirit and believe me
that's exactly what I got. I had mentioned on one occasion to Adrian, a
very close friend of mine, that I wanted to trade Igenioso, the name of my
white stallion, for a younger Andaluz stallion. Adrian had large dairy
farms, near Cartago and had some of the best Andaluz horses in the Americas.
I asked him if he might have a younger stallion in his stable that he wanted
to sell and he said yes. Adrian told me he had this coal black stallion
that was 7 years old. The horse was registered in Spain and had a high
classification number as breeding stallion and as being a good
representative of the breed, the same as my white stallion. He went on to
say that the horse was gentle but he hadn't been ridden for several months.
The only person that rode the horse was a young man from the Guanacaste
cattle region, who had worked for Adrian. The cowboys from Guanacaste are
known to be very good hands with cattle and horses.
Adrian told me the horse had bucked before, actually on several occasions,
so no one wanted to ride him until the cowboy from Guanacaste showed up.
The cowboy obviously knew had to handle horses and he got on well with
Galan. The cowboy had ridden the horse in several topes (horse parades with
often more than 500 horses) and never had any problems. After a about a
week of talks we decided to trade even-up, which also included the freight
on both horses. Adrian wanted my stallion to add some different blood to
his herd and I wanted the black horse as my personal mount. Adrian assured
me the horse was sound and would give some excellent colts, early the next
day I loaded Ingenioso and sent him to Adrian.
The truck with the white horse arrived at Adrian's farm before noon. The
trucker had lunch, loaded the black horse and was back in Liberia about 7:30
the same evening. It was dark when Galan was unloaded at the stables,
located at the cattle auction, but we could see that he was in perfect
condition. Pablo and Macho, two of my employees and excellent with horses,
wanted to ride Galan the same night, but I told them to let the horse rest
after his long trip and wait until the following day.
The next day I arrived at the auction about 7:30 a.m. and at about 8:30
a.m. I told the boys to saddle the black horse and advise me when he was
ready. After more than an hour's time I went out to the stable and Pablo
was trying to put the bit in Galan's mouth. He told me the horse wouldn't
open his mouth and he and Macho had been at it for more than an hour. I
suggested they put some molasses on the bit and try it again. To their
surprise, in less than 5 minutes, Galan had the bit in his mouth. Saddling
the horse was no problem, after the hassle with the bit, the horse was a
gentle as a dog. Pablo led the
stallion outside the corrals to the parking lot and began warming him up at
the end of a long line. After 20 minutes or so the horse was perspiring and
Pablo was ready to mount. Macho had to hold Galan's head while Pablo
mounted, but after Pablo was in the saddle everything went fine.
What a magnificent animal!! As black as coal with a small white patch
between his eyes and no other markings. The seven year old horse was
fifteen hands tall and weighed 584 kilograms (1,285 pounds) the night he
arrived at the stables. His long black shinny mane covered a very thick
neck and his black tail almost touched the ground. The horse had a wide
chest and a perfectly formed hindquarter. The animal had a high "braso"
(the height attained by the nee of the front leg of the horse when he's
moving) which was the same height from the ground as the horse's chest. The
other workers at the auction
were admiring the animal with their mouth's open and all agreed that Galan
was very beautiful and one of the most elegant horses they had seen in their
life. Everyone was inquiring about breeding fees.
After Pablo had ridden Galan for about 15 minutes, I gave him a try. The
horse had a good reign, a soft mouth and you felt like you were sitting on
the "lomo" (back) of a very strong animal. The animal reacted very rapidly
and it would almost scare you to ride him. That horse had tremendous power.
A few days later on a Saturday, I took my wife Maria out to see him. Only
the guard was working so I went out to the stable to bridle Galan. The same
problem as before, he wouldn't open his mouth for the bit. I tried the
molasses again but this time he was too smart. I put the bridle over his
head, gently tapped the bit on his teeth and to my surprise he opened his
mouth. I than led the horse outside the corrals to saddle him and warm him
up on the long line. After about 20 minutes of long line I thought he was
ready to be mounted, what a mistake. He wouldn't let me mount. Each time I
put my boot in the stirrup he would jump sideways. After 10 or 15 minutes of
aggravation I led him back into the corrals. He looked as though he thought
he'd won, but he was wrong.
Maria was quietly watching. I tied one of his front legs up high to one of
the saddle straps and got on the now three legged horse. After I was
mounted I released his leg. I purposely wanted to ride him in the corrals
where it was safer. The tall, narrow, cattle auction corrals would prevent
him from running away if he threw me.
Galan started off a little skittish but smooth, but he wouldn't reign. He
was walking almost stiff legged and suddenly you might say he broke half in
two or in other words, began bucking with all his power. I was riding my
old Ryan roping saddle which helped but luckily the animal's bucking was
really restricted my the narrow corral. He would buck than stop, buck 2 or
3 jumps than stop again and on the third stop I got off. As soon as I
dismounted the horse was back to normal, gentle as a dog. As I led him back
to the stable he would nudge me with his head. I unsaddled him and washed
him down with cool water than put him back in his stall. I explained to
Maria that something had
happened to the horse, maybe his back was sore or something else was
bothering him. She was impressed by Galan's beauty and was looking forward
to the next day because we planned to showoff the horse and take him to a
tope in the nearby pueblo (village) of Tempate (tem-pa-te).
It was early Sunday morning. I had arranged for Mencho, the truck driver,
to load Galan in his truck about 10:00 a.m. and take him to Tempate.
Tempate was about an hour's drive, near Cartagena. Maria and I left Liberia
about 11 a.m. and arrived in Tempate about noon. We decided to eat
something and wait for Mencho, who should arrive at almost any moment. We
finished lunch and noticed that the tope was about to begin. The tope
covered an area of 6 square blocks and passed the center of town where the
local futbol field had been temporarily transformed into a "redondel" (rodeo
arena). There were open grandstands and the bull riding was scheduled would
begin after the tope.
Finally Mencho arrived with Galan. He was late because he had stopped to
pickup his wife and two children who wanted to go to the fiestas. We
unloaded Galan from the truck and I threw the saddle on him. I warmed him
up for about 5 minutes and than mounted him. What a surprise, so far no
problems. The tope was passing about a block away and we rode up to join
it. About the time we entered the tope with the other horses, Galan began
his bad act again and started bucking through the other horses. I was
trying to control the horse, but some of the spectators were cheering
thinking that his bucking was part of the show. I'd pull him into a circle
and he'd buck in a circle. I'd pull back and he’d jump sideways, still
bucking. Finally as we passed the "redondel" he stopped bucking and I got
off. Macho, my hired hand, was also riding in the tope. He led the horse
inside a parking lot and tied him, by the bridle reigns, to a tree near some
other horses. It didn't take Galan more than one minute to break his bit in
two pieces and completely destroy the bridle. He was still tied by the
reigns but the bridle was sort of dangling around his heck. Macho quickly
put a rope around Galan's neck, tied the horse to another tree and than
Maria, I and Macho joined the party.
It was about 3:00 p.m. when we decided to leave. Mencho had the horse
loaded and he and his family would leave for Liberia after the next bull was
ridden. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Maria and I arrived in
Liberia about 4 p.m. but about 6 p.m. Mencho telephoned me at the house,
from the auction barn, to tell me he couldn’t unload the horse. I
immediately drove to the auction, parked and went to the unloading chutes.
Galan was standing in the open cargo door of the small cattle truck, looking
down at the loading chute. Mencho told me he had tried pulling the horse
with the rope that was tied to his halter for about an hour, but no luck.
Mencho went on to say he climbed inside
the compartment and tried pushing the horse outside and even put a rope low
around the horse's hindquarters, to pull him out. I had this problem before
with other horses so I removed the halter from the horse and asked the guard
to bring some hay. After giving the horse several hands full and placing
the rest of the hay on the floor of the chute, we were lucky and the Galan
finally unloaded. Another hour and a half just to unload the horse.
Galan was a very temperamental animal. Due to his large size and maybe his
black color most people were afraid of him, consequently he had been spoiled
all his life. The horse had never kicked or bitten anyone, but he had a
very strong character.
In the beginning I was convinced that the horse needed more attention. For
a couple weeks Pablo rode the horse almost everyday without any problem. It
became earlier to put the bit in his mouth and I thought that his character
had changed.
On one occasion, Pablo, Macho, myself and several other local vaqueros
(cowboys) went horseback riding. We met at the auction facilities and we
left horseback. It was a Saturday morning and I was riding Galan. We
crossed the highway in front of the auction and headed into the town of
Liberia. We were riding on a dirt road and Galan could not have been any
better. The horse was prancing and I could reign him with two fingers. I
could tell that the horse was really enjoying himself. It was a real
pleasure to ride this horse when he was in a good mood.
After about 30 minutes we stopped at the first roadside cantina (street
bar) and the "cantinero" (bartender) brought us all a cold beer. No one got
off his horse, we drank our beer horseback. After we finished the beer we
continued our ride and after a while we stopped at another cantina and than
another. It was about noon and we'd made the rounds of the town of Liberia,
so we decided to go back to the auction. Everyone was happy and feeling
good as we rode along the side of the PanAmerican highway and about that
time someone said lets gallop back to the auction.
The auction was about a kilometer away (6 tenths of a mile) and I could
feel Galan was ready to go home. I just touched my smooth rowel spur to his
side and he took off like a shot. I pulled the leather reigns back to slow
him down but my right-hand reign broke near the bit. Surprisingly with just
the pressure from the left-hand reign, Galan slowed down and I rode him with
the one reign back to the auction, without any problem. When the reign
broke I was expecting a disaster, but again the horse surprised me.
The 25th of July is the day of independence for the Guanacaste province and
more than 500 riders, from all over Costa Rica, conjugate in Liberia, for
the annual fiestas and tope. I was no exception. I had moved Galan to some
stables farther away from town, where a horse trainer was riding him
everyday and where I kept some mares. Mario, the owner of the stables
loaned me his single horse trailer to take Galan to the tope. We arrived at
the hotel Boyeros, the starting place of the tope and unloaded Galan. No
problem with putting the bit in his mouth and in less than 10 minutes he was
saddled,
warmed up and ready to be mounted.
Galan was quiet and I had no problem mounting. The horse was acting
perfect. I rode with some friends that had arrived the night before from
Cartago, near San Jose. The weather was beautiful and there must have been
over 600 horses in the parade. We stopped at the central park, down town
Liberia, due to the congestion of so many horses. After a few minute's wait
the horses in front of us had thinned out so we had room to continue. At
about that time, to everyone's surprise, a man on foot with a snare drum,
who was standing beside my horse, began to beat that damn drum. Here we go
again, Galan instantly began bucking. He bucked down the middle of the
street, in front of the judges stand, for more than a city block. The
street was full of spectators from all over
the country and I was riding a big black bucking horse to their delight. I
couldn't have been more embarrassed. Galan stopped bucking for a moment and
when he did I put the spurs to him and headed down a side street. Now he
wasn't bucking, he was running, but fortunately I didn't have too much
trouble stopping him. We were two blocks away from the parade route and
although the horse was trembling, he was controllable. I dismounted and led
him back to the trailer. The horse had been frightened and I'm sure that's
why he started bucking.
Well I'd had enough of Galan. The last episode was the straw that broke
the camel's back. I couldn't trust him and sooner or later I knew the horse
would hurt me, so I put him up for sale.
In Guanacaste almost no one has cash money but everyone has something to
trade. I was offered an empty commercial building lot in down town Liberia.
Another man offered me a pickup and so on. I wanted cash so I phoned
Adrian, explained what had happened with the horse and asked him if he had
any buyers. He said he did and that same afternoon I talked with Manuel,
who would be Galan's new owner. Manuel, a horse trader and breeder, from
Alajuela, had always wanted Galan for breeding, but could never come to
terms with Adrian. Manuel made arrangements with me to come to Liberia the
following day to see the horse.
Manuel arrived at the Bramadero hotel in Liberia about 9:00 a.m. and within
15 minutes we were at the stables. The trainer, Jose, had Galan in
beautiful condition. His mane was braided and the horse never looked any
better. Manuel was impressed by the animal and asked if the horse could be
ridden, of course I replied and I went over to talk to Jose.
As it turned out Jose hadn't ridden the horse for a couple of days and said
you want me to ride him now, with some fear in his voice. I said just put a
saddle on him and ride him around for five minutes or so. Jose saddled
Galan and mounted. I could see that Galan was a little nervous but Jose was
handling him well. Manuel and I immediately agreed on what I considered a
high price for the horse and we went back to town to find a truck.
Mencho, the truck driver, knew Galan and as it turned out was available to
haul him to the town of Alajuela. I left Manuel at the Bramadero and went
out to make sure the horse got loaded without any problems, because you
never knew what to expect with Galan.
When I arrived at the stables, Mencho backed up to the loading chute and
Galan, who refused to load into the truck. Galan was in a narrow loading
chute so he couldn't turn around. I climbed up the chute next to the horse,
yelled and slapped him on the hindquarters with my open hand, Galan jumped
into the truck.
To make another long story short, Manuel had worst problems with Galan than
I had, but believe it or not, a year or so later he sold Galan to a riding
stable, where Galan was used to give riding instructions to youngsters. For
some unexplainable reason that crazy black horse changed his character and
never bucked again. Incidently, Adrian was still getting excellent colts
from my white stallion Ingeniso, who he was still breeding at 23 years of age.
Charlie Lacy, a transplanted West Texan living in Costa Rica, is a tropical zone cattle production and marketing specialist. In the past twenty-five years he has lived and worked in many Latin American countries as a cattle project consultant with several international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Charlie is considered one of the few experts in his field and established the cattle marketing system for the country of Costa Rica. His short stories are true accounts of some of his experiences in the Latin American cattle business. Any comments about the stories can be sent to endovac@sol.racsa.co.cr.
