HORSEMANSHIP · HERITAGE · COMMUNITY

Charrería: a guide to the tradition

Your first charreada starts here.

You do not need to know the rules—or speak Spanish—to enjoy charrería. This guide introduces the events, the people, and the moments to watch.

What is Charrería?

Charrería is Mexico’s quintessential national sport. Charrería brings together riding, roping, and skills rooted in Mexican ranch work. Today, families, associations, and schools pass on both the sport and its traditions. A charreada is a gathering where you can watch these skills in competition.

In 2016, UNESCO inscribed charrería on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition includes the knowledge, crafts, and community traditions that surround it.

The nine suertes

A suerte is a competitive event or feat of skill. We keep the traditional Spanish names and explain them in English. Terna includes two roping components within one of these nine events.

Cala de caballo

Cala de caballo demonstrates the horse’s training and responsiveness through the punta (sliding stop), lados (spins), medios lados (half turns), and ceja (backing up).

Piales en el lienzo

A charro ropes a mare’s hind legs and stops her run by letting the rope slide around the saddle horn—a technique called chorrear el lazo. The friction slows the mare to a stop.

Coleadero

A mounted charro brings a bull down by its tail in the manga del lienzo, the arena’s straight lane.

Jineteo de toro

A charro rides a bucking bull.

Terna en el ruedo

Three charros work together to rope a bull by the head and hind legs and bring it down.

Jineteo de yegua

A charro rides a bucking mare.

Manganas a pie

On foot, a charro ropes a running mare’s front legs and brings her down.

Manganas a caballo

On horseback, a charro ropes a running mare’s front legs and brings her down.

Paso de la muerte

A rider leaps from a bareback horse onto a running, unbroken mare.

Discover the lienzo charro

The lienzo charro combines the manga, the straight approach starting at the partidero, with the circular ruedo. The manga is at least 60 m long and 12 m wide; the ruedo is 40 m in diameter. The starting gate is at the beginning of the manga; the judges’ stand is at the 60 m boundary. The venue also includes livestock pens, riding chutes, a return lane and spectator stands.

General plan: grey lines indicate dimensions, not chalk markings. Auxiliary facilities depend on the venue layout.

FMCH · Art. 2 · pp. 5–6

Watching your first charreada

Follow the setting: the lienzo has a straight lane, called the manga, connected to the circular ruedo. Different events use different areas.
Listen for the event names. Recognizing the Spanish names helps you follow the announcer, even while you are learning.
Watch the coordination as well as the individual rider. Many moments depend on teammates working together.
Ask questions between events. Learning the vocabulary is part of getting to know the tradition.

A few words you will hear

Charro: A practitioner of traditional Mexican horsemanship.
Charreada: The event where the competitive suertes take place.
Lienzo charro: The arena designed for charrería.
Reata: The rope used in the roping events.
Floreo: Decorative rope handling and flourishes.
Escaramuza: A Charrería discipline in which a team of women riding sidesaddle performs coordinated exercises on horseback.
Albarda: The sidesaddle used in escaramuza, designed for riding with both legs on the same side of the horse.