Horse Games in San Jorge!

Flecha (arrow)

Horses are a Costa Rica passion.  Costa Ricans love horses and most  can ride like the wind.  I know our neighbor's son Claudio has been riding since he was 3 and sits a horse like he was born there! This weekend we had our San Jorge Gran Turno (small fiesta)  here in a our little pueblo (village) of San Jorge (population 100 or so).  Saturday was the Carreras de Cintas a Caballo - in English a form of horse gymkhana.  My intentions were to watch but soon talked myself into participating.  The object of the event is to spear a specially made instrument (flecha) that you hold in your hand through a ring (anillo) that is hanging by a clothespin from a line.  And you do this while riding at full gallop on your horse!   For some reason the event arranger decided to use rings the size of a dime (see photo).   Normally they are about one inch in diameter these were about half an inch! 

Anillo (ring)

Now let me tell you that speeding toward the ring suspended in the air, trying to control the horse, making sure you are aligned properly and then trying to clip the 1/2 inch ring off the line is not an easy task.  We each had 10 trys to accomplish the goal.  There were about 40 horses and riders participating in the event.  The eventual winner managed to cleanly take the ring off the line about 6 times! His horse was well trained and smooth as silk as they worked together at full speed.  It was a pleasure to watch.  I was unsuccessful at getting the ring,  but Rafael (our worker) managed to clip one off while riding our mare Chalana.  Click here to see a short video of the event Carreras de Cintas A Caballo