#vaqueros

🚀 Mexican Vaquero César Ureña

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spurs, worn as fashion accessories and equestrian tools, have a controversial past and present. the word spur means to kick, and the spurs are kicked into a horse while riding one, usually to communicate that you want the horse to go faster. they have obvious misuses and abuses and potential to be cruel, but are seen by some equestrian riders as an intimate form of discipline and control that when used correctly can aid in horse training and even bonding.

I don’t know entirely how I feel about spurs and their equestrian uses. best probably to ask a horse, not me. but growing up in the western United States, and being of Mexican descent in a hometown that is majority-minority, with the biggest minority being Mexican, I saw a lot of spurs. at restaurants, at family gatherings, weddings when people dressed up. spurs were often part of that.

even the closest Mexican restaurant to me where I sometimes get breakfast burritos is called las espuelas, which means “the spurs.” grammatically, spurs are feminine.

I used to be vegan and am still mostly vegetarian and I care about animal welfare and at one time animal liberation. I still do to a certain degree, but I also believe now that humans and animals can be useful to each other when they share and come together, especially when they share things that are there anyway, regardless of whether we use them. eggs, milk, honey, and even fur and wool. dogs can overheat if you don’t shave them in the summer, so can sheep, and their wool can grow so wild it obstructs their vision. humans can use all of those things, and the animals can use a hand. I suppose it’s just matter of stewardship and what could even be called husbandry. a good shepard. a good cowboy. a good vaquero.

but husbandry is not done exclusively by men, and there are cowgirls and vaqueras, too.

I was only a vaquera once for about 2 hours. I didn’t want to, but my Russian language immersion program in Kyrgyzstan made us ride horses in the mountains as part of a planned activity. we were led by Kyrgyz vaqueros, you could say. I felt pressured and scared—and the horse sensed my fear. for two hours I clung as it tried to buck me and intimidate me. when we got back down the mountain, my Kyrgyz horse riding instructor told me that horse was wild and had never been ridden before. it was his first time, too.

but despite my reservations about spurs because of their potential for abuse to animals — spoken as a human who identifies as a masochist and was involved in bdsm when I still could be sexually active — I think they can still be appreciated as an art form. and they look like bdsm toys and tools. harnesses, cuffs. and even look like little torture devices. but I think they should be able to be separated from their usual context to be considered and admired as objects, just things. things that can’t hurt you. can’t hurt horses. they’re just there.

as usual, I find I like the very simple ones, though they can be and often are very ornate. and while I like the cool sheen of metal very much, I like the look of age, decay and rust, too.

“rust you are and to rust you shall return.” something like that.

main article: wiki entry for spurs