San Isidro Rejones: Hermoso and Ventura, the Golden Age of Horse Bullfighting

It’s no secret that the art of rejoneo is living its Golden Age. It’s no longer dismissively referred to as “the little horse number”. And its programming has ceased to be a “patch” or an addition to the fairs. Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza first and later Diego Ventura have elevated its category, have driven a breed that fits like a glove to this kind of bullfighting (the Murube breed) to reach a perfection in taming, in expression and in the embroques hardly imaginable.

First it was Hermoso, who at the end of the last century began to break the molds in which he found himself, somewhat ossified by the way, this type of celebrations. His triumphs and the strength he began to acquire at the box office served first for the Navarrese bullfighter to discard the colleras (thus is called the fight of a bull by two rejoneadores at the same time) and to impose the ternas of rejoneadores, something that gave the celebration more seriousness, entity and competition.

The stride and rhythm of the Murube bulls contributed notably to develop a concept that went beyond the cite and the meeting. He gained in temperance and boosted the side gallop parallel to the boards with an unforgettable herd in which emerged, above the rest, his horse Cagancho. This gray horse was an indispensable part in the consideration that Pablo Hermoso reached in bullfighting, especially after the tail he cut at the April Fair in Seville in 1999.