Last evening I attended a bullfight in San Miguel's bullring.  The place seats 3000 and it was packed!  The event consisted of performances by 3 bullfighters, each encountered 2 bulls.  One of the bullfights was an apprentice who fought a young bull while another was an experienced matador.











The highlight of the evening was Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, a Spaniard who has settled in San Miguel and who is the most famous rejoneador in the world.  A rejoneador is a bullfight who fights from horseback.  He uses a number of different horses during the event, each trained for specific moves, all highly skilled in dressage and trained not to be afraid of the bull.  The horses will approach the bull straight on and then at the very last second, dart to the side.  Then the bull is encouraged to chase the horse and rider while the horse does various moves like prancing sideways.  The performance last evening was incredible - both the bullfighter and the horses were spectacular!  And yes, he kills the bull.  One of Pablo's kill was so clean and efficient that he was awarded both of the bulls ears!

For more about rejoneadora, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rejoneador

To watch a video of the spectacular horsemanship of Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, go to:   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgG_Gwy7Ysg

Since bullfighter and horse were in constant movement, I could not get any decent photos.  So, here are some of Pablo I found on the Internet.