The rejoneo is in low hours, the causes are known, but no one dares to apply the solution | The bull, by the horns | Culture

In the 2007 season, 468 bull and steer bullfighting shows were held in Spain, and last year, 133, according to statistical data offered by the Ministry of Culture.

Since that large figure 16 years ago, bullfighting celebrations on horseback have been progressively decreasing: 445, in 2008; 316, in 2010; 221, in 2013; 184, in 2015; 155, in 2017; They rose to 169 in 2018, and the decline has continued until 2023.

Paradoxically, the number of bull and steer bullfighting professionals registered in the official registry has increased season after season. According to the same official source, in 2007 it amounted to 319 and increased year after year until reaching the figure of 416 in 2017. Culture corrected the data downwards starting in 2018, and the rejoneadores registered that year were 319; six more got on the horses in 2019 and 2020, and the number in 2023 was 345.

According to the bullfighting portal Mundotoro.com, the ranking has undergone few changes, and the number of performances has ranged from 50 for Diego Ventura in 2022 and Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza in 2017, to 40 and 46 for Lea Vicens in 2018 and 2019, and the 44 afternoons of Sebastián Fernández in 2023.

Of the 345 gentlemen registered, only 83 performed at least one afternoon last season, according to Mundotoro.com.

In 2007, 468 bull and steer bullfighting shows were held in Spain, and last year, 133.

These data contrast with the full capacity that occurred on April 14 at the last Seville Fair and with the two afternoons of ‘no tickets’ at this San Isidro (on May 18 and the mixed bullfight on May 26). ) and the full one on June 1.

But reality is stubborn and does not hide that something very serious is happening within bullfighting on horseback that endangers its continuity in the not too distant future if corrective measures are not adopted.

The causes are varied and all of them are known, and are divided between the excellence of the horse stables, the exquisite goodness of the bulls, the comfort of the gentlemen, the amusing generosity of the audience and the persistent discord between the two great figures of the rejoneo, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza and Diego Ventura, which has led to an incomprehensible and repeated veto of the former over the latter.

The rejoneadores

Despite the very high number of men and women who appear in the Culture registry as professionals in the sector, you can count on the fingers of one hand those who are capable of forming a poster of general interest: Hermoso de Mendoza, father and son, Diego Ventura, Lea Vicens, Sergio Galán, Leonardo Hernández, Andrés Romero, Andy Cartagena and some more.

Horses

The choice of horses and their training have reached the highest level, excellence. They are not animals trained for bullfighting, they are bullfighters, they feel like such and transmit that condition to the bullfighters. And a brave bullfighter horse, with proper training, a learned trade and a dazzling personality, is sufficiently prepared to take on any type of bull.

The Bulls

Reality shows that not just any livestock is suitable for the bullfighting show. At least, it is the conclusion that emerges from the irons that are usually fought in these celebrations: El Capea, Los Espartales and Fermín Bohórquez. These bulls seem genetically conceived, nursed and bred to collaborate closely in achieving victory. They are not noble bulls; They are blessed, stone guests in a schoolyard game in which others have fun at the cost of their lives. And, of course, they convey more pity than risk.

The public

The spectators who attend the bullfights today do not do so – an obvious conclusion – to see bullfighting, but to enjoy the antics of the true protagonists of the celebration: the horses. The correct execution of the lots is the least important thing; The important thing is that the horse avoids the kind opponent, plays with him and comes out of the encounters successfully. It does not matter if the rejones or the banderillas are nailed high, to the stirrup or rump, or with more or less adjustment. It is enough that they remain on the bull, what does it matter where it is in his anatomy. And the death rod, yes, that penetrates the anatomy of the animal, whether rear, low or opposite, is an essential condition to obtain a trophy.

Horse training has reached excellence, and they play with blessed bulls designed for triumph.

The discord

A fundamental fact in this process of decline is the confrontation between the two great figures of current rejoneo: Pablo Hermoso and Diego Ventura. In truth, the reasons are unknown, and only Ventura has reiterated his willingness to resolve the dispute. But the obvious thing is that the Navarrese gentleman has had it in for years: he does not advertise with it on any billboard and has vetoed it wherever he can, especially in Pamplona, ​​where Hermoso is the ‘boss’, and in the squares they run its representatives, Casa Chopera: Bilbao, Logroño, Salamanca and San Sebastián.

This veto prevents competition between the two most outstanding gentlemen of today, which greatly damages the prestige of the show, and closes the doors of important places to Diego Ventura, an unfair reality imposed by Hermoso de Mendoza, whose personal category is left to the horses’ feet.

But the responsibility for this situation does not fall only on the Navarrese rejoneador; The House of Mercy of Pamplona is a necessary collaborator, which does another very disservice to the party by accepting Hermoso’s imposition, an attitude shared by the knight’s representatives.

In short, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza and his collaborators are responsible, to the extent that corresponds to them, for the decline of the current rejoneo. And some public reprimand was noted in the coldness with which the Las Ventas public welcomed the farewell of the veteran rejoneador on May 18.

Conclusion. Bullfighting is at a low point, the reasons are known, but bullfighters prefer to stay in their comfort zone rather than take risks against other farms. And Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza has no name. The damage he is doing to the rejoneo is a black blur on his very brilliant career.