Panagea is an estancia located about an hours drive from Tacuarembo and well away from the usual comforts of telephone and electricity. Juan was born on the estancia and now owns and manages 2000 acres with the help of another gaucho and his family, and anyone who stays there fits in around the usual day-to-day activities.
I was fascinated to see how farming works in Uruguay and the land around Tacuarembo is rolling hills and reminded me a bit of the South Island of New Zealand. The paddocks are huge (the 2000 acres are split into eight paddocks and one is ~700 acres on its own) and the surrounding countryside is untainted by telegraph poles, pylons and mobile phone towers which makes a pleasant change to other countries. On Panagea, the land is untouched; no planting, cropping, spraying or fertilising and the ranch is classified as organic. There are 1000 head of cattle (Brangus bulls over Hereford cows) and 2000 Merilin sheep (a Merino/Lincoln-cross bred in Uruguay for the conditions – the sheep have the wool of the Merino and the hardiness of the Lincoln) and the stocking rate is easy to work out. The only water supply is from natural springs that run through the paddocks and drought, when it comes, hits hard (when I asked what happens in drought I got the answer “we cross our fingers”). It seems hard country to farm prosperously and of course I had hundreds of questions. I am just hoping now that I’ve got the facts correct (and will expect an email if I haven’t!).
Photo: Alison Duffy
I was fascinated to see how farming works in Uruguay and the land around Tacuarembo is rolling hills and reminded me a bit of the South Island of New Zealand. The paddocks are huge (the 2000 acres are split into eight paddocks and one is ~700 acres on its own) and the surrounding countryside is untainted by telegraph poles, pylons and mobile phone towers which makes a pleasant change to other countries. On Panagea, the land is untouched; no planting, cropping, spraying or fertilising and the ranch is classified as organic. There are 1000 head of cattle (Brangus bulls over Hereford cows) and 2000 Merilin sheep (a Merino/Lincoln-cross bred in Uruguay for the conditions – the sheep have the wool of the Merino and the hardiness of the Lincoln) and the stocking rate is easy to work out. The only water supply is from natural springs that run through the paddocks and drought, when it comes, hits hard (when I asked what happens in drought I got the answer “we cross our fingers”). It seems hard country to farm prosperously and of course I had hundreds of questions. I am just hoping now that I’ve got the facts correct (and will expect an email if I haven’t!).
Photo: Alison Duffy
What really interested me (obviously!) were the horses. There are 84 (get that!!) horses on the property, run in four herds of about 20 but only one herd is in work at a time. These horses have virtually nothing done to them; no brushing, hoof trims, washing or anything apart from the occasional drench and by God they’re strong, good, healthy horses. Much smaller than the horses I’m used to but hugely responsive, comfortable and absolutely fantastic to ride. There are also some wonderful colours – lovely blue roans, really unusual duns and some beautiful bays.
The horses are treated like work animals (i.e no fussing or petting and, as I discovered, they don’t eat apple cores) and are herded into a corral before being caught, rather than approached and caught in the paddock like horses at home. I didn’t realise this and wondered why they walked away from me in the paddock but it all became clear the next morning when the horses were herded into a corral and Juan asked them all to line up facing him, calling “forme, forme…..” (form up, form up) then “frente, frente” (front, front)). The horses start out in a jumble
but end up like this (with the odd renegade – Borat was always shocker and often had to be strongly pursuaded to turn around…. )
I was like a kid in a candy store, no joke. Horses are selected for people based on their riding ability but after a while we got to pick which horse we rode. Euan made me laugh as he would always forget which horse he rode the day before or, to his frustration, pick one that was incredibly quiet and offer minimal challenge. However, in his defence, if you’re a non-horsy person you could be forgiven as sometimes, as this photo shows, they did all look rather similar!
The riding style of the gaucho couldn’t be more different than English riding style if it tried; legs stuck out in front, reins held loosely in one hand, girths around the middle of the horses belly. I relished the more relaxed style of riding, felt very very comfortable and probably developed some bad habits as a result :-). This is Euan the morning after we arrived and we were bringing in a herd of about 14 fresh horses before turning the others (who had been in work) out for a few weeks rest.
The gear is very different too. Saddles are light and very functional but made comfy with a thick sheepskin on top.
Photo: Marije Gerfen
The bits have the ability to cause real chaos if the reins are not held super loose.
Photo: Marije Gerfen
A sheepskin is strapped on top of the saddle and what you end up with is very comfortable to ride in.
Photo: Marije Gerfen
The horses are trained to stand still once the reins are on the ground. A strange concept if you’ve been brought up to ride English style but far more practical.
All the tack is kept here and it paid to remember which lot of gear you used the day before to avoid going through the rigmarole of adjusting stirrups etc every day.
Photo: Marije Gerfen
Around the gaucho’s house were pigs and piglets, turkeys, chickens
and as the lambs had arrived months early this year, there were about nine orphans that needed feeding twice a day along with a couple of disabled calves.
This sow had piglets and seemed to need a break once in a while. This was one place they didn’t follow her
and at feeding time, the pigs did what pigs do best.
The lambs were still at that age where they were really cute and cuddly but it doesn’t take long before they’re big and smelly.
We were at the estancia for four days initially and every day was spent out working with the stock. Euan did incredibly well on all the horses he rode and I could see the improvement over the four days. By the end, he was quite happily cantering around after runaway cattle or sheep and enjoying it to boot. Needless to say I was thrilled. This is Euan on Linyera (pronounced ‘Linchera’), a really clever little mare who ended up being one of my favourites to ride.
In one paddock, the 700 or so sheep came into the yards every 5-7 days to be checked for infections. Because the lambs had arrived early there was loads more infection around than usual and the flies were particularly vicious. It is pretty labour intensive getting sheep in like this every week but I’ve never herded stock on horseback and couldn’t get enough of it.
There were other travellers that came and went during our time there and there were some memorable moments. I loved meeting all the new people and helping them with the horses if they needed it. Three Americans arrived and one chap had ridden on a ranch in Montana but still sat all hunched over and didn’t really pay much attention to what was going on. When he rode too close behind the flock of sheep we were herding, a slow lamb got under his horse. The horse tumbled the lamb a few times, got a fright, freaked out and went sideways and this poor chaps saddle slipped right round sideways and he was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The lamb, meanwhile, lay there absolutely stunned and I was thinking “please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…”. It wasn’t dead and the American guy was still untangling himself while his horse was trying to get away. I felt a bit sorry for him as it is embarrassing but what better way to learn that you need to do the girth up tight?!
Working with cattle was equally enjoyable and the flies were as much of a nuisance with them as with the sheep. We were helping bring them through the race for spraying.
When they came in, clouds of flies rose from each cow but after they were sprayed, the dopey flies gravitated towards us and sleepily crawled round on our arms.
The calves were also subject to infection and needed treating. It took a few tries but eventually Euan got the technique right.
We were there at the same time as a Dutch couple, Marije and Sander, who were great company.
When we weren’t out on the horses we were being entertained by Sander (who is one of the funniest people I know with a natural ability to make faces that looks like they should be in comic books),
playing cards or nattering about travels. Sander attempted to teach Euan some Dutch.
The estancias charm is in its authenticity, naturalness and simplicity, perhaps common in this part of the world but not so easily found in our respective countries. The estancia has running water (hot water is heated by log stove) but water for drinking is drawn from the well outside the kitchen
and as there is only power (provided by a generator) three hours a day, all cooking is done on a wood stove, in the wood-fired oven outside and only occasionally is the portable gas hob used.
Juan’s wife, Suzanne, is an incredibly warm welcoming lady who seems to take everything in her stride. She is also a great chef and produces incredible food and her bread is to die for. We noticed her absence and missed her company when she went to town for a few nights while we were there.
There were a few people that came through that week, including two young English girls arrived who provided great entertainment. Neither had ridden before and the second day they went out it absolutely tipped it down. Their horses just stopped dead and refused to move, prompting the usual cries of “I can’t make it go” and “I don’t know what to do…”. Meanwhile, the rest of us were moving fast for the shelter of the trees. All of a sudden, one of the horses swung round and bolted for the gate, and thankfully the girl stayed on and the horse didn’t jump. Once at the gate, the horse just stopped but took some persuading before it moved to go to the trees and I ended up leading it so it didn’t do the same thing again. That was the only day it rained in our entire time there and we saw the water level of the well getting lower and lower. A sombre reminder of why it was necessary to save water.
There are armadillos in Uruguay and I’d never seen one before and this little chap, who was moseying around in the grass, made his way close to where we were on the horses. He didn’t even realise we were there and when Juan snuck up and grabbed him, he got such a fright but it was a treat to see one so close.
Gatieada was one of Euans favourite horses and we thought she was one of the prettiest of the horses around.
Bayo (means dun in Spanish but is said almost like “Bvasher”) was another favourite
I tried to ride as many horses as possible but always went back to my two favourites, Kaiser and Linyera below. You’re not supposed to ride the same horses twice so we’d switch horses during the day; a really good practice for learning to ride but you still can’t help developing your favourites.
I called Kaiser the ‘arm chair’ as he was that comfortable to ride and seemed to float over the grass despite being built like a tank. He was quite a spooky horse when not being ridden but once you were riding him, he was so keen to please and responsive.
We enjoyed our time at the estancia so much that we rescheduled the entire remainder of our trip so we could return. For me, it took me back to when my family had some land, loads of animals and I had all the horses I could deal with at one time. For Euan, it was a completely different experience and it could have gone either way for him but to my surprise at the time, he enjoyed it as much as I and wanted to return to become a proficient rider. There was a large group arriving soon and there was going to be minimal space so, after deciding that less people were better and rescheduling our flights, we headed off to travel some of Eastern Uruguay with Marije and Sander.
There are armadillos in Uruguay and I’d never seen one before and this little chap, who was moseying around in the grass, made his way close to where we were on the horses. He didn’t even realise we were there and when Juan snuck up and grabbed him, he got such a fright but it was a treat to see one so close.
Gatieada was one of Euans favourite horses and we thought she was one of the prettiest of the horses around.
Bayo (means dun in Spanish but is said almost like “Bvasher”) was another favourite
I tried to ride as many horses as possible but always went back to my two favourites, Kaiser and Linyera below. You’re not supposed to ride the same horses twice so we’d switch horses during the day; a really good practice for learning to ride but you still can’t help developing your favourites.
I called Kaiser the ‘arm chair’ as he was that comfortable to ride and seemed to float over the grass despite being built like a tank. He was quite a spooky horse when not being ridden but once you were riding him, he was so keen to please and responsive.
We enjoyed our time at the estancia so much that we rescheduled the entire remainder of our trip so we could return. For me, it took me back to when my family had some land, loads of animals and I had all the horses I could deal with at one time. For Euan, it was a completely different experience and it could have gone either way for him but to my surprise at the time, he enjoyed it as much as I and wanted to return to become a proficient rider. There was a large group arriving soon and there was going to be minimal space so, after deciding that less people were better and rescheduling our flights, we headed off to travel some of Eastern Uruguay with Marije and Sander.
No comments:
Post a Comment