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Charros riding through an agave field on the Hacienda El Ahito. Maguey ropes and tequila are made from the agave.
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“Wear those chaps, you’ll need them,” Jorge Serrano had told me, handing me a pair of charrochapareras as he was stepping out of the tack room. That morning, as we were heading out to gather some cattle on the Hacienda El Ahito, a 2,200-acre spread located outside of Lagos de Moreno in the state of Jalisco, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I soon found out that herding cattle in this high desert region of Mexico called Los Altos was a far cry from the slow gatherings I’m accustomed to on the Wyoming range. First of all, here you don’t herd cattle, you chase them. Approached by humans only a few times a year, these cattle remain wary of horsemen. To add to the challenge, every plant in sight seems to carry thorns—long and hard ones that would go through the thickest pants as if they were a paper napkin. As I negotiate my way at a lope through Nopal cactuses the size of cottonwoods, in pursuit of the uncooperative cattle, I am now grateful for my compadre’s advice. My finely trained steed, a striking Appaloosa, moves smoothly to the slightest touch of the reins with my finger.
To better fit in with the rest of the crew, I am wearing my newly acquired palm-leaf sombrero, which bumps against branches every time I take a sharp turn through the dense brush. Despite the thickness of the brush, I manage to keep up with the cattle and the rest of the crew, relying mostly on the sound of the horses’ hoofbeats and the calls of the riders to maintain my bearings. We come upon a clearing, a pasture made of tall dry grass. The cattle have finally slowed down and we push them toward the stone corrals where the afternoon branding will take place.
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