When you are one of the best at what you do, lesser folks will try to tarnish that.

It looks like Pablo has hired most of Dr. Josip Marcan's staff. :) I have to find out what employment agency they use.







The animal rights movement is not above printing/posting false or misleading information about anybody, if it will advance their agenda. They depend on the "ignorance", no disrespect intended, of the general public they are dealing with to not see through the false claims. The animal rights movement, like all organizations that have an animal base, like the circus and zoo's, also have nitwit's operating on their own, issuing false or damaging statement's, under the guise of "knowing what they are talking about" or that they are actually somebody of importance to the prospective organizations. Their uneducated responses and video tapes are then attributed as fact to the organizations they claim to be speaking for.

The clip above was posted on January 24 by one such individual with no affiliations other then claiming to be an animal activist with this allegation, roughly translated:

Assistant rejoneador Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza Saramago kicking the horse in bullfighting during the run of January 23, 2011 at the Plaza de Toros de Santamaria. The palomino-colored horse was apparently pretty disturbed by particulate matter in the hull.

Before this recording, the assistant and some already had beaten the horse fist on the nose with the hand and stomach with the stirrup.

That day Pablo Hermoso won four ears and a tail. The newspaper El Tiempo said it was "an unforgettable evening in Santamaria," since the newspaper said this was not granted since 1956.

In the clip we see an obviously nervous stallion, worried about commotion going on behind and to the side of him. Any of you horse people ever been there done that at some moment with a stallion or new horse? A pretty normal situation if you have dealt with enough horses of different personalities. The statement said: "Assistant rejoneador Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza Saramago kicking the horse." The translation made it even more misleading. The horse's name is Saramago and Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza is not the "assistant rejoneador" in the clip. Pablo is "the" rejoneador who owns Saramago and the person accused of "kicking the horse" is the "groom" or "assistant TO Pablo Hermoso. I see a nervous horse not going away from pressure as he has been taught, which can cause serious injury to a person on the ground if they should get pinned between the horse and a solid surface or wall. I see the assistant shushing the horse over with a grooming rag to let people pass behind. A grooming rag!!!!! That's a hand towel for you folks that don't know. Watch as the horse, startled, immediately swings back almost pinning the assistant to the wall. The assistant doesn't even have room to move his/her arm to shush the hip over with the grooming rag. At that moment it was self defense and the only recourse was to get your message delivered "loud and clear," GET OVER/GET OFF ME. Then and only then did the assistant "kick" the horse in the belly. Any of you horse folks ever been there done that in the same suddenly dangerous situation? I have, on more then one occasion. Note the groom pushing on the horse's shoulder and the horse pushing back? That's called "not going away from pressure" and that is how one large hundreds of pounds animal moves another large hundreds of pounds animal. But is can cause serious injury to a much smaller man or women. At the end of the clip note the assistant shush the horse's head up so he/she can wisely get out from behind the horse by going under it's head. Understand that when this clip was taken the horse had calmed down considerably. The clip below was shot a few minutes before the clip above and was posted in response to people asking "where is the abuse, and what was done wrong."



The second clip actually show's Pablo on the scene, and I appreciate the ignorance of the person who posted it, as it sure show's what truly happened. I for one would have responded, reacted, and done exactly what Mr. Hermosa did in the exact same dangerous, explosive situation. Pay close attention at :45. For you folks that have never "been there done that" you will see a horse attempt to kill someone.

The clip opens one horse pushing the other horse, described above, over and into a barrier. Had the barrier been knocked over, all hell would have probably broken loose. Don't forget these gorgeous animals called a horse are the same creatures who will, if turned loose from a burning barn, run around the back and reenter the burning barn to their death, in their panic not realizing what they have just done.

Pablo walks up, pushes the hip over, and shushes the head/shoulder over with his hand. The horse reacts as he should, with no contact other then the push, because Pablo is the Captain and that is as it should be.

At :15 there was apparently some problem with the Palomino, as he is being clipped to a tie rope and Pablo is walking over to the horse. Most conveniently that segment of the clip has been edited out or not filmed and we are not allowed to see what occurred. Imagine that moment is gone, and the "activist" did not want us to see it. LOL All we are allowed to see is Pablo walking over and slapping the horse in the shoulder. Which gives us a clue. Most likely the Palomino was leaning/pushing on the assistant, who was cleaning it's hooves, attempting to knock/push him/her down. Now, with Pablo there, the foot is picked up again. Then the clip is edited again as we aren't allowed to see what happened just before Pablo made the decision to turn the horse around and face it against the wall. Did the horse lunge into the assistants face in an attempt to free it's foot. We'll never know, but that would be the most logical explanation why they horse was turned around and faced into the wall. No place to go, the thug can't knock concrete in the mouth and drive it off it's feet.

At :35 we see Pablo bump/bang the Palomino in the rib's(not "beat the stomach" as stated) in an effort to get it over, to get it to "go away from pressure", to get it to quit leaning/pushing on he and the assistants. I have done the same thing hundreds of times to get a pushy colt to move over, that is leaning into me. It is a practiced endorsed by the best from John Lyons on down. Madame Col., if you are listening, every slapped a belligerent stallion over with a stirrup? Next we see the Palomino all of a sudden throw his shoulder into 4 people who together may weight what one horse does, and Pablo hit's it in the jaw(not the nose, as stated. That's further down on the horse's face.) which is bone, as in that instant the shoulder obviously wasn't going to respond, and the jaw can be enticed to move the shoulder. A common rule of thumb in dealing with horses is never hit them in the head, as they will become "head shy" and throw their head up every time you reach for them with your hand. That's basic 101. But a wise old horsemen, who had dealt with hundred's of stallions in his life, one time told me "there should be a footnote to that statement that say's, unless the horse has become unglued and has you pinned and is trying to kill you. In that instant, in addition to hitting him in the head, you should also try real hard to gouge his eyeballs out."

Next the horse is turned back around, as obviously he was more panicked facing the wall. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now we see the moment at :45 I suggested above that you note. I suspect the part that was edited out of the tape earlier was actually the horse's first attempt at killing the assistant which is when Pablo entered the scene. What we are actually seeing at :45 is the Palomino's "second attempt" at killing the assistant. The first clip posted was after this situation had occurred, and the horse had obviously calmed down, yet was still skittish and wired, which is why he was shushed over with the grooming rag then booted in the ribs. Pablo was by this time, probably assisting the assistant to the ambulance, or at least seeing that he/she made it to the infirmary.

I appreciate this "self appointed animal activist" posting these clips. They set the "cause" back a step, that's for sure. I don't appreciate some "self appointed circus animal expert" doing the same thing for my industry with their stupid statements and phony kool-aid video clips.