Lasso competition in Panama

On 3 Februari we went to Arenas to see the district lasso competition. This is a typical Panamanian sport, more particularly, a typical rural sport. The objective is to catch a calf from horseback with a lasso as quickly as possible.

The competition is held in a special rectangular arena about 25 m wide and 100 m long. At one end, there is an elaborate release system that ensures that each rider gives his calf the same head start. The calves do one dry run so they know they have to get to the other end, where they are gathered in a corral.

The start is all important, the quicker you get close to the calf, the better. If the rider is any good, he (this is a real macho sport, there have been only one or two woman competitors) has his lasso in the air as soon as the calf gets away and is in position to throw his lasso within seconds. The really good riders can lasso the calf within two seconds, but most ‘fumble around’ for a good five to ten seconds. Some riders miss completely, or the calf gets through the loop before the rider can tighten it. They can try again until the calf manages to escape to the corral at the other end. If the calf escapes, the rider gets an arbitrary time of 20 seconds.

The attempt only counts if the lasso is thightened around the neck of the calf. If the calf is caught by the rump or a leg, the attempt is disqualified and the rider also gets an arbitrary time of 20 seconds. If the rider does not control his horse properly and the calf is dragged along, the attempt is also disqualified, with the same punishment as before.

The best guy we saw, managed to get the calf in 2 seconds flat. That is good, and ensures the preize for the best personal time. However, the play in teams of 10 riders and each has to catch a calf twice. The total time of all 10 team members counts. Each team has two players in reserve. If one or two of the first ten miss the calf or get their attempt disqualified, the reserves enter the arena.

Two teams play against each other, first one of one team, then one of another, until all players have had two attempts at catching a calf. The teams all have their own banner and shirt. Everybody wears a Panama hat, jeans and a shirt in the club colours. The shirt is always tucked in the jeans and a carefully folded handkerchief in the right rear pocket is optional. The Panama hat quite often gets lost when the rider chases the calf at full speed, and a special person is appointed to collect lost hats, very much like the boys that collect the tennis balls at Wimbledon.

When we were there, there were eight teams and ‘Union del Sur’ (Union of the South) was our favourite because one or two players come from the village where our farm is located. Union del Sur beat their direct opponent, but with a total time of 208 seconds, they were way behind the winners, who only needed 144 seconds to catch 20 calves.

So what about those poor calves? And why not cows? Well, cows are too easy to catch, so it has to be calves. During the day’s competition, each calf has to run the arena 3 times. So it is not too bad. In the corral there is water to drink and the calves are also sprayed with water too keep them cool. And, well, they spend the whole day in the open air, which is more than most calves in the US or Europe can say. And some calves are quite smart, they refuse to run away when they are supposed to. These calves are taken out of the competition and can amble to the other side of the arena at their leisure.

Quite a few calves manage to evade the lasso or slip through the loop before it gets thightened, so they make it safely to the other side (to many cheers of their fellow calves, no doubt). The ones that get caught, make a rather sudden stop when the lasso is thightened and fall over, but they are on their legs again within a second. He rider brings the calf to the other end, where it is released in the corral

The mood was very relaxed and friendly, everybody was cheering for everyone, but cheered just a bit louder for their favourite team. You could rent chairs to watch at leisure from a shaded platform, or remain seated on your horse. Police were not necessary and therefore not present (at least not on duty or in uniform).

All spectators wear more or less the same as the riders, except us. Kees (no hat, shirt not tucked in his jeans and handkerchief stuffed in the right front pocket) and Loes (skirt, no hat and a T-shirt) stood out like, well, like tourists at a Panamanian lasso competition. And we were also horse-less. And without a horse you might as well not be there. There is a lot of cruising going on outside the arena, before, during and after the competition, with people looking at both horse and rider (M/F). Bars are constructed in such a way that a rider does not necessarily have to dismount to get his beer.


We hope the pictures tell the story. We also made some short movies and hopefully we will manage to upload those too. And a big thank you to Justino Moreno, who came along and explained the finer details of lasso competitions to us.