Uruguay- El Charabon Cattle Drive

This morning the rain subsided at the estancia where we are riding, El Charabon, so we headed out for a cattle drive. El Charabon is a working ranch that raises cattle and Hampshire Down sheep. I rode a wonderful, smooth Criollo out to the far fields, where we five of us, including Jorge, me, Paola and El Charabon’s gauchos would gather cattle to move them to another pasture.

Jorge let me borrow his wool poncho, which is what the gauchos typically wear when it’s cooler here in Uruguay. At first, I didn’t think I needed it, but once I had it on, I was very glad. As the rain poured down on us once again, I knew that I would sleep well on the flight back to the USA this evening, after riding horses and herding cattle in the rain.

I did have fun though, as we headed up the cattle and moved them on out. They were a pretty easy bunch, but that’s probably because their gaucho has trained them so well. We had more pastries and hot tea back at the house. I'm going to miss Alicia sweet treats!

Learn more about riding at El Charabon Estancia in Uruguay.

Darley Newman is the host of the Public Television series Equitrekking®, which takes viewers on horseback riding vacations around the world. Visit equitrekking.com and purchase Equitrekking DVDs, the Equitrekking Travel Adventures on Horseback book and more at ShopDarley.com