Video-reportaje: un día en una corrida landesa

"Course Landaise is an ancient popular game of the Aquitaine Region, which has now become an official sport in France.
Like all arena games, the Course Landaise has a fundamental principle: The opposition of 2 forces, between the intelligence and agile skill of Man and the strength, agility and aggression of the Cow and that's it.

Lets make one thing very clear at this point: There are no weapons or red cloaks used on the animals. The Cow does NOT DIE. All there is between Man and Beast in the Course Landaise is skill, acrobatics, gymnastics and a rope (explained later).

The Cows, named "Landaise", have taken part in the games over many years, other types of Cows and Bulls have been tried, but none have lasted the test of time for agility and entertainment as the Landaise, so that is why the sport is known today as "Courses de Vaches Landaises".

To explain "Vaches" for those of you not conversant with French: Vache is the name for a Cow (in English) but these are totally different to the domestic types found in the farm yard, they were originally a wild prairie version that roamed the plains of Spain and the same type of breed as the Toro (Bull) used in Spanish Corridas (Bull Fights). This type of Cow is now bred in the Landes Departement of France especially for this purpose. They are not reared for eating and they don't produce milk (So do not think there are a lot of Cows with udders charging around an Arena, because there's not). The difference in size between the "Vache" and "Toro" is best described by weight, the "Vache" is around 250/300 kilos (550/660 lbs), very quick and agile and the "Toro" around 575/625 kilos (1265/1375 lbs), not as agile, but once on the move he is just like a Chiefton army tank, unstopable.

The Sport consists of provoking the animal into charging. For the man to wait as long as possible and then to move away at the last possible moment by any means available to him, but all applied with as much gusto and machoism as possible.

The Moves:

The "Ecart" (Swerve): The man known as an "Ecarteur" in the Arena, waits and taunts the animal with raised arms. When the charging Cow is only a few meters from him, he makes a vertical jump (he hopes he judges the situation correctly) and lands close to the muzzle & horns of the Cow and then quickly swerves to make the Cow pass behind his arched back.

The "Ecart Feinte" (Dummy): The "Ecarteur" waits, still and with arms folded. With a slight movement of the head, indicates to the Cow that he is going to turn in that direction and when the Cow is charging, the man turns the opposite direction (he hopes, just like many football goal keepers think they know which way a player is going to shoot a penalty and look at the mess they make of it and that's man estimating man?).

The "Saut" (Jump): When the Cow lowers her head to charge, the man this time known in the Arena as a "Sauteur" charges at the Cow by running and then jumping or somersaulting over the animal to end up behind it, which if it works, confuses the animal (first you see me now you don't type of thing, but this move can some times end up in an awful mess, imagine two cars hitting each other in a head on crash, now you have the picture! who's judging who with what personality?), baring in mind that the "Vache Landaise" does not die each time and are used over and over again, which means the animal also gains in experience as to what might happen next.

The Rope: All Arenas make it essential to put the Cow on a long charging line (with 1 or 2 strong men attached to the other end), so that in the event of a mishap, they can protect the man from the stomping feet of the animal or its dangerous horns.

We hope this has made the object of the games clearer, but if it hasn't, come and see for your self!"

-Text by Mr "Bob" Robert Talbot