El Gaucho Viejo

Nino aka "El Gaucho Viejo"

We met Nino one morning in Bariloche. He came with his 30 year old beat up Chevy where only one door would open. Immediately I was impressed by the modesty of this man who right away started asking us what kind of trip we wanted to do, how long... He had no pre-conception on how we should horse ride through Patagonia and was listening carefully to what we wanted to do. He then gave us some advice on the tack we should get and we set an "appointment" the next day to see some horses.

We later met his family: his wife Cecilia and his 3 daughters Maria Cecilia, Anto, and Micca. The man was surrounded by women and was very happy that way. Proud owner of the Don Raul racing stable, Nino has spent his whole life around horses. He started racing his father's young stallion when he was only 8 years old. Only 1.55m tall (5'5"), 55Kg (120 lbs) the man is a Jockey, Horse Trainer, self taught Vet, Horse ferrier and Electrician. Despite his size I have never seen him scared by a horse, even that crazy stud of his, Rey Gay.

I will never forget him and his family. All along our trip Pam and I always kept in mind that without him our trip would probably not have been possible. We spent long hours at his stable, learning from him how to develop a relationship with the horses, how to care for them, give them injections and shoe them. I know all the time he spent with us was to make sure we would have a safe trip and nothing would happen to us.

We ended up nick-naming him Gaucho Viejo, which is kind of a bad joke: The last thing a jockey/veterinarian wants to be called is Gaucho -- the local cowboy in Argentina.