http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_3426518

Unbridled dreams
Horses cultural link for Mexican immigrants

By Raul Roa, Staff Writer
Whittier Daily News

They come by the thousands.
Young and old, male and female, alone or in groups.

Every year, the lure of a better life in America causes Mexicans to leave their homeland and cross the border.

Some come legally, gaining green cards to work, hopeful of eventually becoming United States citizens. Many others come illegally, willing to risk death or deportation for a chance at their own American dream.

Legal or illegal, they bring traditions and customs with them.

For some, owning and riding horses is so imbedded in their culture that they do everything they can to maintain a sense of country living in the concrete world of Los Angeles County.

Small rural areas in South El Monte, Pico Rivera, Whittier, Industry have become refuges, helping them maintain their family roots.

Carlos Fernandez, 52, of Inglewood pulls into the dirt parking lot of the Whittier Narrows Equestrian Center's public arena in his late-model, red Ford Mustang. He looks for a shady place to park and unloads a saddle, bridle, rope, whip and hose.

A graying man with a stout build, mustache and a smile a mile wide, Fernandez retired from a construction job a few years ago. He also pulls out a bag of carrots and waits for his son. Rudy Fernandez, 17, soon arrives from a nearby stable leading a chocolate-colored horse named La Mosa, short for La Hermosa, or the beautiful one.

This 4-year-old filly, a quarter horse/thoroughbred mix, is one of Fernandez's many realized dreams. Like others of his generation who ventured to America, he worked hard and sought to educate his children, hopeful that they, too, could achieve the American dream. But to Fernandez, owning La Mosa also is a dream.

Fernandez, like so many other Mexicans who now call the United States home, retains his love for the Spanish language, the native foods of Mexico, the outdoors and horses.

He came to Southern California more than 30 years ago from the state of Sinaloa in northwest Mexico, but Fernandez is now a U.S. citizen.

Many workers like Fernandez living in Los Angeles County and earning low to average wages squirrel away their money in order to own a horse. That's because riding and being a charro, or Mexican cowboy, is part of the pride and heritage they bring to America.

"Can you imagine, when we go to Mexico and there are gatherings with a band and many friends and relatives, if my sons are offered a horse to ride and they don't know how, it would be very embarrassing," Fernandez said.

For people of humble beginnings from ranches in Mexico, being able to ride a horse and teach their American-born children how to properly ride is a matter of pride.

"They would laugh at us if we did not know what to do with a horse," Fernandez said of his relatives in Mexico.

Fernandez's oldest son, Carlos Jr., 30, is a police officer in Gardena. Fernandez said for all practical purposes, his son has been absorbed by American culture. Yet Carlos Jr. continues to ride every chance he gets.

The elder Fernandez and others of Mexican descent stable or ride their horses in an triangular area nestled between the Pomona (60) Freeway to the north, the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway to the east, the Rio Hondo to the west and a sea of homes to the south. This triangle features portions of the cities of South El Monte, Pico Rivera, Whittier and Industry.

Javier Hernandez, 36, is among those who frequent this area to ride. A construction worker who has lived in the U.S. for 34 years, Hernandez hails from Michoacan, Mexico. He now makes his home in the Pellissier Village equestrian area of north Whittier.

Hernandez owns four Andalusians and one pony that his children love to ride.

"I moved here from East Los Angeles for the horses. I'd like to teach my children how to be responsible by taking care of animals," Hernandez said while watching his daughter, Marisol, 5, ride a pony.

He said that he cannot let his children forget that his family came from a ranch.

Sabino Carmona, 23, of East Los Angeles, is a gardener originally from Toluca, Mexico. He enjoys riding and stables his horse here, where Marco Antonio Gonzalez trains part-time after putting in a full day gardening around the University of California, Los Angeles.

"I enjoy riding and I've had (the horse) for nine months. I want my children to learn how to ride but I have to get the horse trained so he is more tame," Carmona said.

Carmona likes his horse so much that he drives to see it and feed it every afternoon after work. "I have a horse because it is the tradition I bring from my hometown in Mexico. All my family (members) have horses down there."

Gonzalez, originally from Michoacan, Mexico, puts Carmona's horse through the paces as he teaches it "Rienda Charra," or in the manner of the Mexican cowboy, the Charro.

He gallops quickly and then makes the horse stop almost on a dime. After a few dusty tries at this, Gonzalez guides the silver horse through right and left turns while keeping one rear foot almost in the same spot. Once the horse is tired, they slowly ride off to the stable until the next lesson.

Meanwhile, Fernandez is chasing and cracking a whip at La Mosa, making sure she gets her exercise in the ring. A few times he calls the horse to his side by whispering her name and enticing her with carrots, which he keeps in his back pockets.

After about a half-hour, Fernandez calls Rudy to get the hose and shampoo ready. Attaching the hose to a water spigot at the edge of the ring, Fernandez wets down La Mosa and squirts water into her mouth. After rubbing shampoo into the filly's hide, mane and tail, another pass with the hose removes a week's worth of dirt.

Taking her out of the ring and into an open area that is less dusty, Fernandez holds a long rope. He lets La Mosa run around while she dries from her weekly bath.

"Look at her, she shines so beautifully now that she has had her bath," Fernandez says in Spanish as the horse obeys his command to run clockwise around him.

Rudy Fernandez then places the saddle on La Mosa and rides for awhile as his father shouts commands to him and the horse.

The Fernandezes wish they could spend more time with La Mosa. But as dusk falls, they leave their dusty oasis, and return to the asphalt and concrete world of Los Angeles.

raul.roa@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2238