Basque farmers have always relied on domestic animals to carry out their farm jobs. These days they are the main characters in the animal trials which are so famous in our land.
Stone-lifting is a typical Basque sporting show of strength. Photo: EITB
Traditional Basque sports and games are closely linked to the everyday work which the local people turned into amusing pastimes and on which fierce bets were placed between neighbours.
Individuals or teams measure their skill at specific farm or dockside work by competing to see who can cut more grass, chop more trunks or row faster; demonstrate their famed strength by lifting heavy stones, racing while carrying weights or participating in tug-of-war competitions.
They also show off their animals' strength or training through the pulling of enormous blocks of stone by oxen, ram fights and sheepdog competitions.
Sheepdog trials
The origin of sheepdog trials lies in the importance of shepherding among the Basques. These dogs basically have to demonstrate obedience, herd flocks of sheep into a fold and back again to where they started. They gain points for such obedience, for the way in which they follow the orders of the shepherd and for taking the sheep round the course without biting or barking at them.
Idi probak (The dragging of blocks of stone by oxen)
Most of our farmhouses are particularly proud of their oxen and challenges between their owners in our town squares were common. The weight of the stone varies between 1,000 and 4,500 kilos, although it is not uncommon for them to weigh over 5,000 kilos.
Nowadays, however, these competitions are usually carried out with smaller stones making the event faster and more spectacular, without the short pulls involved in the dragging of heavier blocks. The surface on which the competition takes place is cobbled. The length of the course varies from 22 to 28 metres. The trial consists of dragging the block of stone once up and once down the area in question in the shortest possible time.
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