CHAPTER XIX 
THE SPANISH FIGHTING-BULL 
HIS BREEDING AND TRAINING 
THE normal British idea of a bull naturally derives colour from 
those stolid animals one sees at home, some with a ring through 
the nose, and which are only kept for stud purposes, but occasion- 
ally evince a latent ferocity by goring to death some hapless 
herdsman. 
Between such and the Spanish Zoro de Plaza there exists 
no sort of analogy. The Spanish fighting-bull is bred to fight, 
and the keen experience of centuries is brought to bear on the 
selection of the fittest-that, moreover, not only as regards the 
bulls, for the cows also are tested both for pluck and stamina 
before admission to the herd-register. The result, in effect, 
assures that an animal as fierce and formidable as the wildest 
African buffalo shall finally face the matador. 
The breeding of the fighting-bull forms in Spain a rural 
industry as deeply studied and as keenly competitive as that of 
prize-cattle or Derby winners in England. 
At the age of one year preliminary tests are made, and promis- 
ing youngsters branded with the insignia of the herd. But it is 
the completion of the second year that marks their critical period ; 
for then take place the trials for pluck and mettle. The brave 
are set aside for the Plaza, the docile destroyed or gelded; while 
from the chosen lot a further selection is made of the sires for 
future years. 
At these two-year-old trials, or Tentaderos, it is customary 
for the owner and his friends to assemble at the sequestered 
rancho—the event indeed becomes a rural féte, a bright and 
picturesque scene, typical of untrodden Spain and of the buoyant 
exuberance and dare-devil spirit of her people. 
200 
