Bonjour,

We visited Les Marquises, a guardian’s (cowboy’s) bull farm that’s called Manade Laurent. This family started raising bulls in 1944. The bulls are used for French Bullfighting. These folks called the ‘bull games’ but that doesn’t show up on my internet searches. French bullfighting does show up. They stressed the point that in their games or fights, the bull does not get injured or killed. They told us that it’s the players that usually get hurt. Bulls still get killed in the Spanish bull fights. But in France, the bulls have ribbons placed between their shoulders or on their back and the players must grab these off the bull to get points, with the player getting the most points winning.

They have a herd of 500 animals with about 130 cows. The bulls are used for games, breeding, and food. We went out to the pastures with them and watched them herd the bulls around a bit, which is what they do on the bull farm. They ride Camargue horses which is an ancient breed of horse indigenous to the Camargue area of southern France. These horses live wild for centuries in the Camargue wetlands and marshes. They are the traditional mounts of guardians or Camargue cowboys who use them to herd the black Camargue bulls.

1. The family riding out to the pasture. To the left behind them is a barn and their house is farther back. The Grande patron is in the lower right and his wife to the left.

2. You can see them herding the bulls around the pasture.

3. Grandma looks pretty good out riding the herd….much like Vicky.

4. They ride Camargue horses and here is the next generation of their horses.

5. Here’s Vicky with the Grande patrons. The sticks are used to herd the bulls.

Voila,

Bill