By Ainur Rohmah
PADANG, Indonesia
The jockey took one last look at those gathered around, chomped hard on the cows' tails held tight in his hands, and as water sprayed in all directions, man rode both beasts as one through the rice paddy.
This one ride Saturday didn't last for long, however. With mud flying and the crowd shrieking, the animals - tethered through their noses by a short piece of rope - began to separate, the man's legs slowly beginning to splay as the small single wooden platforms on which each foot sat began to get further and further apart. And then he tumbled into the muddy waters, the crowd applauding, the beasts charging on without him.
For hundreds of years, hardened jockeys have gathered three times a year before planting season in the West Sumatra farming area of Batu Sangkar for what is known in the local Minangkabau language as Pacu Jawi - cow racing.
The jockey starts the race by biting the cows’ tail; aware that the harder he bites the faster they will run. The skill is in keeping both animals together so you don't end up in the muddy paddy beneath your feet. The winners are the cattle that have run the furthest distance without unseating their rider.
A similar event also occurs in Madura, an island on the east of Java. But whereas the beasts charge on dry land in Madura, the Pacu Jawi is held in former paddy fields, which are often two feet deep in water and awaiting harvest by the locals.
