Atención Sports: Manuel Tejeda, A Life Dedicated To Horse Riding

By Carlos Ramírez Zago

Manuel Tejeda was born in 1945 in the state of Jalisco. At the age of five, he began riding his father's horses, and by the age of eight, he was already racing horses.

At age 12, he moved with his family to San Miguel de Allende, as his father had purchased a ranch where Manuel could continue doing what he loved most: riding horses. In the 1970s, Manuel was presented with an opportunity that undoubtedly changed his life. A woman invited him to Colorado for the summer to train some horses at her club. After much hesitation and soul-searching, Manuel agreed to go to Colorado that summer, not knowing that he would spend the next 25 years of his life there. The person who invited Manuel to Colorado was part of the U.S. Olympic equestrian team, so the Olympic team instructors came to the club once a month, where Manuel trained the horses. It was there that Manuel was given the opportunity to be trained by those instructors from the U.S. Olympic team.

“I was very interested. Imagine learning from the best in the world!” Manuel said.

Some time later, Manuel rented that club, began to buy his own horses, trained them, began to compete throughout the United States (especially Colorado, Arizona, and Florida), and also sold horses as a business.

Manuel has multiple trophies from competing throughout Colorado, including at the Denver Coliseum, where he was champion in the first edition. He also toured throughout Arizona and Florida, as well as competing throughout México. But for Manuel, the most significant was at the Colorado State Fair, in a high jump competition, where he achieved a jump of 1.98 meters.

“At that time, the prize was $25,000 USD. I won it, and the next day I went and bought a brand-new Mustang. It was a great competition in March 1983,” Manuel said.

Manuel was so talented on horseback that he qualified for the world championship with the United States, which was to be held in Europe, where, unfortunately, he was unable to compete due to nationality issues.

Fortunately, Manuel had few falls, but he was not exempt from them, as he had a couple of minor falls in competitions, but in training, he mentioned that there were three serious ones.

“I had a fall in training, I lost consciousness from 11 a.m. and regained consciousness at around 10 p.m.,” he tells. Because of this, Manuel made clear the importance of having a good connection with the horse and also assured that although they may be similar, each horse is different and is trained in a special way, as there must be a balance; you must not be too rough with the horse, but also not too soft, but somewhere in between.

“When you're training, you try to get the most out of the horse, and that's when problems arise.

Every horse is different; you can't train them all the same way, and that's why I was very famous in Colorado, because people would bring me horses with problems so that I could train them,” Manuel said.

He has devoted practically his entire life to horse riding, so much so that he ended his career about five years ago in Otomí, where he decided to retire from competition and stop riding because, at 80 years old, a fall could be more risky.

Without a doubt, Manuel's story is brilliant, a lifetime dedicated to horses and competitions, being a multiple champion in México and the United States, and always doing so with passion and great dedication. Mexican pride.

Carlos Ramirez Zago is a young man from San Miguel who is passionate about sports. "You are worth what your voice is worth and what you know howto do with it."