Introduction: Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home
This folio pairs my photographic portraits of US-based escaramuzas with commissioned poetry by the Mexican American poets ire’ne lara silva and Angelina Sáenz.

Marisol, Melanie, Nathaly, and Stacy, 2023. All photographs by Constance Jaeggi.
Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home considers the Mexican tradition of all-women precision horse riding teams who execute exacting maneuvers while riding sidesaddle at high speed and wearing traditional Mexican attire. Widespread in Mexico, escaramuza is becoming increasingly established in the United States. This folio pairs my photographic portraits of US-based escaramuzas with commissioned poetry by the Mexican American poets ire’ne lara silva and Angelina Sáenz. It is a collaborative work between myself, the escaramuzas, and the poets. Angelina and ire’ne used my photographs and recorded interviews with the riders, as well as research papers and their own research, to write their poems. Their contributions amplify the voices of the women I’ve photographed, contextualizing their experiences through poetic language.

Elizabeth, 2023.
high-necked dresses no time for sidesaddles or
single…
I don’t dance horses
I am not a mariachi
I am not a baile folklorico dancer
I am not the half-time show…

Escaramuza Charra Azteca, 2023.
Charrería, the predominantly male national sport of Mexico, emerged from early Mexican cattle-ranching activities and was eventually refined and formalized during the post-revolutionary era as a romantic, nationalist expression of lo mexicano (Mexicanness). My interviews with the escaramuzas give a sense of their experiences as women in charrería culture. Many are second-, third-, or fourth-generation Americans. They speak of the sometimes frustrating machismo that they have to navigate within their sport.

Escaramuza Reinas del Valle, 2024.
my girl does not cower does not wave or smile…
the serenity of the soft and the still
the austerity of silver stars…

Escaramuza Dinastia Campirana, 2023.
In my photographs I seek to respond to this frustration, to capture the grace and dignity of these women, while reckoning with the gendered complexities of escaramuza within the charrería tradition. All the women are photographed in formal escaramuza dress—ornate and handcrafted garments that are in many ways emblematic of the social and cultural dimensions, as well as tensions, in their stories. They present themselves formally, and in this sense suggest a certain rigidity and strictness within the tradition. But this formality also describes the escaramuzas’ immense discipline, skill, and precision as riders. Moreover, the beauty of their garments is celebratory and expressive, speaking to the individual and their subjectivity, as well as to the profound sense of belonging that the tradition of escaramuza collectively holds for its practitioners.

Analuisa and Jessica, 2024.
born of struggling and dreaming and training
it was the truest…
you have to respect the rules
Yes, they are conservative and strict…

Cynthia, 2023.
My portraits seek to amplify the riders’ empowerment, and I believe the subjects’ gaze to be central to this. The women confront the camera and own the spaces that they occupy. These choices are significant, as I’ve photographed the escaramuzas within the “American West,” a rural landscape of the United States that, historically, has been the privileged domain of white men. Escaramuza may be said to represent women’s reclamation of that space and of their right to coexist within it. For all its tradition and formality, I believe that escaramuza is a feminist project—a powerful force for the disruption of established gender roles in charrería.
and the machismo in charrería often gets to me
To be clear
I am not …

Cassandra, 2023.
do you realize
that it is because of escaramuza
that you have an audience?
Our performances…
She is a young woman, sitting on a horse, vestida de china…
This essay is part of the portfolio “Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the April 2025 issue.
The exhibition Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home is on view at the Poetry Foundation from April 17 to August 23, 2025. It debuted at the National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, in March 2024.
Constance Jaeggi (she/her) is a Swiss photographic artist whose work focuses on the relationship between horse and human, particularly women. She uses horses as a backdrop for exploring themes of intimacy, identity, connection, and power dynamics. Her work has been internationally exhibited and published, including two solo shows at the National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth, Texas; exhibitions in ...