Bull Fighting

Bull Fighting

Bull Fighting

Bull Fighting

Spanish-style bullfighting is normally fatal for the bull, and it is also dangerous for the matador. Picadors and banderilleros are sometimes gored, but this is not common. They are paid less and noticed less, because their job takes less skill and is perceived as requiring less courage. The suertes with the capote are risky, but it is the faena that is the most dangerous, in particular the estocada. A matador of classical style—notably, Manolete—is trained to divert the bull with the muleta but always come close to the right horn as he makes the fatal sword-thrust between the clavicles and through the aorta. At this moment, the danger is the greatest. A matador can run off to one side and stab the bull in the lungs—and may even achieve a quick kill—but it will not be a clean kill, because he will have avoided the difficult target, and the mortal risk, of the classical technique. Such a matador will often be booed.