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The origins of the Charro date back to the 16th century with the introduction of cattle and horses to Mexico.

JOBS IN THE HACIENDA:


 * VAQUERO - The job of Vaquero was the lowest, along with the Indian peasant farmer, in the hierarchy of the Hacienda. The job of Vaquero consisted of guarding, caring for and herding cattle, as well as taking care of the herd of horses. They were in charge of branding, curing and castrating the cattle, as well as grooming the horses, and milking the cows. They were also in charge of hunting animals, such as deer, and in order to protect the herds, they also hunted predatory animals such as wolves, coyotes, jaguars, pumas and bears, all done with the roping. The Vaqueros under the orders of the Caporal.
 * CAPORAL - The Caporal was the captain or chieftain of the Vaqueros. The job of Caporal consisted of organizing and leading the rodeos, the branding of the herds, the hacienda festivities, as well as the animal hunts. The Caporal was originally a Vaquero until he was promoted to Caporal. Caporales, therefore, were more skilled ropers and horsemen. Each Caporal and Vaquero had his hatajo (group of horses) by color, with the caporales' horses being the most outstanding and vibrant. The Caporal was under the orders of the Mayordomo of the hacienda.
 * CABALLERANGO - The knight was the caretaker of the horses, mainly those of the boss. His job was to care for, groom, and prepare the horses that were going to be used during the day. The caballerango responded to the orders of the caporal, or the boss.
 * HORSE TAMERS and TRAINERS - Also known as Picadores, they were in charge of taming and leasing the horses. Depending on the region of the country, as well as the qualities of the trainer and landlord, the training was going to be different; from a quick taming through aggressive methods, as in northern Mexico, to more elaborate and non-violent training as in central Mexico. As Horses were very abundant in the wild in the 19th century, the only value they had was the type of training they received, therefore the better the training, the higher their price.
 * MAJORDOMO-The Butler was in charge of all the workers of the hacienda, and was in charge of transmitting to them the orders of the Administrator (or Landowner) of the hacienda, whom he obeyed. The Administrator, for his part, administered the hacienda in the name of the Landowner, who usually did not live on the hacienda.

HORSEMANSHIP

A Ranchero is an independent son of the Mexican soil, generally a renter of lands, always owner of a horse, on which he may be said to live and have his being. Today a cattle-herder (Vaquero), tomorrow a soldier, this week a gambler, next week a robber — with all his sins, and they are as his hairs in number, he has one supreme excellence: you may not match him the world over as a rider, not though you set against him the most peerless of the turbaned knights of the jereed. Once it was my fortune to see a thousand Rancheros, in holiday garb and mounted, sweep down at a run to meet President Juarez, then en route to begin his final campaign against the hapless Hapsburger. They literally glistened with silver —silver on saddle and bridle, silver on jacket and trowsers, silver on hats, silver on heels; and, as with vivas long and shrilly intoned, and stabs of rowel merciless and maddening, they drove their mustangs —the choicest of the wild herds— headlong forward, the spectacle was stirring enough to have made the oldest hetman of the Cos­sacks young again.

in Spain and Latin-America, it simply means —“pastor de ganado vacuno”— a cowherd, herdsman, cattle-herder, or keeper of cows, regardless of how the job is performed. In the United States, where the word has gained mythical status and it is highly romanticized among western and cowboy historians and enthusiasts, it is defined as a highly skilled, horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that supposedly has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain.

Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowherd, herdsman or herder of cattle. It derives from vaca, meaning "cow", which in turn comes from the Latin word vacca. Within Spain and Latin America, it holds no special meaning other than a “herdsman” or “cattle-herder” nor it is defined as being a “horse-mounted herdsman”. It’s simply defined as the job of guarding and leading the herds of horned cattle. Menawhile, in the United States, the word has been redefined, and highly romanticized, to mean a specific type of herdsman, one that is mounted, with a specific set of skills and traditions, believed to have been brought from Spain.