[On his blog site, Toreo en Red Hondo, ‘Rafa de Tarragona’ has recently published a two-part interview with someone he describes as an aficionado and horn-shaver (in my view, a contradiction in terms). Much of the discussion concerns alleged actions by a variety of anonymised taurinos - empresarios, apoderados, matadors de toros and ganaderos. In this edited extract, I’ve chosen largely not to reproduce such tittle-tattle, but to focus on the context and mechanics of horn-shaving, which I hope will be of interest to readers. - TW]

You’re more pessimistic than I am when it comes to afeitado.

Shaving exists. I cut a piece like this (indicates half an index finger), then I sharpen it, and that's it. The bull, if you take three or four centimetres off, will not pierce you because it’s had the horn length shortened [sic: penetration is not determined by the shape of the horn tip, but by the force behind it - TW]. The bull digs with its horns in the field, scratches the oaks, fights with its littermates... and it has an idea of its horn measurements. If I shorten the horns, in the short time that elapses until it is fought, the bull cannot adjust to the new measurement. There are bulls that are apparently en puntas, but they are shaved; they have reduced horns and the bull doesn’t gauge their measurements from one day to the next. Sometimes they say that a goring has missed the femoral by a centimetre, and that's down to us.

And you reckon that all bulls’ horns are shaved?

Ninety-five per cent. I know because I’ve done it. I’ve shaved horns for a corrida on behalf of a veedor for a figura en activo, and, while we were doing it, they called me on video and said, “Take more off!”. That day, the ganadero ended up pissed off and left. We were working on the radial part of the horn. Other times you remove strands with a blade. You have to have some consistent clay at hand, the kind that has pebbles. You take that mud and smear the horn, then you scratch it and rub a little oak tree bark over it.

And that substance they use to harden horns that have been in fundas?

It’s called Keratex. It’s a hardener for animals’ hooves and does the same with horns. Bear in mind, when you put on fundas, a horn’s ability to breathe is very reduced.

But there are fundas that breathe from the top...

Yes, but all the bandaged part, even if it’s breathable, is not aired - it’s like someone going for a run wearing a mask...

It’s said that a ganadero who doesn’t use fundas is less likely to have shaved horns. What’s your view?

I’ve gone to muecos to afeitar and there were clean bulls there. I'm telling you that practically everything is shaved.

And what they say about bullfighters having to have the power to afeitar, is that the case? Because we’ve all seen bullfights with arreglados horns where the carteles consisted of modestos with no apparent power to make such demands.

The ganadero has to get out that corrida. They start to come to you, whether it’s the father, the manager, the banderilleros: 'Hey, this one has to be tocada, eh?' And the ganadero says: 'Okay, no problem'. Bear in mind that these people have to sell their bulls and the conditions are set by others.

That's why I think it's right that it's the ganadero who “pays for the duck” (carries the can). He has maximum responsibility for his cattle coming out en puntas.

If you want your bulls to be fought, you have to afeitar them. If you don't want to, your bulls won’t be fought, someone else will come along. And if you don't want to, then you’ll have to shave the corrida in the end, because, otherwise, you won’t sell them. Even in Madrid… Hombre, I've reconstructed a horn fought in Madrid. The bull had hit a shovel and made a cut in its horn. Through that hole, the horn rotted; it was eating inside, or wherever it could. That was a streaky horn and about 20 centimetres of it were rotten. Using a Dremel power tool, the horn is cleaned carefully so as not to reach the living fibre; it’s filed, acetone is poured on it, and a black polymethacrylate (or, in this case, ochre, because, as I say, it was streaked) is applied. You sheath it and it heals, and that bull was fought in Madrid. In Estepona, the same was done. I don't remember the Madrid cartel, but there was another bullfight in a second class bullring where the same thing was done. Bullfighting is like this because it’s a very well-organized mafia. Rafa, if you do that and so do I, neither you do me, nor I do you, understand?

There’s a pact of silence… Is it right there are different places where horn-shaving can be done - the finca, the lorry, the bullring?

Always at the finca. It’s difficult to do it in the lorry and they won’t let you do it at the bullring.

Are you sure?

Maybe it would be possible to clean up a horn there… but the campo is the best place to do it.

Are there fincas where the lorries with the cattle stop and the barbershop is there to tocar different corridas at the same time?

Of course... On a road that runs through the province of Salamanca to Portugal there was a place with corrals and muecos where people shaved left and right... There are some torista bullrings where there’s no shaving, but you should distinguish between shaving that leaves a blunt horn and shaving that leaves it less amateurish-looking.

And another option would be la bolita...

Look, I’ve done that for the father of an active bullfighter. First you give a rasp a conical shape. When it is warm, red-hot, you put it on the horn, and, when it burns, you round the tip. The horn is scratched, but then you fix that.

Have you ever shaved with segmentos?

No, not with that, but with the hilo. Do you know what it is?

No.

It’s an implement [tip wire] that is used in marquetry. I bring the horn towards me, I get on my knees, I pass the wire around and I do this (move my hands up and down alternately). It’s a cutting implement, but you have to bear in mind that it cuts straight and then you have to shape it. You can even cut a horn with pruning shears, but then you have to give it a certain more-or-less round tip.

And what about injecting bulls with drugs? You see some strange behaviours.

I don't think it's done to sedate bulls... I’ve seen bulls behave strangely because they’d stopped, and, when these have been analysed, it’s been found they had wrecked livers.

I meant euphoric drugging.

I don't know about that, but I do know that there have been bulls that have been left without being able to drink for a while and then they’ve been given Aquarius [an isotonic drink] mixed with Coca-Cola so that they’ll have more energy.

How much does someone earn for shaving a corrida?

It depends on the torero, it depends on the bullring involved, and it depends on the quality of the work. For a horn reconstruction, €300 plus the materials. For a corrida, the scale depends a lot, as I say, on the quality of the finish, but say around €700.

Some horns will be harder or softer than others...

Yes, with the ganaderías that have soft horns, it’s usually due to food and because the animals lack zinc. Zinc is what gives hardness and it’s applied in the form of correcting fluids. The bull's body takes it, administers it, and the excess is expelled. I was talking to a farmer about animal feeds and he told me that 12 nutritionists had come and given him 12 different formulas, all saying that theirs was the best!

Do you think the proportion of the bone part used to certify that shaving’s occurred should always be the same?

No, it depends on the encastes.

How do we solve the horn-shaving problem, then?

Banning bullfighting. There is no other way to avoid horn-shaving.

But the authority could get serious by imposing fines, on the ganadero in the first place...

No, no, not the ganadero... The fines should go to the torero. The ganadero today is the poor man of toreo. When the torero sees his shaved bull come out, he knows that it’s been touched because he or his entourage has ordered it to be shaved. The fine should be for the driver of the car who breaks the speed limit: not for the owner of the car. If the bullfighter were sanctioned, there would be fewer toreros and fewer festejos, yes, but it could be a better way to fight against horn-shaving.

And the empresa?

The empresa knows about all this, but no one is going to sanction him […] The person responsible for everything that happens behind the scenes is the bullfighter.

Who can change anything about this whole mess?

No one is going to change this. You write about this in your modest blog, but even if you were a world reference in bullfighting criticism, you wouldn't be able to change anything. In addition, toreo puro is no longer of interest to almost anyone: it’s only appreciated by the four aficionados who know about it, and those are the ones who’ve been kicked out of the bullrings. The cancer is inside. There is no remedy...

[The complete interview, titled ‘Conversación sobre el submundo de los taurinos’, can be read at Toreo en Red Hondo.]