Most judged competitions give every category a fixed scale — 100 points, A-to-E grades, a top score you can’t exceed. Mexico’s national charrería championship, governed by the Federación Mexicana de Charrería, does the opposite: a competitor’s score is an open-ended sum of points earned per manoeuvre, plus bonus points for style, minus penalty points for faults — and it can go negative. If you’re setting up software for a charrería competition and assume every event needs a maximum score field, this one breaks that assumption on purpose.
Six categories, the same nine events in every one
Charrería divides competitors into six categories by age, all male, all individual:
| Category | Age | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dientes de Leche | 4–10 | Youngest children’s category |
| Infantil A | 11–12 | |
| Infantil B | 13–15 | |
| Juvenil | 16–17 | Defined by birth year, not birthday — a competitor who turns 18 during the season still counts as Juvenil for that year |
| Libre | 18+ | The open adult category; entrants here may also compete in Mayores if they qualify by age |
| Mayores | 50+ | Requires the competitor to have turned 50 by competition day |
What doesn’t change between categories is the event list. All six run the same nine judged events, known as suertes: Cala de Caballo (reining), Piales en el Lienzo, Colas en el Lienzo, Jineteo de Toro (bull riding), Terna en el Ruedo, Jineteo de Yegua (bronc riding), Manganas a Pie, Manganas a Caballo, and El Paso de la Muerte. A 10-year-old in Dientes de Leche and a 55-year-old in Mayores are judged on the identical nine-event programme, just against competitors their own age.
Scoring that adds up, not scoring that’s capped
There’s no single maximum score across the competition — each suerte earns its own points, and the total is whatever the sum works out to be. A complete Cala de Caballo scores 20 points if executed cleanly. El Paso de la Muerte is scored in two passes: 20 points for the first and 15 for the second. On top of that base score, judges can add bonus points for style and deduct penalty points for faults — recorded infractions cost 2, 4, 6 or 10 points depending on severity, and a bad enough run can push a competitor’s total below zero. Software built around “enter a score up to the maximum” has no field for that; charrería’s scoresheet needs addition, bonus points and penalty deductions as three separate inputs feeding one open-ended total, not a single bounded number.
One competition most organisers forget belongs elsewhere
If you’ve seen charrería written up before, you may have seen escaramuza — the women’s synchronized equestrian event — listed as one of the categories or events here. It isn’t. Escaramuza is judged under its own separate rulebook, with its own categories and its own scoresheets, run alongside charrería events at the same charreada but scored as a distinct competition. Treating it as a tenth suerte or a seventh category would double-count an event that has nothing to do with the men’s nine-event programme.
Champion titles that aren’t in the rulebook
Charrería’s rulebook defines the categories, the suertes, and the scoring — but it never actually names the top-placement titles. “Campeón” and “Subcampeón” are the terms everyone uses for first and second place, and that’s exactly how they should be set up: as common-usage award labels layered on top of the point totals, not as rulebook-defined constants. It’s a useful reminder for any competition: check whether your source document actually names its awards, or whether the terminology is customary rather than official, before you hard-code it as a rule.
Setting this up without forcing a fixed-scale template
Running (or modelling software for) a competition shaped like this means:
- Let each judged item take an open-ended score, with separate bonus-point and penalty-point entries that feed one running total — not a single number capped at a fixed maximum.
- Assign the full event list to every category rather than varying it by age, when that’s genuinely how the real competition runs.
- Keep an overlap-eligible category (like Libre/Mayores here) able to enter a competitor in two categories at once, instead of forcing one category per person.
- Give award titles their own layer above the scoring, especially when they’re customary names rather than terms the rulebook defines.
eTalenter’s scoring setup supports exactly this: a judging point can carry a maximum score, bonus points and separate penalty deductions in the same competition item, age groups can be defined with or without an age restriction and set to allow overlap with another group, and awards are configured as their own layer on top of the final tally — whether you’re running a school kalolsavam’s fixed-scale grading or an open-ended points-and-penalties event like charrería.
FAQ
Is escaramuza one of the charrería events?
No. Escaramuza is a separate women’s equestrian competition with its own rulebook and scoresheets, run alongside charrería at the same event but scored independently.
Can a charrería competitor’s score really go negative?
Yes. Infractions deduct points (2, 4, 6 or 10 depending on the fault), and there’s no floor — a run with enough faults can total below zero.
Can the same competitor be entered in two categories?
In Libre and Mayores, yes — the rulebook explicitly allows a qualifying competitor to enter both, rather than forcing a single category per person.
See it before you set it up
Open a eTalenter live demo and log in as a demo coordinator or judge — no sign-up needed — to see open-ended scoring with bonus points and penalty deductions, overlap-eligible age groups, and award configuration in action. For the broader setup, see our competition management software overview and the judging & tabulation guide, or see how another Latin American national competition structures its judging in our marinera competition software article. Reach us on WhatsApp at +91 96056 56508 or support@etalenter.com for help setting up your own competition’s categories and scoring.
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