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His French accent from birth is tangled with a Sevillian accent. A mixture that combines naturally to speak perfect Spanish. Lea Vicens was born in

Nimes 39 years ago

but beyond a happy childhood, already in contact with some horses from the French Camargue where bulls and native horses coexist, her life has developed in the south of Spain.

At the University of Montpellier she graduated in

Biology

and began working as an usher at the bullring in Nîmes to earn some money. The contact each afternoon with the fans and the public that she attended and the perception that she was having of the bullfighting spectacle awakened in her an interest in emulating what those men did in the ring.

And bullfighting on horseback

especially caught his attention

. Her mind kept spinning around the idea of ​​becoming a rejoneadora and so she arrived in Seville in 2006 to fulfill that dream. Five years later she starred in her first season as such with qualities that have allowed her to stand out in the ranks of bullfighting on horseback and mark a part of history.

It is the

only woman's name

that is announced in the almost 30 celebrations of the San Isidro fair, in Madrid. And this doesn't just happen in the most important square in the world. In the vast majority of the fairs in which she advertises, the most relevant in Spain, France or Portugal, she is the only woman that appears among the performers. But being the only one of hers has not prevented her, for four consecutive seasons (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020), from being number

one

on the rejoneadors' ladder, and with that record she has also gone down in history as the only woman in getting it.

Lea Vicens' day-to-day life on her farm in Hinojos (Huelva) is summed up in one phrase: a life dedicated to her horses. She loves them and takes care of them as if they were part of her family, but she likes to clarify that we must always keep in mind that it is a relationship between an animal and a human. When she loses a horse, she not only makes it part of the secret of his triumphs, but an important part of his life, although she insists that they do not replace any member of his family.

17 horses, but two little right eyes

Bético and Diluvio

are two of their star horses. He has raised them since they were born and they have been his favorite companions. They are his 'spoiled children' and their power, their art, their elegance and the personality of each one of them stands out. For Lea, they are key when it comes to bullfighting, because she knows that with Betico or Diluvio she can resolve any circumstance in front of the bull's face.

For this new season that begins, it already has

up to 17 horses ready

to fight and 12 of them are figures of bullfighting. With

Guitar and Cleopatra

, two mares, she is the ones she feels safest with, they are two of her bravest animals. There are also Diamante, Aladín, Surprise, Greco, Fermín or Spontáneo, some of her favorite horses with which the horsewoman jumps into the ring every afternoon.

When he finishes bullfighting he returns to his refuge, a farm located next to the Doñana park (Huelva). She returns to her house, a complex that she designed herself with open spaces where light can enter and with large windows through which she can see all of her life partners. A modern and simple design in the middle of nature where her horses can live in apparent freedom. She also feels freer on her farm surrounded by her animals and the human team that helps her in a profession in which she cannot rest or let her

guard down

for a single day.

Lea is a restless, intelligent,

enterprising

woman ... Today, without a partner and without children, she has dedicated her entire life to taking care of her stable and combining her professional career with different businesses. She has also started a company to receive visitors on her farm. A natural paradise where you can take riding classes or introductory bullfighting, simply visit the farm or also take a horseback ride through

Doñana

and which also tries to be the one to receive visitors. A personalized service as long as she is not busy with her commitments at bullfighting fairs.

She is very jealous of her animals, she even admits to being selfish because some of them, like Betico or Diluvio, have only been ridden by Lea, no one else has had that privilege. Both when riding and when fighting in the bullring, she repeats that the bull or the horse

do not distinguish a man from a woman

. On the other hand, she has noticed a difference with her colleagues in the public's reactions; they are kinder in triumphs but also more hurtful in failures. She is a perfectionist, a fighter and tireless in her work. What she fears most is failure and that is why she does not stop working on technique, precision, expression with her horses and many hours are needed to maintain the dressage and physical condition of her companions from the fatigue of she.

Dates for March, April or May are already marked in red on your calendar... Castellón, Valencia or Madrid are some of your most important commitments. While the countdown is ticking, he gets on Pantera, one of his new horses with which he almost has to start over every morning to bring him up to par with the rest of his stable.

But at the end of the day it is the dream for which he left everything in France and came to Spain almost 20 years ago.

  • Bulls