Marfil the Magnificent

One of the key members of the Eléctrico Mezcal team is Marfil. She is a very special breed of mare, a Criollo.

Her ancestors come from the South American pampas, a land of extremes. Hardy and strong, Criollo are much prized in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. Marfil is quite small for a Criollo—in fact, she is possibly undersized to be purebred—but she is immensely strong, smart, and steady, with the Criollo’s legendary stamina.

She is a working horse. She and Cirino ride the hills searching for wild agave, timber, and botanical plants to experiment with. Her sure-footedness and agility make her an ideal partner for hill-riding around the mountains of San Baltazar Guelavila. However, when we unearth a sweet, syrupy batch of agave piñas from the oven, Marfil pulls the mill wheel, the tahona.

Marfil joined the Eléctrico family in 2008 as her mentor, Dorado, was approaching retirement. Dorado and Cirino taught her the best way to pull the tahona by harnessing them together. She was a willing student and soon took over the reins while Dorado stood nearby to calm her.

Being small, strong, and agile, she has mastered building momentum with the wheel to minimize the effort of pulling. And as with most Criollos, she rarely, if ever, breaks sweat.

‘She’s very productive,’ says Maestro Cirino. ‘But she’s her boss. You can only work the tahona with her in the mornings. If you haven’t got the piñas ready in time, forget it.’

Cirino’s grandfather, Crisanto, used Brahman bulls to mill the piñas. Although they were immensely strong, they were slow and consumed huge amounts of feed. So, Cirino and his father, Cipriano, turned to the more frugal and versatile Criollo horses, which usually eat little and ride well.

But Marfil has another unusual trait for a Criollo: She eats like a horse. ‘If she’s not working, she’s eating,’ says Cirino. ‘She eats two sacks of feed a day, and I’m constantly trying to find somewhere for her to graze. When she sees me, she calls out, “I’m here, and I’m hungry.”