When the oxen were loose in Etterschlag

Created: 2022-06-09 15:02

By: Hanna von Prittwitz

Wild scenes from Etterschlag: Ox races took place there from 1984 to 1990.

At first, the riders were still pulled in sulkys, later they only rode.

© Marianna Bauer, Stefanie Drapp

The Friedingers had invited to the first ox race in the Starnberg district on Pentecost Sunday.

But such a spectacle took place in Etterschlag as early as the 1980s.

With up to 6000 visitors.

Etterschlag

– Johann Belle, photographer from Etterschlag, had to smile at the enthusiastic reporting.

And immediately looked at the old chronicle.

She provides the evidence: The ox race on the Pentecost weekend in Frieding was not a premiere in the district.

A race of this kind took place in Etterschlag as part of the third village festival from June 21st to 24th, 1984.

And that wasn't the first either.

In the Etterschlag Chronicle, Barbara Schwebe writes: “For the first time in more than 100 years, an ox race took place in Etterschlag, and with it an old farming tradition was revived in Etterschlag, as described by Joachim Königbauer in his book 'A Childhood in the Village' Eight oxen competed in the race in 1984 "and up to 6,000 visitors came to Etterschlag".

The racetrack was on the Anger in Etterschlag, was 200 meters long and the ride, sometimes in sulkys, i.e. small carts, "was not without risk".

The winner of the 1st ox race was Heini Thurner from Mauern.

At the 4th village festival in June 1985, eight oxen started again.

"This year the 1st Bavarian championship in the ox race was also held and even broadcast on television," reports Schwebe.

In 1986 and 1987, ten oxen each set off.

For the first time there were three, and in the following year even six riders.

In 1988 there were nine oxen in the race, in 1989 the festival was cancelled.

At the eighth village festival from May 24th to 27th, 1990, twelve oxen competed in a gallop.

Oliver Schwebe from Etterschlag won on "Alf".

"Unfortunately, this was the last big village festival with ox races in Etterschlag," says Schwebe.

The actor Ottfried Fischer was also among the participants.

He trained in Etterschlag for a film that was then shot in Velden/Vils.

In the beginning, the races were still driven with sulkys, later there was only riding – in jeans and a T-shirt, as old photos show.

And Barbara Schwebe writes something else funny in the chronicle: "Over time, many a girlfriend and wife of the 'ox drivers' and 'ox cowboys' rebelled because the men never came home and had nothing else on their minds but the oxen and the race. The initiator and driving force behind the festival was local and district councilor Martin Bauer.

He bought nine bull calves, raised them in the pen and trained them.

Then he trained with the village youth.

Johann Belle rode too, he can remember it well.

“Unfortunately, my ox crossed the finish line without me,” he says.

He also remembers that there was a complaint about animal cruelty "by a lawyer from Hamburg".

Belle can't remember how it all ended.

But that the ox race in Etterschlag was just as much fun as in Frieding, that's for sure.