Testing the cows, to mother the bulls - from James Michener's Mexico

Testing the cows, to mother the bulls for the bullring - from James Michener's Mexico -

The testing that day was joyous, with the corral lined with beautiful women, and the hot Toledo sun making the dust golden as the furious cows kicked it aloft as they attacked their tormentor Veneno (Poison).  When he finished testing the cows with his sharp pic--for it was through his mother's line, not the seed bull's, that fighting bulls gained courage, he passed them along to the matadors, who played them with capes, and as each animal left the corral, bleeding a bit from the shoulders, where Veneno had stabbed them, the foreman cried, "Number 131.  Very brave!" or "Number 132.  Cautious, frightened of the horse."  The latter would be raised for beef, but she would not be allowed to serve as the mother of a Palofox bull.

-- James Michener, Mexico, p.  39.