Jemez Dancing

Another art style for Jemez Dancing. I had to bring him home from 20 miles away one spring, but the road was too muddy for a horse trailer. No problem, we would walk. I put some saddlebags over his back with a burrito in it, and we started out. The dirt road was sloppy with melting snow. After about six or seven miles, we hit an ice patch and I fell. He panicked and ran back the way we came. I watched him disappear around the bend. Nothing to do but try to find him, so I started back. I found the saddle bag, but the burrito must have fallen into deeper snow. Dang! I kept walking, not expecting anyone to be driving in the sloppy mud of early spring, but, much to my surprise, a truck hauling a porta-potty came around the bend. The driver stopped, and, yes, he had seen a horse... back about 2 miles. He asked if I wanted him to give me a ride. Hell yes! So he managed to turn around in the mud and take me back to a snowy field where my horse had enough snow balled up on his lead-rope that he didn't want to drag it. I thanked the good Samaritan and gathered my horse. JD and I got to the Carrizo Creek by 2 pm and just as we were about to wade across, the truck, minus its toilets, crossed our path again. The good Samaritan offered me a piece of chicken left over from his lunch. I was too hungry to worry about germs.

It is a 5-mile climb from the Carrizo to the top of Encinada Mesa, so we kept slogging through the mud. As soon as I got high enough to get a cell-signal, I called John for help. "Bring hay and tea!" It was late afternoon before he got there, and the sun was getting low. As it got dark, we followed his tail-lights, dropping into Ice Canyon. At first, JD had resisted, but after his escape, he seemed to settle into the inevitability of this crazy journey. I am sure he did not know where he was when we walked out of the mouth of Ice Canyon and crossed the bridge over the Largo. He did not know until we were almost to the corner of our property and the herd of horses started calling to him. That crazy buckskin horse was elated to come walking through the gate.

After that day, JD thought that I could do no wrong. I was the lead mare that knew how to get home.