Hikers report confrontation with horseman on forest trail

A man on horseback in the mountains above Santa Fe threatened to shoot Panama Pete, a rescue dog and canine model, who was hiking the Winsor Trail last Thursday with his owner and her friend. While hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians are mostly respectful of one another on the popular multiuse trails around Santa Fe, some unpleasant encounters do occur — and this was one of them. The incident was reported to U.S. Forest Service officials, who have turned the case over to New Mexico State Police. Lorna Dyer, Pete’s owner, said she and Kay Fitzgerald were about halfway back up to the ridge from the meadow known as La Vega when they came around a curve on Winsor Trail and saw two cows and two calves crossing the trail. The animals were followed by a man on horseback. Pete, who was off-leash, began barking and running toward them. The rider, who was armed, started yelling at the dog and at the women. Dyer called to her dog. “Pete came right away, and she put him on the leash,” Fitzgerald said. But the rider continued swearing at the women, repeatedly calling them vulgar names. Dyer said the rider, who had a holster on his right hip, put his hand on his gun and said, “If your dog comes at my cattle, I’ll kill him.” U.S. Forest Service spokesman Laurence Lujan confirmed that Dyer had reported the encounter. “We are looking into it,” he said. The case has since been turned over to New Mexico State Police. In such encounters, he noted, “animals are spooked and startled, and they react and the owners react.” A few years ago, forester ranch management consultant Henry Carey and his wife were thrown off their horses during a run-in with dogs on the lower Winsor Trail. Carey was bitten by one of the dogs, and his wife was knocked unconscious...more