🚀 go-pugleaf

                         THE HORSE AND THE BULLDOG
                                   
                            
                             

   Horseback riding on a deserted ocean can be an dangerous experience,
perhaps bizarre, at times frightening, but most often weirdly comical.
In Taganga, Colombia, riding horses on the beach is not uncommon. On
any given day of the week one is bound to come across a rider riding
his horse up and down the beach.

   Taganga is located in the Atlantic Ocean, officially known as
district of Santa Marta. It is an area where one can still observe,
as well as appreciate, the beauty of nature almost in its virgin
state. It is a hilly area where one can look down at the Atlantic
Ocean and feel the healthy breeze caressing the skin. 

   Rocio Echeverri, a lifelong resident of Taganga, likes to ride
a horse she keeps along the beach. Nothing bothered this horse
called Pancho. He is docile. One can ride him anytime in the woods
or along the beach. 

   This particular Saturday morning Rocio trailered his steed up to
the beach as she did many times before. The horse splashed in the
water. The beach was nearly deserted, except for myself and a few
kids kicking a big ball toward each other. Other than that, the beach
was gorgeous and empty. Suddenly out of nowhere, a dog ran up and
started bitting on Rocio's left leg and then at Pancho's legs. It
wasn't a very big dog, but it was a vicious dog. It was comical, yet
frightening. There wasn't much anybody could do, except to pray that
that all ended well for Rocio and her horse.

   The dog then leaped up and grabbed onto Pancho's tail. The horse
then broke into a flat out gallop, nearly throwing Rocio, but
miraculously she managed to hanged on, hysterically screaming her
lungs out. The horse then turned around tearing across the beach with
the dog still attached and Rocio barely hanging on. There was a
ridge of drifted sand and Rocio headed straight into it, but the dog 
still hanged on to Pancho's tail snarling and growling. It was
terrifying. Rocio tried to lean over and get the dog off Pancho's 
tail with her crop, but couldn't reach him.

   In the meantime, one of the kids playing on the beach alerted
the dog's owner. The owner, a man in his fifties with a long dirty
beard that extended to his chest, had fallen sleep under a coconut 
tree living the dog unattended, rushed over to where Rocio was still
struggling with the situation and called the dog off.

   He then apologized to Rocio and walked away. Minutes later, from
a short distance in a wooden area, a gun shot was heard. The man
killed his dog and with tears in his eyes came back to Rocio and
apologized to her one more time. The next time I saw him he was
digging a hole on the ground to bury his dog. 

   .