 The
Four Horsemen
of the Bruised Backsides
The La Jerga field team recently had the pleasure of going on a
guided tour of Mexican history that not many people, including Mexican’s,
ever get to see. Our guide Josué took us on a horse-mounted
tour of his Rancho “El Batan” and the surrounding areas,
including: Pancho Villa’s old war camp and corral, the second-oldest
tree in all of Mexico and some ancient Chichimeca/Tolteca ruins.
Even local Mexican archaeologists have never seen these ruins and
many are unaware of their very existence. And because of their remoteness
they remain hidden and largely unprotected. But they are well taken
care of and guarded by the local villagers, who seem to treat them
with much care and respect. Josué’s informative and
exciting tour is amazing for its depth of Mexican historical knowledge,
his beautiful horses and his kind, gentle and patient manner with
his guests.
Rancho “el batán,” once used by Pancho Villa
as a war camp during the Mexican revolution, is now a horse ranch
offering guided excursions into the historic Mexican wilderness.
Rancho “el batán,” which means “wetlands”
in the old Castellano, is a ranch once inhabited by Pancho Villa
as he passed through 88 years ago with a third of his army. On
April 16, 1915, Pancho Villa launched the first of two disastrous
battles against Álvaro Obregón and his forces. Pancho
Villa lost both conflicts and over a thousand horses, but his
adversary did not remain unscathed: Obregón lost an arm
due to an artillery shell that nearly took his life. Since that
time, Álvaro Obregón was nicknamed “el codo
de Celaya.”
Before his fateful defeat at Celaya, Pancho Villa was at the height
of his career, and seemingly invincible with his famous División
del Norte. Villa ordered his forces, which at the time numbered
beyond a hundred thousand, to build a horse corral and battlements
atop a small, rocky bluff. Had Pancho Villa stayed in the war camp
and waited for his enemies to attack him, history may have been
different as its location offers an enormous tactical advantage
to an armed cavalry. On top of the ranch is the ruin of Villa’s
battlements and horse corral, which has a panoramic view of the
countryside, spanning from the furthest point of San Miguel de Allende
all the way to Comonfort, halfway to Celaya! Directly below the
war camp is a railroad built by Porfirio Díaz in 1912 that
Pancho Villa intended to follow straight into Mexico City.
Some of the eldest villagers still remember those days, and one
of Pancho Villa’s soldiers, a man named Eufemio, died of fever
last year at 102 years of age. Eufemio had fought in Celaya as a
teenager, and a number of other major battles in Villa’s famous
División del Norte. Eufemio’s days as a soldier cost
him a bullet-wound in his left foot, but gave him hundreds of tales
of his soldier days which he used to recant to local villagers.
Those villagers now pass on the testament of Mexico’s living
history, and the excursion offers foreigners and Mexicans alike
a chance to meet the descendents of Pancho Villa’s soldiers.
Just a half-hour away from the ranch is “el Sabino,”
Mexico’s second-largest tree. Sabino means “Ahuehuete”
(the ancient one) in nahuatl; it is the same breed of tree as its
cousin, el Arbol del Tule in Oaxaca, and according to Archaeologist
Luis Felipe Nieto Gamiño, is approximately 450 years old.
On a half-day tour it is possible to visit nearby villages as well,
seeing women who wash their clothes on the riverbanks, and stop
for lunch in a thousand year-old Chichimeca/Tolteca ruin nestled
in the unspoiled Mexican wilderness. One can also travel into the
Canyon of the Virgin via a secret entrance that leads into a mystical
oak forest surrounded by cliffs of rainbow-colored stone. There
is no road going in or out; the horseback journey is more than recreation.
It is the most practical means of travel in the desert.
Dan: The four of us left San Miguel for Josué’s ranch
at about 10:30am. We spent the beginning of the day getting to know
our horses and then we were off to see the scenic sites. I was first
relegated to the most stubborn of Josué’s horses, “Buttermilk”,
whom I promptly re-dubbed “Butternutz”. But given the
opportunity, I eagerly switched to “Dennis the Menace”,
after Butternutz refused to tread on some hallowed ground where
“really bad things probably happened”, according to
Josué. After that, it was smooth sailing for Dennis and I.
Until he tried to catch up to Liz’s horse—and then proceeded
to pass her—at nearly full gape, leaving me hanging on for
dear life. I felt like Icabod Crane in Disney’s animated adaptation
of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Our trip was nicely
split by a brief intermission lunch, where Josué cooked us
delicious pork chop tacos (with all the fixin’s!) over an
open fire bar-be-que. We brought along some wine, cheese and treats
as we watched the sun go down. The day was beautiful and complete,
and I highly recommend Josué’s tours to anyone who
wants to see the true Mexico of today and of the past.
Ran: My horse Samson and I had come to understanding. He would basically
do as the bridle commanded as long I let him satiate his uncontrollable
hunger for river reed. Since this was hardcore basket-weaving country,
I let him nibble away at the profits in between gallops and other
horse related antics. He took me to where even the el campo road
ends, where I made the gringo discovery of ancient cliff paintings
the locals have known about for thousands of years, but probably
haven’t told anyone.
Liz: One of the most memorable parts of the horseback riding experience,
besides watching Dan’s horse gallop off into the distance
with Dan clinging madly to his back, was our midday picnic. We arrived
at a Chichimeca ruin and tied our horses to a large Mesquite tree
by a creek. We crossed the low creek and our guide Josh built a
small fire in a sand pit while we sprawled out on a blanket in a
field. Goat herders minded their flocks around us, and an old woman
sat weaving a basket across ruprestrian art. We shared our lunch
of tacos with the locals and a couple of brave dogs that pulled
the meat right off of the fire. It was a good rest before we took
the long way home in the dark. The stars were spilled like salt
across the sky when we finally reached Rancho Batan and ended our
incredible journey through the Mexican countryside.
The excursion has something in store for a complete beginner as
well as for the more adventuresome rider, but much more importantly,
it explores a way of living that is timeless and unexploited. And
the gentle horses are trained and worked with daily; the idea is
to make rural México accessible to everyone, from regular
horseback fiends to first-time riders. For more information, please
call Josué at 154-8325 or 044-41510-32944.
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