The Totah Theater comes alive Saturday as the Equus Mustang Matinee takes center stage in Farmington, thanks to more than a year of collaborative effort by the San Juan County Historical Society and its president, Laura Harper.

Featuring film shorts, teasers and exclusive screenings, the event celebrates art, literature and film of horses and culminates in Harper’s film “Mustang of the Carracas Mesa.”

It all gets underway at 1 p.m. with the introduction of authors, artists and filmmakers for a panel discussion, and artist and author presentations, hosted by Harper.

“So it’s been a year of people joining in to contribute and donate for this great cause of bringing art, literature and film to our downtown Main Street,” said Harper.

Equus Film and Arts Fest got involved in November, Harper said, adding they “introduced me to this life of film … they were the first to recognize my movie ‘Mustang of the Carracas Mesa,’ and they awarded it honorable mention.”

Harper said there will be 11 teasers in film shorts, and she’ll show a 30-minute episode that features two mustangs from “Mustang of the Caracas Mesa.”

Harper said the idea is to tell history through horses. A tribute to Cabresto, the mustang who’s been in the forest for 30 years, will kick things off.

Next, a historic presentation traces the Genizaro and Tomé settlements up to the present-day Jicarilla Apache tribe in northern New Mexico and their relationships with horses.

The learning experience from Equus was invaluable, Harper said. Lisa Diersen, founder and director of Equus Film and Arts Fest, introduced her to a filmmaker in New York who advised her to divide her film into three episodes.

DNA of Cabresto revealed the ancestry of the mustang.

She said it traces back to the “square horse, which is the horse that is most likely resembles and has the DNA and the confirmation of the Northern Africa Berber horses that would fit conquistador armor.”

Harper was guided by Mike Atchison as they hiked the canyon through the snow to locate Cabresto’s body in Carracas Mesa, about 70 miles northeast of Bloomfield.

“And if I were to describe his mane, it would be like a porcelain angel … and he just was lying there peacefully, like he found his spot in his Cabresto Canyon, and the snow had covered his eyes, and it was just beautiful,” Harper said.

Harper will show “The Mustangs and the Mustangers,” a history of the homesteaders of Middle Mesa, Carracas, Laguna Seca, Carrizo and Gobernador.

Other films include: Gobernador, NM: the Legend of Andy”; the film short “Prophecy of the Encounter,” by Ati Maier; and Bailey Cloer’s, “Heart of Trust,” a story of trust between a broken-down horse named Thor and a healing girl.

Mike Leonard will give a talk on the oral history of the Jicarilla Apache horses, and Dusty Pierce will discuss horse migrations and the Appaloosa of New Mexico Spanish Colonial horses and Appaloosa of the Pacific Northwest.

The event, funded by John Beckstead through the San Juan County Historical Society, will donate proceeds to the San Juan Basin Mustang sanctuary.

Harper threw a shoutout to Charlie Blanco of KOBF-TV, to whom she pitched the story of Cloer, who overcame a fall into an irrigation ditch at 18 months old and fought through adversity until about the age of 12. While working as a volunteer at the Four Corners Equine Rescue, her healing accelerated.

Producers Mike McDaniel and Kenisha Yazzie were joined by Harper to film Cloer’s story.

“What’s really beautiful is Bailey was the director, and she directed her horse, and it’s a wonderful feeling of a film of trust and heart and overcoming adversity,” Harper said.

Sponsors include San Juan County Historical Society, “Mustang of the Carracas Mesa” documentary, Four Corners Equine Rescue, Jicarilla Heritage Alliance and National Mustang Association, Colorado.

A VIP pass, which includes the program from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., is $28. The general admission program, beginning at 2:30 p.m., is $16.

Tickets are available at the Farmington Civic Center and online at our.show/mustang25.

This article was updated April 15 to correctly spell the name Mike Atchison.