UA Museum of the North Director Aldona Jonaitis was reunited with her escaped miniature horse Tekla this weekend after the horse, which cost $4,500, was found Friday afternoon on a Fairbanks trail just a mile from where it had escaped.

"I saw her run away," Jonaitis said. "She just squeezed underneath the electric fence and bolted."

The heroes of this story are Kate LaSota, a first-year Guidance and Counseling graduate student at UAF, and her dog Banjo. The two were walking on the trails near LaSota's house when Banjo started acting excited.

"He was acting like he smelled something, so I followed him, and there was the horse," LaSota said. "I wanted to get close to it, but Banjo was barking, so I took him to a neighbor's house."

The neighbors gave LaSota some carrots and dog leashes, which she used to make a tether.

"When I went back she was still there, and she let me come right up to her," LaSota said. "I grabbed her mane and we had a little tug-of-war, but I was stronger."

Jonaitis, who was in Seattle while her horse was being captured, had only recently purchased Tekla as a companion for her full-size horse Chocola. She said she's very happy to have her home.

But the previous owners who raised Tekla said they want the horse back. Al and Renee Blahuta told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that Jonaitis does not have the proper setup to keep such a small horse.

"I haven't cashed the check yet," Renee Blahuta told the News-Miner.

Tekla, who stands 33 inches tall, was gone for six days, and Jonaitis posted notices all over town. She even took out an ad in the News-Miner. "It was horrible while it was happening," she said, and added that she has made some improvements to her fence, though they are temporary until the ground thaws.

Jonaitis had posted a $500 reward for information leading to the return of the horse, but when LaSota returned the horse, she said she would not accept Jonaitis's money.

"She said she wouldn't feel right profiting from someone's misfortune," Jonaitis said. "I asked her if she had a favorite charity, and she said Doctors Without Borders."

"I didn't think it was right to take it," LaSota said. "But I'm excited that she plans to donate it to Doctors Without Borders. The money will go a long way there."