Mary EagleHorse, a rider with the Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial ride, watches the sunset after sharing a meal with other members at the Little Feather/Running Elk Indian Center on December 17, 2018. The Dakota 38 + 2 ride is an annual voyage for supporters and descendants of the 38 Dakota Natives who were executed in Mankato on December 26, 1862. S. Martinez
Arriving earlier than usual on Monday, Dec. 17, the Dakota 38 +2 riders made a stop at Pipestone National Monument before heading over to the Little Feather/Running Elk Indian Center to share a meal.
The ride is an annual event in which participants from all over the United States and some foreign countries gather to carry a message of reconciliation, healing and truth.
The group approached the Monument from the west, the late December sun shining on their backs, their caravan of supporters who haul the trucks and horse trailers awaiting their arrival. Once the riders reached the Monument, they immediately formed a circle around those who would conduct a prayer ceremony. The sound of drums and chants permeated the air while horses galloped within the circle, an occasional pony rounding the edges, carrying the youngest of riders.
There was a great spectrum of ages present, with the youngest rider being four years old, the eldest rider 80.
After the arrival ceremony, riders headed over to the Pipestone County Fairgrounds to bed down their horses for the evening, while supporters headed to Little Feather/Running Elk Indian Center to make final preparations for a meal they would share with the riders. The feast included a variety of meats –– buffalo roast, beef roast, chicken, ham and turkey –– as well as several sides and desserts.
Alice Erickson and her volunteers served at least 70 people, she said, an increase from last year’s ride.
Wilfred Keeble, the staff bearer and coordinator of this year’s ride, said that the ride was growing year by year.
“We have more riders and horses each time,” he said.
Keeble, a member of the Crow Creek Reservation in Fort Thompson, S.D., reflected on his past four years as staff bearer, saying “Every year is different. It’s a struggle. A good struggle.”
Struggle, as well as reconciliation with that struggle and pain, appear to be a theme among many riders who have made the 330-mile journey from Lower Brule, S.D. all the way to Mankato — even first-year riders, such as Calvin Yazzie, a Vietnam veteran and first-time rider from Kirtland N.M.
“I sincerely believe the purpose of this ride is reconciliation and healing with all individuals involved in the ride,” he said.
Yazzie said he was impressed with all those involved.
“It does not matter of the age, but there is complete unity in the purpose of this ride,” he said. “In their own way, in their own Lakota, Dakota or Native American way, they are each focused spiritually within themselves and as a group.”
Mary EagleHorse, a resident of Adams County, Ohio, and another first-year rider, shared her story surrounding reconciliation and healing, along with her reason for joining the ride.
“I ride for healing and to bring my prayers for healing for the women and children,” she said. “There is a big problem right now for Indigenous women who are being raped, murdered, abducted and abused and who are suffering with drug and substance abuse problems. I kind of relate everything back to that. It goes back to the beginning of everything else that has been an injustice.”
EagleHorse said that she expected to suffer on this ride –– she had visited a local hospital near Flandreau the evening before and was diagnosed with a fractured spine incurred from the ride.
“It’s a difficult ride,” she said. “You are not just trotting along, we are usually galloping.”
But her suffering, she said, doesn’t compare to the suffering of those Dakota 38 who were hung on Dec. 26, 1862 in Mankato, or those others she is riding to help heal.
“I will suffer it because it just doesn’t compare to the suffering of others,” EagleHorse said.
The annual ride started in December 2005 and was created as a result of a dream had by Jim Miller, the ride’s founder.
Miller is a descendant of the original 38 who were hung by order of President Abraham Lincoln at the end of the U.S. Dakota War.