FORT THOMPSON, S.D. (KELO) – Over two dozen riders are making their way on horseback through South Dakota on a 16-day journey to Mankato Minnesota. The ride is a continuation of the Dakota 38+2 Horse Ride last done in 2022, but is now under a new name after the dreamer of the ride passed away in 2023.
“That was the largest mass execution in history in the United States,” Makatoh Reconciliation and Healing Horse-Ride organizer, Wilfred Keeble said.
A ride to honor the 38 Dakota men who were hanged in Mankato Minnesota following the Dakota War of 1862.
Keeble says Jim Miller, whose dream founded the 38+2 ride back in 2005, wanted it to continue even after he died.
“We do all we can to make this possible, bring awareness to this trauma, to this healing and all this and he says you need to keep doing it. We need to keep it up,” Keeble said.
Keeble was on the first 38+2 ride and has continued riding ever since.
“We redid the name, but we wanted it to have the same effect so Makatoh Reconciliation and Healing everybody kind of rallied behind reconciliation and healing,” Keeble said.
Christopher Dion has done multiple rides and says each ride brings awareness to the history.
“Even the people that live here in South Dakota, people that live in Minnesota, and a lot of like the rest of America because I think the stories have been covered up,” Dion said.
After the execution, some were exiled to Crow Creek.
Dion’s ancestors were among them.
“I think about all the hardships. The ancestors that came from Minnesota here to Crow Creek. My grandmother and my grandfather’s side both descend from Minnesota and were exiled here, their families were exiled here,” Dion said.
During the 330-mile-long ride, they pray.
“People think these rides are just like a trail ride. It’s a prayer ride, it’s a memorial ride. And it’s also honoring the past, but it’s also writing the prayer for the future,” Dion said.
The group left Fort Thompson and will end in Mankato Minnesota at the site of the execution.
“Our ancestors say travel light so we try to do that,” Keeble said. “Horse gear, saddles, horse gear repair, water, water trough, just basic horse equipment and sleeping bags,” Keeble said.
Dion is bringing his four horses plus a pony.
“That’s my main horse Peta, he’s a four-year-old, trained him since he was a baby,” Dion said.
The first day they will ride roughly 40 miles to Wessington Springs.
“After a few days, you get pretty sore. And it ain’t something that everybody can do,” Dion said.
The group will be staying inside gyms and 4-H community centers throughout the journey, with the youngest rider being 13 years old. Dion, who shared his past struggles with alcohol and drugs, says the horse has also helped him onto the path of sobriety.
“Horses help with the healing part. But I also think it helps every day of life to take care of something other than yourself and teaches you respect. You have to get up and you have to go water your animals, you have to feed them and you have to constantly check on them and take care of them,” Dion said.
And as the group continues to travel east, so does the message of why they ride.
“It does really bring healing not only to us natives but I think it brings healing to like the white people, to like the non-natives, the different towns we go through,” Dion said.
The ride will end at Reconciliation Park in Mankato on December 26, which marks 162 years since the execution.
To follow the 2024 ride click here.
For information on the GoFundMe click here.
