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  • Writer's pictureDavid Burnette

The Ride is Complete

Updated: Jan 5, 2018



The Chief Big Foot Ride of 2017 is complete. The last day, the ride from Wounded Knee to Pine Ridge, was bitterly cold with a wind blowing out of the north that burned our skin and took our breath away. For many years this leg of the journey didn't exist. The original Ride ended at Wounded Knee because that's where the people were shot down on December 29, 1890. An elder once asked why the riders didn't continue on to Pine Ridge because not all of Big Foots people died at Wounded Knee, some were wounded and carrried on to the Agency. More died on the hay covered floor of a church. She told the riders that Pine Ridge was where Chief Big Foot was headed before he was killed and they should honor him by completing his journey. And so we saddle our horses once again, face the bitter wind, and do exactly that. We complete the journey.

I am home now, 800 miles removed from the wind swept prairies of South Dakota. As I've found in years past it takes some time to recover from the Ride. Both physically and emotionally. It is absolutely exhausting, and it is invigorating. It is profoundly sad, and, at the same time, joyous. At times I question my sanity for being there when the wind and cold and pain push me to my limits, and I spend every day after that dreaming of the next opportunity to ride. To ride alongside people of my tribe and those who are not but who are so touched by the spirit of this Ride that they travel from all over the world to join it. To ride alongside elders and the young, men and women, even those who walk or run beside the horses to pay their respects in their own way.

I dream of the next Ride. To marvel at the strength of these people and this Horse Nation that carries us across this frozen land on their backs. Many times the horses fall and riders hit the ground, hard, and yet they always get up, and ride. I watched a young girl and her horse go down into the river when the ice broke through. The horse fell on its side and the girl went into the freezing water up to her neck. Strong men waded in to pull her to safety and get the horse on its feet and across the open water. I was next and my horse, Albert, carried us both to safety with no more damage than icy water in my boots. As the rest of the riders found a safer path across the frozen river that young girl was taken to her moms car where she dried off and changed clothes and before everyone was across the river and gone she was back on her horse to complete the Ride. I am amazed and humbled by the courage and sheer toughness of that young lady. It is said that the future of the tribe rests in the hands and hearts of our women, and I believe it to be so. To have witnessed such strength from such a young woman gives me hope and confidence that our people will live, will always be. Our people will be in strong hands in future generations.



And that brings me to another amazing part of this years Ride. Perhaps the most impressive event of this years journey didn't even happen while Albert and I galloped across the snow covered prairies. It happened on our day of rest at the mid-point of our journey. My friends and I had the opportunity to visit a school called the Pine Ridge Girls School. Only in its second year this schools mission is to provide a safe and nurturing place for girls to learn not only the regular curriculum that other schools provide but to learn the language, culture, customs and history of the Lakota people. The statistics of unemployment, poverty, substance abuse and suicide on the Pine Ridge Reservation are staggering. Teen suicide is 4 to 6 times the national average, a 13 year old girl took her life while we were there. We watched her funeral procession pass as we rode into Pine Ridge.

The Pine Ridge Girls School has been established to help young women, ages 11 to 14 currently, to find their way in this land of great hardship. I have never seen a place of such love and devotion to our children as I saw when I walked through this school.

For 30 years I have taught and given lectures to thousands of young people in scores of schools across this country and the Caribbean. I have never seen a place like this. I want to thank Maria Ramirez for taking the time to show us what they are doing to help the young women of the Pine Ridge Reservation. She is an amazing woman and it was an honor and privilege to ride beside her day after day.

I've often been asked by friends and others what they can do to help make a difference for Native American people. Here it is. If you have been tempted to make a contribution to some organization that got your name from a mailing list and sends you a slick letter and a trinket in exchange for your money, stop. The Pine Ridge Girls School is without a doubt the worthy cause you have been looking for. These girls need this school and this school needs our support. Do a little research, google wil be happy to help. Learn what they are doing here, and doing it with so very little. I will be supporting them and I hope you will too. If you have any questions please contact me and I will be happy to help.

I have never been more proud to be Lakota than when I walked through the halls and classrooms of this school. The future of my people rests in the hands and hearts of our women, and the young women who attend this school are the ones who will make our future bright.

Thank you for your interest and support. Wopila. (gratitude) Please share this so it might reach those who can help. Your effort, through financial support, and through sharing this knowledge with others, can and will have a positive impact on the lives of good and worthy people. The school has established a go-fund-me account and have beautiful t-shirts to offer. If you choose to make a contribution to this school please let me know. I would like to be able to express my gratitude to you directly. Thank you!


The following is a comment on this story. Thank you.

I'm very moved by your story of the Ride. Thank you. Here is how to support the Pine Ridge Girls School:http://www.pineridgegirlsschool.com/#!donate/c1ghi




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