For the second year in a row, the Makatoh Reconciliation and Healing horse ride will be travel from Fort Thompson, South Dakota to Reconciliation Park in Mankato.

The annual ride is intended to honor the memory of the 38 Dakota men executed in Mankato, on Dec. 26, 1862, following the U.S.-Dakota War. Another goal of the ride is to promote healing between Dakota and non-Dakota people.

The idea for the Reconciliation ride came from Lakota spiritual leader Jim Miller. He dreamed of a ride to Mankato from the Crow Creek reservation where the Dakota tribe of Minnesota was exiled after the war. Miller’s dream was of reconciliation and healing. The horseback rides began in 2008 and concluded in 2022. A few months after the 2022 ride, Miller died of cancer.

No ride was held in 2023, but after a year off the event was revived as the Makotah Reconciliation and Healing Horse Ride in 2024. This year the ride will start again following a similar route as last year. The riders will travel 330-miles from South Dakota to Minnesota following paths connected to historical events of 1862.

The journey begins Wednesday, Dec. 10 from Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. The group will travel east through South Dakota, stopping in Wessington Springs, Woonsocket, Howard, Coleman and Flandreau. After Flandreau, the riders will enter Minnesota. Stops in Minnesota includes Pipestone, Slayton, Wesbrook, Jeffers Petrogylphs, Sleepy Eye and Courtland before concluding the ride in Mankato on Friday, Dec. 26.

In Mankato, the riders will travel to Land of Memories Park in Mankato and conclude the journey in Reconciliation Park for a program honoring the anniversary of the mass hanging.