.png)
About Us
Horses. Humans. Healing.
Black Horse Ranch sits on twenty acres outside Eagle Butte, South Dakota, on the Cheyenne River Reservation. What began as a family home has grown into a ministry rooted in the sacred relationship between people and horses — a relationship the Lakota have carried for generations, and one we believe still holds the power to renew the spirit.
Our Story
We are an evolving ministry of the Cheyenne River Episcopal Mission and the Diocese of South Dakota, founded by Rev. Ellen Huber and Rev. Kurt Huber. The Hubers came to Cheyenne River from Connecticut in September 2020, called to serve the Lakota people and the mission's congregations. They didn't arrive with plans for a horse-based ministry — that came as they listened and learned, recognizing both the trauma carried by Indigenous communities through generations of forced removal and boarding schools, and the deep loss felt when horses were taken from the Lakota people. Black Horse Ranch grew from that recognition.
â
Our work is guided by Mitákuye Oyás'iĊ — the Lakota understanding that we are all related. In this view, horses are not companion animals but relatives, sacred members of the Horse Nation. We participate in the restoration of Lakota horse culture through equine ministry shaped by this teaching, drawing on training the Hubers received through Becoming One with the Spirit of the Horse, a culture-based approach to equine therapy founded by Jon Eagle Sr. on the neighboring Standing Rock Reservation.