Horse riders continue their traditional July homage to Joaquín Murrieta

Horses and riders alike have embraced the July heat for more than four decades to pay homage to a California Gold Rush figure who has inspired books about his exploits as a Mexican Robin Hood, while others question if Joaquín Murrieta was nothing but an outlaw.

Riders saddled their horses Friday morning for the start of a three-day horse pilgrimage that began near the Madera airport on Avenue 17 about a mile west of Highway 99 and will end more than 60 miles away on Sunday at the Half Way Store just south of Three Rocks.

The Joaquín Murrieta Horse Pilgrimage, which was held during the pandemic shutdown, was started by the late Christropher ‘Mexican Sigui’ Christopherson and others to draw attention to the plight of Mexican farmworkers living in trailers without electricity or running water in Cantúa Creek.

The first ride involved four riders. Since then, the event has had as many as 300 horse riders, including women and children in an effort to showcase the horse culture that Mexican charros introduced to the United States.

In 2010, the event split into two. One group retained the original Madera-to-Cantúa Creek route, and the other reversed the route.

At 8:30 a.m. Saturday (July 30), students will walk from Firebaugh to Lozano-Lungren Park on a spiritual journey that will include a brief ceremony at Five-Mile Ranch.

Sunday (July 31), riders will assemble at Three Rocks at 8:30 a.m. and head to the Half Way Store for a musical celebration hosted by store owner Leticia Fernández.

Murrieta, who has been the subject of books and movies, was supposedly ambushed by California Rangers in Cantúa Creek on July 25, 1853. Some believe the Rangers killed the wrong man, and that Murrieta escaped.