Arvol Looking Horse is a Lakota Native American spiritual leader, horseman and former professional rodeo rider. Since 1986, he has led a group on the Big Foot Memorial Ride which retraces the final journey of Lakota Chief Big Foot and his band before they were killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

Born in 1954 on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Arvol was raised in a traditional Lakota family and community and spoke Lakota as his first language. He attended government boarding school and witnessed the suppression of the spiritual traditions of his people which inspired him to work for religious freedom and the preservation and protection of his culture. Arvol is the 19th Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle, a role he assumed at age 12. He inherited the White Buffalo Calf Pipe and his role as Keeper and became a ceremonial leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people. In the 400-year tradition of guardians of the sacred pipe, Arvol Looking Horse was the youngest to be entrusted with this responsibility. Historically, his family has been the keepers of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe which Lakota tradition teaches was gifted by White Buffalo Calf Woman.

Paula Looking Horse in an accomplished traditional Dakota singer and artist. Her musical credits include opening for the Indigo Girls, touring Europe with Keith Secola and other notable native artists, and composing and producing her own CD entitled “Songs of a Black Hills Woman.” She has been involved in Native rights for over 40 years, organizing Wopida (Great Thank You) Ceremony in 1984 for the Sacred Pipestone Quarries in Minnesota. She helped organize the Sacred Pipestone Run through all South Dakota Reservations to bring attention to the mass exploitation of the selling of the sacred stone also known as “the blood of the people.” She brought her organizational skills to World Peace and Prayer/ Honor Sacred Sites Day in 1996 and has been a moving force in creating the events ever since. She is the mother of eight children and many more adopted throughout her life.