Rancheros Visitadores
The addition of guest riders to the 500 full members
brought this year’s encampment to about 1,200 mounted participants.
The group meets every year at Jackson Camp on the edge of
the Santa Ynez River. They ride from the camp to Old Mission Santa Inés, where a blessing is pronounced on the men and their
mounts on Saturday. The next day, they ride to their Janeway
camp for a week of contests, camaraderie, music and socializing.
Until the 1860s, California ranchers drove cattle to
nearby missions, where they would meet other drovers. The cattlemen would move
their cattle from mission to mission until all of the livestock had been sold.
The Rancheros Visitadores’ ride is a reenactment of
that on-the-hoof cattle market.
Rancheros Visitadores was
founded by John Mitchell, and the first full ride took place in May 1930.
President Ronald Reagan and entertainer Walt Disney were among the more famous
members of the Visitadores.