Carmen Camarillo

Carmen riding "Duke" at the Santa Barbara Fiesta Parade.

Carmen Camarillo Jones took over the care of the white horses after Adolfo passed away in 1958. 

The yougest daughter of Adolfo and his wife Isabela, Carmen was a skilled and avid horsewoman. She was 24 years old when Adolfo brought Sultan to their family ranch. She played an instrumental role in caring for Sultan and his offspring. Carmen helped her father to train the new Camarillo White Horses for parades. 

As the matriarch of the Camarillo familly, she continued to breed Camarillo Whites and show them at fairs and parades throughout California. Like her father, Carmen was a constant presence in many California parades, her favorite being the Santa Barbara Fiesta Days Parade, which she rode in for 62 consecutive years. 

Under Carmen's direction, the Camarillo White Horses were bred with Quarterhorses rather than the Morgan and Spanish bloods preferred by Adolfo. 

It was also Carmen who ended the family's tradition of exclusive ownership of the horses. When she died in 1987, she left instructions in her will for the horses to be sold at auction. For the first time since the breed's inception, the animals were separated and sold to outside parties. 

By the 1980's the Camarillo White Horses were cemented as a notable and beloved part of the city's heritage, and the public was deeply upset to see the beloved horses sold.