The 2025 National Pony Express Association re-ride this year from Sacramento, California, to Saint Joseph, Missouri, galloped across Wyoming on Tuesday, spending much of the afternoon on Oregon Trail Road through ranch country in Natrona County.
Riders had to weather a little rain and hail along the way — just like those who rode 165 years ago.
Jackie Breed and B.J. Largent both of Casper were waiting on Oregon Trail Road near Poison Spider Road in Natrona County under rain drops with their horses Theodore Roosevelt and Cher to take the mochila down Poison Spider Road.
“This is part of it,” Breed said as she prepared Cher for the journey. “Rain, sunshine it just makes the experience.”
Largent, in her second year of riding the Pony Express re-ride said she just enjoyed “making history.”
The annual re-ride, a tradition that began in 1980, tries to trace the same 1,966-mile route young male riders of the historic Pony Express took between the Missouri and California cities from April 1860 to October 1861.
The riders carry actual mail from the U.S. Post Office, and in Wyoming, ride from Evanston, Wyoming to Lyman, Nebraska, split up in teams that take turns carrying the cargo.
Modern riders do not have to worry about attacks from raiding Native Americans or wintertime blizzards, but each year carries its own obstacles to getting the mission accomplished.
Riders from Central Wyoming Division of the association were carrying a leather pack or satchel called a mochila with 1,200 pieces of mail for much of the day Tuesday.
They were scheduled to reach the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper by 7:10 p.m. and pass duties on to the Glenrock group outside of Casper at 8 p.m. The Glenrock group was expected to carry it to Douglas and pass the mochila just after midnight.
The re-ride entered Wyoming on Monday morning south of Evanston.
Wyoming Pony Express Association President Les Bennington, of Glenrock, said the 160 riders participating in seven ride groups across the state have 56 hours to get the mail to Lyman, Nebraska, by 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
A rider navigates through a gate next to a cattle guard on Oregon Trail Road west of Casper. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
B.J. Largent, left, and Jackie Breed head down West Poison Spider Road Tuesday afternoon as part of the Wyoming Pony Express Association’s Central Wyoming Division’s effort to deliver the mail. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A rider from the Central Wyoming Division of the Wyoming Pony Express Association gallops down Oregon Trail Road west of Casper as weather starts to close in on the group. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The mochila carrying the mail from Sacramento, California, to Saint Joseph, Missouri contains 1,200 letters this year. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jackie Breed signs the mochila before she and B. J. Largent carry it along Poison Spider Road in Natrona County on Tuesday afternoon. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Carly Brown of Golden, Colorado, takes a leg of the re-ride along private ranch land on Oregon Trail Road in central Natrona County. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Nearly Original Route
Central Wyoming Division Captain Diedra Homann said she was keeping her eyes Tuesday on any rain forecast as she prepared her team for their leg of the mission.
They picked up the mochila in Jeffrey City at about 6:30 a.m. from a Lander/Riverton/Atlantic City group of riders.
Part of their route includes the dirt/clay Oregon Trail Road that connects to Highway 220 near the Pathfinder Reservoir and loops across toward Casper.
“Oregon Trail road can just eat lunches if it rains. What we end up having to do sometimes is use one horse and they end up having to ride until they find another horse,” Homann said. “It gets slimier than heck and we have to get the trailers off of there in a hurry.”
The parade of horse trailers and support vehicles along the just barely two-lane dirt Oregon Trail Road escaped before any downpour.
Angela and Dustin Cope of Gillette joined the Central Wyoming Division and were driving their rig down Oregon Trail hoping to escape the promise of rain and stopped for a minute to talk with Cowboy State Daily.
Angela Cope called her ride in the morning a “little chaotic to start” after she got bucked off her horse. She was fine. They rode horses named Willow and Tango. It was her fourth year riding while her husband was in his second season.
“It’s fun to remake history,” Angela Cope said.
Bennington said a Wyoming rider on Monday also had a mishap when the saddle came loose as she was riding, throwing her off.
The horse bucked and went into a fence, tearing a strap on the mochila.
“We got everything gathered up and another lady took the miles or trips she had, and we didn’t really get slowed down at all,” he said. “Anytime you are dealing with horses, and of course, when we run 24/7, nighttime is always a little bit more of a challenge. But we still keep going at a pretty good clip.”
People ‘Coming Together’
Bennington leads the Glenrock ride group that this year has about 18 riders participating and some 20 horses.
Their group was set to meet the Central Wyoming riders across from the Sinclair Refinery east of Casper at 8 p.m. and then carry the mochila to the Douglas group at Exit 150 on I-25 by 12:30 a.m.=
For both Bennington, who has participated in the re-ride since 1980 when the eight states combined to do it, and Homann who has been riding for several years and captain of her division for the past eight, mounting the horse and getting the letters toward Nebraska remains a “thrill.”
“There are not very many events in the United States where you have 700 people coming together and you have everyone rooting for everyone else to succeed,” Homann said. “It is not a competition against states; it’s not a competition against people.
“It takes a lot of teamwork for it to happen. As we watch it come across, we are just cheering for their success.”
Bennington said Wyoming and Nebraska both have 500 miles of riding, and the commitment of horses and riders is real to move the mail.
“It’s gotta be a slow gallop or a fast trot. They have to average a six-minute mile,” he said. “We’ve got 56 hours to get across Wyoming and that’s nonstop day and night. I’ve clocked riders going over 30 (mph) and that certainly helps make up time, at nighttime we are lucky to make probably 5-7 mph at night.”
The Central Wyoming riders have four new faces on the ride, including Pony Express Association member from Kansas. Four of the riders have more than 10 years of experience in the saddle on a re-ride and several others more than four years.
New Rider
Natalie Berwick of Golden, Colorado, was one of the new riders waiting with friend Carly Brown, who has six years of re-rides under her belt. Brown took a leg about 2 p.m. Tuesday in the middle of a private ranch as Oregon Trail Road cut through it.
“It’s phenomenal. I didn’t expect it to be such a touching experience,” Berwick said, just before Brown took the mochila and headed off. “It feels so American.”
Casper’s Terry Apel was helping the riders by opening gates next to cattle guards that dot the Oregon Trail Road so they wouldn’t have to stop. He’s been part of the re-rides for 12 years.
“My wife has been doing it or 15 years,” he said. “It’s a good time.”
Bennington said he has one new rider joining his team in Glenrock and a rider from Colorado, who has participated the past couple of years.
In years past, he said riders showed up from Germany, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland to participate.
“There is a tremendous amount of interest in American Western history in the European countries and even in Japan,” he said.
Follow the Pony Express ride and where the mochila of mail is online.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
