July Fourth Pony Express event grows worldwide

The Ten Sleep/Hyattville Lions Club will once again offer an opportunity to mail a letter by Pony Express.

For something like 30 years, nobody knows for sure, the Lions Club has organized this fundraiser in conjunction with the Independence Day parade, rodeo and celebrations in Ten Sleep, according to event organizers Lyle and Shelley Spence.

This year, the event is reaching worldwide, with Express Riders from four countries other than the USA, and riders from five states.

The Spences said, "Right now we have 26 riders who have committed to ride in a horse relay carrying the special commemorative mail over the 17-plus mile route from Hyattville to Ten Sleep on the morning of July 4th."

The mail pouch will arrive in Ten Sleep in time to begin the Fourth of July parade and rodeo. From there, the special Pony Express envelopes will be merged into the U.S. mail for delivery anywhere in the world.

Grace Lane is the first of several international riders this year. She's from England, spending the summer as an intern on Paint Rock Canyon Ranch (PRC) outside Hyattville. Lane studied costume design in London before retraining herself as an arborist, and is now pursuing her childhood dream of becoming and American cowgirl, the Spences said.

Alamo Cesena is a citizen of Chile, where he is a dairy farmer and rancher. He's spending the summer on Paint Rock Canyon Ranch to learn about holistic grazing and low stress cattle management.

Oliver Tautkus was born and raised in Australia, moved to New Hampshire early in 2022, then to Texas, and is now working out of a summer cow camp with PRC in Hyattville.

Lynn Fulton lives in a rural community in Northern Ireland where she is a farm wife, mother of four, and a third generation sheep and cattle producer. She became Instagram friends with Brenda Hampton of the well-known Hampton family on Mahogany Buttes Ranch South of Ten Sleep. During a planned visit to the Upper Nowood ranch community over the July 4th holiday, she plans to ride a Hampton Ranch horse and carry the mail, according to the Spences.

Other riders from out of the area include Wes Olsen of Maryland, TW Brown of Kentucky, and Michaela Buchanan of Missouri. Buchanan grew up very near St. Joseph, Missouri, the original eastern terminus of the actual Pony Express route in the 1860s. Now working in the Worland area and living with her aunt and uncle, Shelley and Lyle Spence, Buchana will be riding the registered Morgan mare "Lazy YL Pearl of Wisdom," bred and raised by the Spences.

Commemorative envelopes can be purchased beginning June 15 in Worland at the Big Horn Coop Farm Store on US Highway 20 South, Cloud Peak Veterinary Clinic at 801 North 10th Street and at the Worland Senior Center.

In Ten Sleep, envelopes can be purchased at the Sleepy Coyote restaurant, and at the Ten Sleep Senior Center.

In Hyattville, envelopes can be purchased at Paintrock Processing.

Some Lions Club members also have envelopes for sale. Envelopes with your letters enclosed can be returned to the point of purchase no later than 10 a.m. on Friday, June 30 to be merged into the Pony Express batch, or brought to the Hyattville Post Office no later than 7 a.m. on July 4.

The envelopes are a standard-sized letter with first class postage stamp affixed. If your letter exceeds one ounce, or is addressed to a destination outside the US, you will need to affix appropriate additional postage.

In recent years, the Express Riders have carried more than 200 letters each year, addressed to over 40 states and several foreign countries.

"We'd like to set a new record this year," said Lyle Spence. Although old-fashioned letter writing may become a lost art in the age of technology, a grandchild, grandparent, other relative or an old friend might get a big kick out of receiving a letter delivered by Pony Express.

Anyone can follow the development of the event by visiting a Facebook page at "HTS Pony Express," and can view a short video of last year's event on YouTube at "HTS Pony Express."