Comancheros ride for kids
Neither sun nor drought keep Pony Express riders from appointed route
by Jennifer Krahe

Sixty‑two men on horseback, mochillas (mailbags) across their saddles, crossed the desert from Phoenix to Prescott on Thursday and Friday in a historical reenactment for charity. The riders followed the original mail route between the two cities, though in frontier days the run was made by stagecoach.

“It is sanctioned by the U.S. Post Office,” said Jim Beuerlein, the Jaycee Comancheros member in charge of the ride. “Every man the group asked to ride was sworn in as a mail carrier in an official ceremony.” The 35 members of the Comancheros, whose motto is “We keep the kids in our sights at all times,” focus on children’s charities.

Over seven months ago, the group began fundraising by selling identical, pre‑printed letters that would be carried by the riders. The cost to send a letter via Pony Express was the same as it was in the 1800s: $5.

The group even had their own stamp commissioned for the ride. A California company, Stamps.com, provided the stamp at a reduced cost. The stamp, recognized by the United States Post Office, will be placed out of commission after the event, never to be printed again. Only 100 sheets of the stamp were printed.

All proceeds from the letters, the stamps, and the event go to Horses Help and The Tim & Willy Kids Fun‑dation. Horses Help provides equestrian therapy for kids with special needs. The Tim & Willy Kids Fun‑dation is the benefit project of Tim and Willy, celebrity disc jockeys with country radio station KNIX, which concentrates on improving the quality of life for Valley children. 

Beuerlein is proud to report that while the Comancheros were delivering the mail to Prescott as they have in the past, for the first time the group was also delivering a monetary donation specifically to the Prescott area, intended for the Give a Child a Smile Foundation.

Although the mail was delivered by stagecoach in Arizona, the Comancheros began the Pony Express ride in 1976 as a bicentennial commemoration. It was originally run from Prescott to Phoenix  in conjunction with the Phoenix Jaycees Rodeo of Rodeos. After a short hiatus, the ride was revived in the 1990s but changed direction to run from Phoenix to Prescott, and is now held in conjunction with the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo. 

It is an entirely volunteer event, with participants paying for their own food and transportation, and using their own horses. The route consists of 67 legs, with morning legs being two miles each but shortened to one mile per horse and rider as the heat of the day wears on. Originally, Pony Express riders would ride 10 miles at a time, but that was in cooler temperatures. Those riders also weighed less on average, with one period advertisement asking for “young, skinny, wiry fellows, top weight limit 125 pounds.” In this year’s run, the oldest rider is 82, while the youngest riders are 19. 

The Comancheros passed through New River for the first time in the history of the ride on Thursday.

Although the group’s initial goal was to sell 300 letters, Beuerlein says over 600 letters have been purchased.

And just what do the letters say?

Beuerlein laughs. “They are ... ”

All the more reason to purchase a letter and make a donation next year.