HORSE

HEROES
True Stories of
Amazing Horses
Written by Kate Petty

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 Horses and humans have worked together for thousands of years. leaving the cheering
From the vast wilderness to the Hollywood movie set, horses have served crowds far behind.
us faithfully while playing an important role in history. Horses can be Horse and rider
found in our art, religion, and mythology. Let’s look at some of history’s had entered history as the first ever
most famous horse heroes. Pony Express team.
In 1860, there were no such
things as telephones and fax machines. Mustang
This hardy breed is
Pony Express If you lived on the West Coast of the
descended from the
United States, keeping up to date with the horses brought to
When the little mustang came into view,
latest news on the East Coast was almost America by Spanish
UNITED STATES the crowd began to cheer. explorers.
California Missouri impossible. It could take more than
Her rider, Johnny Fry, led her into the
a month for mail to travel across the
packed town square of St. Joseph, Missouri,
continent by wagon.
that warm April evening in 1860. Johnny
The Pony Express was a horse relay
checked the mail pouch on the mustang’s back
designed to keep the mail moving day and
Long Journey for the last time as she snorted excitedly.
Pony Express riders took night. It cut down the time taken for mail to
A cannon boomed. They were away! The
the mail 2,000 miles from reach California to just eight days.
Missouri to California. mustang raced off into the evening twilight,
Each horse and rider galloped at top
This poster for the speed to the next station. The rider leaped off
Pony Express service
dates from 1861. the exhausted horse shouting, “Pony rider
coming!” The mail was transferred to a fresh
horse, and the rider galloped off again on his
new mount.
There were 157 relay stations, and riders
changed horses about six to eight times.
The teams risked death together on a Express Riders
daily basis. Pony Express riders
First Delivery had to be under 18
Much of the route lay through the
Johnny Fry’s mail sack The cost of sending a letter years old and weigh
held 49 letters and on the Pony Express was homelands of American Indians, some of less than 126 pounds,
worked out by weight. A
three newspapers. whom declared war on the invaders of their so as not to slow down
letter cost $5 per ounce.
their horses.
territory.
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 The Pony Express teams rode across
One of the bravest riders was
rocky mountain passes and wide, empty
“Pony Bob” Haslam. In May
plains in scorching sun, pouring rain, and
1860, he arrived at a station in
freezing blizzards. If their rider fell off,
Nevada to find the keeper dead
some brave horses carried on alone to the
and all the horses gone. He set
next station.
out for the next station, which
The final stop was Sacramento,
was 40 miles away.
Transfer California. Crowds of eager people would
“I knew I had to carry on. As I rode through
It took a rider two minutes gather to watch the arrival of the last rider
to transfer between horses. the night, I kept watching my pony’s ears. I
on the route bringing them their mail and
knew he’d hear any ambush before I did.”
newspapers.
At the next station he persuaded the
The success of the Pony Express teams
keeper to leave with them. Bob and his tireless
proved that it was possible for the East
horse saved the man’s life—the next night that
and West coasts to keep in touch. It was a
station was attacked.
milestone on the way to modern America.
The horses and riders that ran the Pony
Saddle Up Express were real pioneers.
Mail pouches were The Pony Express is remembered today by
sometimes sewn into
the rider’s saddle.
horse lovers who ride the Express’s desert tracks
for pleasure. Their journeys pay tribute to the
riders of 1860, who insisted that “the mail
must get through.”

The Pony Express closed down

when the transcontinental
telegraph system opened in 1861.
Stagecoach operators Wells, Fargo
& Company took over the route.

Lincoln
In 1860, Abraham
Lincoln’s first speech as
Express riders
U.S. President was carried
carried rifles in
case of trouble. by the Pony Express.

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 Tale of Two Horses A man rushed toward them, shouting

When Aimé Tschiffely (Ay-may Shiff-ell-ee) that the water hid dangerous quicksand.

told people about his idea early in 1925, they He led them to a safe trail. Tschiffely was

thought he had gone mad. amazed. The horse had saved their lives!

“Impossible! It can’t be done!” As they rode on through Peru, they began

Tschiffely wanted to be the first man ever to climb the Andes—a huge range of snow-

to ride from Buenos Aires in Argentina all the capped mountains.

Aimé Tschiffely One morning, they came to a sight that
way to Washington, D.C.
Aimé Tschiffely
He realized that the 10,000-mile journey made Tschiffely’s blood run cold. The way
was a Swiss teacher
living in Argentina. forward was along a rickety old rope bridge Criollo
would be full of difficulties, but it had been his
These horses are very
secret ambition for years. that stretched over a deep gorge. One slip
tough and can carry
Tschiffely knew that he needed two tough would prove fatal. heavy weights over long
distances.
and resourceful horses if he was to succeed. When they reached the middle, the bridge
Americas
He chose Gato and Mancha, Criollo horses swayed violently. If Mancha panicked and
Tschiffely wanted to ride
from South to North
ages 15 and 16. They had belonged to an turned back, they would both fall to their
America across the
Argentinian Indian chief and roamed free on deaths. But Mancha waited calmly for the
Panama Canal.
the plains. bridge to stop moving, and then went on.
Horse Sense
They were not handsome and they When Gato saw his companions safe on the People believe that horses
other side, he crossed the bridge as steadily as have a sixth sense that
UNITED STATES were headstrong, but they knew how to warns them about danger.
Washington, D.C. survive in the wild. if he were walking on solid ground.

Tschiffely and the horses set off

MEXICO
COSTA RICA
in April 1925. After four months, the
PANAMA travelers crossed over into Bolivia.
COLOMBIA
ECUADOR In that time the trio had learned to
PERU BOLIVIA trust each other and to work together as
a team.
One day, as they rode along the
Buenos Aires shore of a lake in Peru, they reached a
ARGENTINA
shallow strip of water. Gato reared up
and refused to go on.

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 From Peru, Tschiffely headed into Ecuador Moving through dense jungle, the trio had
and followed a series of tracks through lush to cope with mosquito bites and attacks by
forests over high mountains and down into vampire bats and poisonous snakes.
valleys. At night, Tschiffely never tied up the Once Mancha slipped into a crocodile-
horses. He knew they would not run. The three infested river. He only just managed to find
Herd Instincts travelers were sharing a great adventure, each a foothold and pull himself up the bank as
Wild horses stay in groups, showing the others the way. Tschiffely clung on for dear life.
or herds. Mancha and
Gato would instinctively Zigzagging up a narrow trail one day, Two and a half years after setting out from
follow each other, Tschiffely saw that the path ahead had been Buenos Aires, Tschiffely reached Washington, Dense Jungle
whatever the dangers.
swept away by a landslide, leaving a sheer D.C. He had achieved his lifelong ambition. The jungles of Central
and South America are
drop. There was no choice but to turn back “I could never have done it,” he said,
home to some of the
and find another route. Tschiffely tightened “without Mancha and Gato. My two pals have world’s most dangerous
snakes, such as the 30-foot
Gato’s packs to get ready for a long detour. shown powers of resistance to every hardship.”
(10 meter) anaconda.
But Mancha had other ideas. Tschiffely Tschiffely was given a hero’s welcome,
saw with horror that Mancha was preparing to even meeting President Coolidge in the White
jump the gap. His heart rose in his mouth as House. Admirers suggested that the horses
Mancha sailed through the air and landed should live in a city park. But Tschiffely took
Born Free
on the other side. Mancha and Gato back to Argentina and set Horses who grow up in the
The horse turned and neighed to them free. country can become sad
and listless if confined in
his companions not to be afraid. a city.
Tschiffely and Gato soon followed. Horses seem to remember that their
ancestors were hunted by crocodiles
As their adventure stretched
and know to be afraid of them.
on, the three travelers reached
the Panama Canal and
crossed into Costa
Rica and then
Mexico.

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