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Horse Virus Postpones Pony Express Ride

By Elana Gordon

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-972019.mp3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – "Neither rain nor sleet," as the old postal slogan goes, would have stopped the Pony Express from its delivery route 150 years ago. But now, after 32 years of consecutive re-enactments, the threat of an equine herpes virus is delaying the mail relay.

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The Pony Express carried mail between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California around the time of the Civil War. A crew of more than 500 riders and 400 horses would pass the envelopes along the 2,000-mile stretch.

Gary Chilcote directs the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, which also served as the starting point for the delivery route. He says no one horse or rider ever did the whole journey.

"Only the mail carried in a leather mochila that would transfer from one horse to another made the entire trip," says Chilcote.

This year's Pony Express re-enactment is slated to start on Wednesday, June 8. But it's been postponed because of concerns over a recent outbreak of horse herpes.

A potent strain of the otherwise common virus, EHV1, surfaced at a horse competition in Utah last month. Several animals, mostly in Western states, have since died.

The virus doesn't affect humans, but it can easily spread through direct and indirect contact between horses. Chilcote says this got Pony Express organizers thinking about what might happen if one of their participating horses were infected.

"The mochila sits on every horse," says Chilcote. "So if a horse picked up the disease, it could be spread from one horse to another on the mochila."

Chilcote, who's been involved in the re-enactment since its inception three decades ago, says the decision to push this year's Pony Express ride back to mid-August marks the first time the event's ever been delayed.

Agriculture officials, meanwhile, are keeping a close watch on horses that may have been exposed to the virus. There have been no reported cases in Kansas or Missouri.

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