Watching as White Pine County resident Rochelle “Rocki” Battrick and her mustang Zack prepare for next week’s Pony Express re-ride, it quickly becomes apparent that the pair share a bond far beyond that usually found between man and horse.

“There’s been nothing Zack hasn’t done for me,” Battrick told the Ely Times, Monday. “He’s absolutely awesome!”

Battrick purchased Zack from the former wild mustang’s previous owner approximately seven years ago for $300. An adopter can apply for title to a horse, provided that a BLM official, a veterinarian or similar official signs a legal document stating that the adopter has taken good care of the horse. The adopter must have the title to sell a BLM-adopted horse.

Under Battrick’s tutelage, Zack is today a favored and popular entry in local gymkhanas, as well as the Ely community’s annual Fourth of July and Christmas parades. And next Friday, for the second time, he will participate with Battrick in the annual re-ride commemorating the Pony Express.

The Pony Express first galloped onto the pages of history on April 3, 1860, when – to the boom of brass cannon and cheering spectators – ex-jockey Johnny Fry spurred a specially-chosen bay mare away from St. Joseph, Mo., and down the banks of the Missouri River to a waiting ferry. This speedy new private mail service was begun by a Missouri freight company hoping to land a proposed federal mail contract.

Equine delivery to Sacramento, Calif., cut to mere days the time it took to send a letter to the Golden State from the east coast. In comparison, it took a packet boat as much as six weeks to sail or steam from New York to San Francisco, via the Panamanian isthmus. Mail-hauling via stagecoach on the so-called Oxbow route, which curved southward through Yuma, Ariz., chopped a whopping three weeks from the seaborne delivery schedule.

Mail delivery, however, was not cheap. Patrons initially paid as much as $5 to mail a letter. The price later dropped to a dollar.

At any given time, the Pony Express employed between 80-100 riders, all of whom – according to advertisements of the time – were “young, skinny wiry fellows not over eighteen.” All were expert riders, and many were skilled guides and scouts. Their salary – a generous $25 weekly.

Also employed by the Pony Express were 500-600 attendants who manned 190 separate stations along the now-historic route. Normally constructed of wood, the stations were replaced in the Great Basin area of Nevada and Utah by adobe or stone structures, due to a lack of timber.

In all, the Pony Express operated for less than two years, from April 1860 through October 1861. The service’s demise came with completion of the transcontinental telegraph. Though brief in existence, the Pony Express will forever live in history – its rider’s exploits captured by such notables as “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Samuel Clemens, a.k.a., “Mark Twain.”

Today, hundreds of riders participate in an annual 10-day reenactment that follows closely the original 1,966-mile route that stretches across portions of California, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

This year’s ride of the Pony Express National Historic Trail, coordinated by the National Pony Express Association, begins June 1 in Sacramento, Calif., and is scheduled to end June 11 in St. Joseph, Mo.

In Nevada, riders will cross about 400 miles of historic sagebrush-covered trail. All will provide their own mounts and carry a mochila – a leather saddlebag designed specifically to carry mail.

White Pine County residents hoping to catch a glimpse of history can motor up U.S. Highway 93 North to Schellbourne Station the afternoon of Friday, June 4. The riders and their mounts, including Battrick and Zack, are scheduled to arrive at the station between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Battrick has no doubt that Zack will complete his mail delivery mission.