WHAT IS PONY EXPRESS?

Pony Express is a high-energy relay race on horseback, a signature event at black rodeos in Oklahoma, where it was founded. The best way to describe it is like a track relay—only on horses.

“Eight horses against another eight horses, 16 people in the arena at the same time,” said Jordan Harvey, captain of the Go Hard Boyz Pony Express team.

Teams of eight race around the rodeo arena, passing off a baton to the next rider. The "jump man" kicks off the race, and the "drop man" finishes the final lap, placing the baton in a barrel at the center of the arena. If a team drops the baton, they are disqualified. However, if a rider falls off but the baton stays in hand, judges can reset the race at the point of the fall, allowing it to continue.

In the Oklahoma City metro, teams like All-In Cowboys, Wild Bunch, Young Fly Cowboys of Spencer, and the Go Hard Boyz compete for prize money that can reach up to $35,000.

“It’s the best event there—the fastest horses on dirt, you know,” Harvey said. “I mean, everybody wants to see Pony Express. When the other events come on, no one wants to watch them. Pony Express comes on, and everyone’s on the fence.”

Ronnie Davis, another member of the Go Hard Boyz, compares the atmosphere to a family reunion.

HISTORY

According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, after the Trail of Tears and the Emancipation Proclamation, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole nations signed treaties with the U.S. government in 1866, abolishing slavery and granting citizenship rights to Freedmen. This led to the establishment of Oklahoma’s first all-black town, Tullahassee, in 1902, followed by Boley in 1903—the largest historically black town, often called “the crown jewel.”

Later that same year, Boley hosted the nation’s first black rodeo. By the 1950s, rodeo clubs like the Eastside Round-Up Club—originally known as the Oklahoma City Wranglers—and the Meridian Round-Up Club were established. Membership in these clubs has been passed down through generations of connected families.

Pastor Everett Mack, a former member of the Meridian Round-Up Club, recalled how Pony Express got its start.

“When we had kids, we decided to give them something to do at the rodeos other than just watching along with some of the older group,” Mack said. “That’s when we got the Pony Express team for Meridian Round-Up Club together.”

Rodeos at the time featured events like steer wrestling and bronco and bull riding. But depending on who you ask, the idea for Pony Express racing didn’t emerge until the early 1960s, when a prominent cowboy known as "Outlaw" combined Native American relay races with the 19th-century Pony Express mail handoff tradition.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Unlike other rodeo events, Pony Express is not nationally recognized. Athletes compete on the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo circuit but are not considered professionals. Current racers hope to change that.

“We hope to be in Vegas at the NFR 2026,” Harvey said.

Robert Johnson III, one of the first Pony Express riders for the Eastside Round-Up Club, said the key to getting there is organization. He believes all Pony Express teams need to come together to form a committee, establish a general manager, and develop a standardized set of rules, regulations, and penalties.

“You can’t think of your team, my team. You got to think about all the teams,” Johnson said.

“Pony Express is what brings people to the rodeo,” Davis added. “We’re going to keep knocking on the door, and you know, somebody will let us in eventually.”