A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
Hashknife Pony Express: A Community Tradition
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“It was a privilege to ride with our horsemanship girls this year. I enjoyed watching their enthusiasm. That feeling of belonging is key for young people.”
42 Pacific Union Recorder
he term “community” is foreign to many of the students of Holbrook Indian School (HIS). What does it mean to live in community with those around us? How do members serve their community? One way that HIS encourages our students to be active in our small town of Holbrook, Arizona, is by not only attending but actively participating in the annual Hashknife Pony Express parade. The parade takes place in January before the Pony Express Riders are sworn in as honorary mail messengers and begin their trek south with the local mail. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Posse leads the procession. The Hashknife Pony Express is a tradition dating back to “1958 when the Sheriff’s Posse decided to deliver a letter to Arizona Governor Paul Fannin, to invite him to the Hashknife Stampede Rodeo. In doing so, they delivered the letter to the Governor via ‘Pony Express’ style, and the Hashknife Pony Express Ride was born…. It [is] the longest, continuous (United States Postal sanctioned event) Pony Express Ride in history.”1
Holbrook Indian School