Women will saddle up in June to participate for the first time in a horseback ride from California to Missouri that is held each year to commemorate the Pony Express.
The trip along the route of the Old West mail service is organized by the National Pony Express Association, which refused to allow women to ride until female enthusiasts threatened a lawsuit."The reason was that we are an historical organization," said Ken Martin, national president of the group founded in the 1970s in California.
"Young, skinny wiry fellows carried the mail for the Pony Express back in 1860 and 1861, and we try to be as authentic as possible. There were no women Pony Express riders," he said last week.
Women who paid the association's annual $10 national dues scoffed at the claim of authenticity, pointing out that many of the riders are portly men over age 50 who drive to their assigned positions on the trail.
Helping bring the matter to a head last fall was Melba J. Leal, a member of the group's California chapter since 1985. She threatened discrimination lawsuits if she and another woman, Edie McElwee, were not allowed to ride.
Leal was angered by a new twist to the event - riders overseas on a route through Czechoslovakia, Austria and East Germany.
"Edie and I found it inconceivable that women, as full members and citizens of the United States, are not allowed the same privileges," Leal said.
The mail will leave Sacramento on June 8 and arrive in St. Joseph on June 17, with participants posted along the way. After the mail reaches St. Joseph, it will be flown to Europe for a trip through Austria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
The organization's national board decided last fall to let the state chapters decide whether women should be allowed to ride.