Wyoming
Chad Madsen Of Afton Owns Wyoming's Largest Horse Herd — And Knows Them All By Name
Blaze a new trail in the wilds of Wyoming with just about any outfitter or dude ranch in the state, and chances are you’ve ridden on one of the thousands of horses owned by Chad Madsen.
Madsen is the owner of Yellowstone Horse Rentals in Afton, Wyoming. To say it’s an empire is no stretch. When Madsen looks out on his herd of 2,500 horses in winter, he sees a horse horizon. Nothing but horses from near to far.
The horses are sent out to dude ranches and outfitters across Wyoming and beyond in the summer. Then they rotate into hunting parties in the fall.
Wintertime, there are some horses that go out into the Wyoming winter for sleigh rides and the like, but most of them take a trip to Madsen’s Pavilion Ranch for a well-earned vacation.
They’ll get new shoes and shots, as well as all the hay they want, until it’s time for them to get back to work, taking tourists on adventures in the Wyoming wilderness.
Believe it or not, Madsen said he knows every one of all these 2,500 horses by name, as well as all of their individual quirks. It’s all part of ensuring every customer across the state gets the horses they’re going to like the best.
“With new horses, we’ll send in a description with the do’s and the don’ts,” Madsen told Cowboy State Daily. “Whether this horse is a good kid horse or a good lady’s horse or a guide horse.”
Some ranches have favorites, Madsen added, and those favorite horses will go back, year after year, to the exact same ranch throughout their careers.
If, on the other hand, a horse isn’t working out at a particular ranch, Madsen will rotate that horse to a new group, making sure it has the right fit.
“One horse might be hard to catch, but he’s a really good ride,” Madsen said. “Another might be fast in the line when they’re walking. It just kind of depends on the horse.”
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Some of Chad Madsen’s horses run through the western Wyoming snow. (Photo by Skye Clark and courtesy Chad Madsen) -
A blue-eyed horse seems unfazed by the western Wyoming snow. (Courtesy Chad Madsen)
Building A Horse Empire
Madsen didn’t start out to build the largest horse herd in Wyoming. His family had an outfitting business with its own herd of horses, so he was familiar with them and loved working with the animals.
Then in high school, he worked in the horse-leasing business.
“When I was 21, that guy wanted to sell his horses, so I talked the bank into loaning me some money to put down, and he financed me on the rest,” Madsen said. “That was 350 head of horses 25 years ago in the middle of March.”
That was as big as Madsen figured he’d ever get. But times changed, and Madsen was just ideally positioned to fill a growing need.
“When I first started out, a lot of local guys in the fall had their own horses,” he said. “But now, nobody wants to own their own horses just to go hunting.”
Wyoming outfitters, meanwhile, have a short, eight-week season.
“You just can’t financially justify owning horses for that,” Madsen said. “Dude ranches in the summer can’t really justify owning horses for a 12-week season either.”
For Madsen, the timeframes all work out well for all three of the tourism industry’s biggest needs.
“The horses coming from their summer releases are in good shape,” he said. “They’ve been getting used all summer. So that’s really a lot better than owning a horse who is fat and out of shape and doesn’t really want to go up the hill to go hunting.”
Buying Them Gentle
Madsen travels across the country every winter to stock up his herd with gentle horses.
“Our goal is to buy them already gentle,” Madsen said. “We don’t really have any tricks other than that. There’s no substitute for work. Horses that work for a living are the ones you want.”
Madsen will buy 250 to 300 new horses every year, and goes to auctions all winter long, making sure he’s all stocked up for the summer.
“We like the draft crosses,” he said. “They’re not all draft crosses, but we like quarter horses. The bigger frame, bigger boned, bigger-footed horses.”
Madsen buys horses from the “ground up.”
He looks at their feet, he looks for a sound body, and he looks for that friendly, gentle temperament that means they’ll be a happy horse for a dude ranch or outfitting group.
“Generally, you want to buy them in the prime of their life,” he said. “We don’t always do that, but that’s what we want.”
He does still buy older horses though. They are often good for children.
“Not every horse you buy is gonna work,” he added. “That’s just how it is.”
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Chad Madsen driving a team of his horses on a winter sleigh. (Courtesy Chad Madsen) -
A pair of horses named Faceoff and Stardust at Chad Madsen’s ranch in Afton, Wyoming. Despite having 2,500 horses in his huge herd, Madsen says he knows every horse by name and termperament. (Courtesy Chad Madsen) -
Chad Madsen’s horses are identified by their J Box Dot brand. (Courtesy Chad Madsen)
West Is Short Horses
One reason Madsen travels far and wide to buy horses is that the West is short on them — and getting shorter all the time.
“Some of the bigger cow outfits still use horses, but it’s not like it used to be,” he said. “There are a lot of cow outfits that don’t use horses at all anymore. They use four wheelers and side by sides.”
These days, he’s finding some of his best stock from the Amish, in the Midwest. That’s because the Amish are still very much in the horse business. They still primarily use horses for transportation, farming, and other work.
The shortage of horses has made what Madsen does even more important for the state of Wyoming’s tourism industry.
“The outside money that this brings back into the state of Wyoming is actually pretty remarkable,” Madsen said. “And a lot of that money is coming from outside the state.”
Huge Economic Ripple Effect
Madsen wouldn’t name a specific figure for what his horse herd brings to Wyoming, but said it’s in the millions. That money gets used to buy hay and other supplies for the horses, as well as fix or buy equipment, and shoe horses. It also pays worker salaries, who in turn go out and buy clothes, food, and all the other necessities and wants of life — a huge ripple effect that makes Madsen’s operation a vital prong in the tourism industry.
“I’ve always been kind of proud of that,” Madsen said. “The fact that these horses bring a lot of money into the state. As far as being essential to the tourism of Wyoming, they really are. They’re bringing in a lot of money for the state and helping (tourism) across the state.”
Madsen, meanwhile, loves what he does for a living. Nothing looks more beautiful to him than that horizon full of beautiful, spirited horses, manes and tails flying in a Wyoming wind.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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