Wyoming

Up To 2,600 Pounds Each, Powder River Percherons Are Huge At Wyoming Parades

Published

57 minutes ago

June 13, 2026

Up To 2,600 Pounds Each, Powder River Percherons Are Huge At Wyoming Parades

A casual favor turned into a lifelong fascination for Glenrock’s Mike Cushman, owner of the much-in-demand Powder River Percherons, who have become a regular sight at many of the state’s largest and most popular parades.

“I used to lease a ranch back in the late ’80s, and the guy who owned it had a hitch of Belgians,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And one day he just asked me if, in my free time, I could help him with that.”

Once he’d learned how to handle Belgians, he started his own team, but the popularity of the large draft horse was driving up prices. That led him to give two dapple-gray Percherons a try.

It was like love at first sight.

“We were trying to create something that had a little flair,” he said. “So those two just escalated from a team of four to six, and before we knew it we had 11 or 12 dapple-gray horses, and we were doing work all over Wyoming, anywhere from Jackson to Cody to Sheridan and Cheyenne and most all the towns in between.”

Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)

The War Horse Of France

Percherons are conversation starters everywhere they go.

The war horse of France, these animals are massive and athletic, while also being uncommonly beautiful and stylish.

They are actually bigger than the more well-known Clydesdales, standing at 6 feet from the withers and weighing up to 2,600 pounds. Their hooves are the size of dinner plates, which help support all that weight.

Their actual origins have been lost to time, but the oldest known record goes back before the Crusades, when mares of the Le Perche region of France were mated with Arabian stallions.

The result was a breed more athletic than most horses. In Cushman’s opinion, they’re among the most fearless breeds of horse anywhere.

“I suppose if I needed to, I could probably drive them through a fire,” he said. “They would trust and believe in me.”

To be clear, Cushman has never tried to drive any of his Percheron teams through a fire.

He has, on occasion, put them through a bit of a commotion while testing them for parade readiness.

“I know if there was a protest line with a bunch of PETA people standing there waving flags and everything, I could put these horses right over the top of them,” Cushman said. “They would do that for me.”

Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)

Big Brains, Bigger Personalities

Percherons are also super intelligent creatures, and full of personality. That’s led to some funny escapades over the last 24 years.

Like the horse that managed to get itself captured in a bog.

The poor fella had to wait until morning for rescue, but all was well in the end.

One year at Don King Days in Sheridan, after the team finished its exhibition round on the polo field, Cushman remembers tying the team to the trailer while he and the crew went to lunch.

When they returned, a big gray gelding named Sarge was somehow standing out in the middle of the vast green field, enjoying a tasty snack of fresh polo field grass.

“I hollered at him and he jerked his head up and ran back to the trailer and put himself right back into the slot where he came from,” Cushman recalled, laughing. “Like a milk cow going into a stanchion.”

What had happened was a loose buckle.

“The neighbor horse and Sarge would fiddle around with each other all the time,” Cushman said. “So the neighbor horse had grabbed the tongue of Sarge’s halter and pulled on it. He pulled that strap through and unbuckled it.”

Sarge knew just what to do then. With no humans around, it was time for play.

Turning Up The Volume

Budweiser is famous for its advertisements featuring long, shimmering lines of large draft horses in their glittering harnesses, clopping down the street.

It’s a classic six-up hitch — three teams of two, one pair in front of the next.

Percherons can do the same thing, but Cushman has his own idea of how to turn the volume up for parades.

Instead of the six-up, what he likes to do for a “wow” factor is a four abreast setup.

Picture four massive Percherons side by side across the front of the wagon, rolling shoulder to shoulder down a parade route. It’s a wall of horse flesh coming at you, with a team that stretches nearly 14 feet wide.

“We get a lot of compliments on it,” Cushman said. “There’s a ‘wow’ factor in it.”

Cushman did that last Saturday in Thermopolis because it fit the theme of the event. For the Fourth of July in Cheyenne, meanwhile, he plans to go with the classic six-up.

Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)

Small Town To Big Time

Cushman’s Powder River Percherons have performed for small Wyoming towns like Kaycee and Thermopolis to much larger venues like the Denver National Western Stock Show Parade, where the crowds range up to 100,000 people.

They’ve been as far away as Tucson, Arizona, on up into Montana, and over to Deadwood, South Dakota.

Most of the venues, though, are Wyoming.

“Wyoming is home,” Cushman said. “We just try to take care of our own.”

The horses have carried three Wyoming governors, including Gov. Mark Gordon, as well as former U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi.

They’ve also carried several celebrities, like actor Cole Hauser, known to millions as Rip from the popular television series “Yellowstone;” and Robert Taylor, who played Sheriff Walt Longmire, the hero of Craig Johnson’s Longmire universe, in the television hit series of the same name.

The Percherons have also carried a number of Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world champions, including legends like Donnie Gay and Larry Mahan.

They’re popular in parades and weddings, but have also been tapped for funerals to carry someone’s loved one to a final resting place.

Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)
Anyone who’s been to a parade in Wyoming in the past 25 years knows the Powder River Percherons, teams of dapple-gray draft horses that tower over crowds. They bring “a ‘wow’ factor” at up to 2,600 pounds each and 6 feet tall at the withers. (Courtesy Powder River Percherons)

Training Each Other

The horses might seem to naturally take everything in stride from parade to funeral, but there’s quite a bit of training that goes into that even temperament.

That training effectively starts before Cushman ever buys a horse with the Amish families who raise them.

“We buy them usually when they’re 3 years old,” he said. “And we prefer the Amish horses, because they have good manners and they just haven’t seen the big city life or anything.”

Amish horses also seem to work harder, Cushman said, making them a better value than other options.

“I mean, the Amish make their living with horses,” Cushman said. “Even the carpenters and the craftsmen will have a saddlebred horse, or will be riding a horse around back and forth to work or to the store or whatever.”

Cushman puts his new horses in a pasture near the interstate, which he believes helps desensitize them to big vehicles and unexpected noises — things that are common in parades.

He will also blend his new horses in with older, more experienced animals as he’s training them for parades.

“They learn from each other,” he said. “They go, ‘Oh well, this is not bothering these guys, why would it bother me?’”

Not A Good Wall Street Bet

For all their popularity, celebrity passengers and big-stage appearances, the Powder River Percherons would not be a good Wall Street bet.

By the time Cushman figures in hay, feed, farrier work, veterinary care, equipment, fuel, hotels, and wages for a crew of five to six people, the retired rancher knows he’s not necessarily breaking even with these horses.

“We aim to at least cover expenses for our travel and whatnot,” he said. “If we took in all the feed and care and the shoeing for these horses and charged that back to the customer, we’d be out of business pretty quickly.”

He likes to think of his horses as a kind of rolling ambassador for the draft horse tradition. The team is a labor of love, everywhere he goes, one where the real payoff is the gee-whiz-cool expressions he sees on the faces of young and old alike.

His Percherons have rolled under flags and fireworks, past squealing children with grocery bags full of candy.

When the show is over, they go home and wait for the next call, ever-ready to channel that eternal sense of Americana that every parade needs.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

‘Pride Lives Here’: Belonging, visibility, identity in Casper’s queer community

Published

11 hours ago

June 13, 2026

Press Room

‘Pride Lives Here’: Belonging, visibility, identity in Casper’s queer community

CASPER, Wyo. — The month of June marks a time of celebration, marches and events for LGBTQ+ communities internationally. In Casper, Pride Fest brings the queer community together through a series of events designed to reflect visibility, connection and local identity.

This year’s theme, “Pride Lives Here,” sits at the center of that effort, grounding the festival in the people and community already rooted in Wyoming.

The kickoff event on June 11 at ART 321 brought painting, food and conversation into a shared space where attendees gathered to mark the start of the four-day festival.

Tree community painting, Art 321, Casper pride kickoff 2026 (Kailee Robinson)

Mallory Pollock, executive director of Casper Pride, said the theme reflects how the queer community exists in the city beyond June. Pollock said it speaks to how people “live and work together not just in June, but year round.”

Among those attending the kickoff event was Casper native Lindsay Scott, who said the theme reflects that “there are queer people in Casper who deserve a voice too because we live here.”

“It felt like it reflected me,” they added.

For Scott, visibility is still a challenge across Wyoming, especially in rural areas.

“There needs to be this kind of presence everywhere,” they said. “If there’s not a central hub for any community, it’s hard to find people at all.”

“The lack of specialized resources for especially Indigenous queer people is completely astounding,” they added.

Scott added that Wyoming culture shapes how people live and express identity, describing residents as “high-desert mountain people” with distinct ways of living.

That connection between place and identity emerged throughout the evening, though not all community members see Pride in the same way.

Gina Douglas, who has attended Pride events across the country, said Pride in larger cities often consists of large crowds attending large parades. She said that in Wyoming, many people are more cautious about visibility.

“All the people that I met, they’re kind of like, ‘Keep your head down, don’t draw fire,’” she said.

Douglas said she believes visibility is still essential for change, though. “All of us need to be more visible,” she said.

She also pointed to Wyoming’s identity as the “Equality State,” arguing that the reality does not always match the ideal. She said that while Wyoming is often framed as equal on paper, it hasn’t extended to everyone in practice, especially LGBTQ+ people.

Despite differing perspectives, community members agreed that Wyoming shapes a unique queer identity. Scott again pointed to the “cowboy queer” identity, saying it felt “very Wyoming and very queer at the same time.”

Together, those perspectives reflect a community navigating what Pride means in practice, not just during celebration. For some, it is community-building and year-round support. For others, it is visibility and protest.

However, participants described a shared reality of being queer in Wyoming, shaped by geography, culture and the balance between safety and visibility.

Ultimately, “Pride Lives Here” is less a statement and more a question the community is still exploring.

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Wyoming

Wyoming judge strikes down ultrasound requirement, two other abortion laws – WyoFile

Published

21 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming judge strikes down ultrasound requirement, two other abortion laws – WyoFile

A Wyoming judge struck down three abortion laws on Friday, the latest instance of the courts here rejecting attempts by state lawmakers to curtail the procedure in the Equality State.

Retired District Judge Thomas T. C. Campbell ruled the laws violated a 2012 amendment to the Wyoming Constitution that protects individuals’ rights to make their own healthcare decisions. The Wyoming Supreme Court in January cited the same provision when it struck down two statewide abortion bans, and a different judge noted the amendment in April when he blocked enforcement of the state’s new “heartbeat” bill.

Friday’s ruling concerned three laws passed by lawmakers in 2025. One created a mandatory ultrasound requirement and a 48-hour waiting period for patients seeking abortions. The second enacted a set of new and more stringent regulations that critics said were intended to make operating an abortion clinic in Wyoming unfeasible. A third involved abortion restrictions within a larger law governing the prescription of off-label medications.

Campbell temporarily blocked enforcement of all three laws last year after the plaintiffs in the case — which included abortion providers and abortion rights advocates — filed suit in state court. But his final determination that the laws are unconstitutional did not come until Friday.

‘No competent evidence’

In his 34-page decision, Campbell wrote repeatedly that the state, which had defended the laws in court, failed to provide evidence backing its claims. He noted the state alleged that the ultrasound law serves as a way to protect women from the consequences of undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies. But the judge found that the state “offers no competent evidence that such instances are occurring with any measure of regularity.” Additionally, he wrote, the state “offered no cogent evidence illustrating that a waiting period is necessary for any purpose.”

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs showed that the ultrasound rule would not significantly lessen the risk for ectopic pregnancy complications and that waiting periods have no medical utility, the judge wrote. They also offered “ample evidence” that the ultrasound requirement lacked a compelling government interest, according to Campbell’s ruling.

“The Plaintiffs provide concise evidence undermining the medical necessity of an ultrasound prior to undergoing a chemical abortion,” he wrote. “The Plaintiffs request for relief is underscored by their evidence that abortion is inherently safe. They provide Wyoming Department of Health data indicating zero complications or deaths resulting from abortion in Wyoming. They also specifically cite clinical guidance explicitly proclaiming that ultrasounds are not medically necessary for women seeking chemical abortions.”

Wellspring Health Access is pictured in February 2025 in central Casper. It is the only facility to provide in-clinic abortion services. (Joshua Wolfson/WyoFile)

Campbell also took issue with what he termed a lack of evidence by state lawyers defending the law that required abortion clinics be regulated as “ambulatory surgical centers,” which come with more stringent, and costly, regulations. The state contended the law constituted a compelling interest because it closed a legal loophole, but did not provide evidence showing that “consistency of laws forms a compelling government interest,” he wrote.

He also rejected the state’s arguments that the law helped to ensure women’s health.

“Of course, it is conceivable that preserving women’s health could independently invoke a compelling interest,” he wrote. “However, outside of sweeping generalizations, the State again provides no evidence or a causal link of how a surgical abortion facility, operating outside the regulatory framework of an [ambulatory surgical center], negatively impacts women’s health and welfare.”

As for the off-label medication law, which abortion advocates fear would discourage doctors from prescribing common abortion medications, the judge agreed with the plaintiffs, who maintained it was a solution in need of a problem.

Abortion opponents stymied by constitutional amendment

State lawmakers have made several attempts to limit or ban abortion in Wyoming since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the landmark ruling Roe v. Wade. Since then, the same group of plaintiffs has repeatedly succeeded in convincing the courts that the laws violated a 2012 amendment to the Wyoming Constitution. Voters enacted the amendment after a push by conservatives who feared Obamacare would lead to government infringement on healthcare autonomy.

The amendment protects adults’ rights to make their own healthcare decisions. The Wyoming Supreme Court in January concluded that “a woman has a fundamental right to make her own health care decisions, including the decision to have an abortion.”

In the aftermath of that ruling, Gov. Mark Gordon called on the Wyoming Legislature to pursue a constitutional amendment that would settle the matter. But lawmakers instead chose to pass a law that made abortion illegal once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which can occur by the sixth week. That law is also tied up in the courts while a legal challenge proceeds.

Still, anti-abortion advocates in the Legislature promised to continue their attempts to end the practice here.

“We will not quit, we will not give up and we will not stop the fight to protect innocent life,” Speaker of the House Chip Neiman said in a video posted to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’ Facebook page. “It’s really too bad. It’s quite a testimony, quite a statement about our judiciary that, I think once again, they’ve acted to thwart and to ignore the will of the Legislature and have complete disregard for innocent life in Wyoming.”

Neiman, a Republican who is now running for the state senate, said he expected Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz, who advocated against abortion after he retired from the Wyoming Supreme Court, to fight Friday’s ruling, presumably by appealing to the high court.

Meanwhile, the president of Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, Casper’s Wellspring Health Access, hailed Friday’s decision, while also alluding to the likelihood of more legal battles ahead.

“These politically motivated laws, which unfairly target abortion providers, harm the people we serve by creating unnecessary barriers to essential health care,” Julie Burkhart said in a statement. While we know the fight against these laws is far from over, this outcome strengthens our determination to continue providing comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, to the people of Wyoming.”

The University of Wyoming has conducted repeated polls on abortion in Wyoming. The latest, which was released in November 2024, showed that about 10% of Wyomingites backed a total ban on abortion, with another 31% favoring abortion restrictions with exceptions for rape, incest or when a woman’s life is in danger. Another 20% preferred those exemptions and others once the need for an abortion had been clearly established. About 39% said abortion should remain a personal choice.

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