Editing Pony Express (section)

==Saddle==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Mochilla.jpg|thumb|upright|The Mochila: detail from Pony Express [[#Route of the Pony Express|stations map]] by [[William Henry Jackson]]]]

In 1844, years before the Pony Express came to St. Joseph, Israel Landis opened a small saddle and harness shop there. His business expanded as the town grew, and when the Pony Express came to town, Landis was the ideal candidate to produce saddles for the newly founded Pony Express. Because Pony Express riders rode their horses at a quick pace over a distance of {{Convert|10|mi}} or more between stations, every consideration was made to reduce the overall weight the horse had to carry. To help reduce this load, special lightweight [[saddle]]s were designed and crafted. Using less leather and fewer metallic and wood components, they fashioned a saddle that was similar in design to the regular stock saddle generally in use in the West at that time.{{Sfnp|Chapman|1971}}{{Page needed|date=April 2022}}

The mail pouch was a separate component to the saddle that made the Pony Express unique. Standard mail pouches for horses were never used because of their size and shape, as detaching and attaching it from one saddle to the other was time-consuming, causing undue delay in changing mounts. With many stops to make, the delayed time at each station would accumulate to appreciable proportions. To get around this difficulty, a ''mochila'' (a covering of leather) was thrown over the saddle. The saddle horn and cantle projected through holes that were specially cut to size in the ''mochila''. Attached to the broad leather skirt of the ''mochila'' were four ''cantinas'', or box-shaped hard leather compartments, where letters were carried on the journey.{{Sfnp|Chapman|1971}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}