Thunder’s Next Ride

Photos Courtesy of Gabriel Christus / Denver Broncos

For more than three decades, a horse named Thunder has been a living, galloping symbol of the Denver Broncos football team, helping fans celebrate by running the length of the field after each score.

The tradition continues this season, but like the Broncos team roster, it has personnel changes. Since the program began in 1993, there have been four equine ambassadors for the Broncos. This season, Thunder V made his debut at Empower Field, on Sept. 20. A majestic white Andalusian with a flowing mane and tail, the new Thunder is the first Broncos horse who is not an Arabian. He is also the first Thunder to be owned by the Denver Broncos team, as the previous horses were owned by Sharon Magness Blake and her husband, Ernie Blake.

The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group, which purchased the Broncos in 2022, wanted to keep Thunder as the only four-legged mascot in the National Football League and agreed to purchase a horse and support the team that boards, trains and runs him. 

“On behalf of our organization and all of Broncos Country, we thank Sharon Magness Blake and Ernie Blake, Ann Judge and the entire Thunder Spirit team for their extraordinary contributions to the Denver Broncos. For more than three decades, Thunder created lasting memories for fans as an iconic part of our game-day experience and community outreach,” says Carrie Walton Penner, co-owner of the team. “We have the deepest appreciation for what Sharon, Ernie, Ann and the Thunder Spirit team have meant to the Broncos and look forward to building on their incredible legacy.”

Magness Blake says that when she and her husband began to think of retiring 19-year-old Thunder IV and stepping down from their roles, the search for a team to continue the tradition led them to Elizabeth Tisher, an accomplished equestrian and group publisher for Colorado Expression, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles and Mountain Living magazines, and her husband, Dr. Kelly Tisher, a veterinarian and majority owner at Littleton Equine Medical Center, managing owner of The Color

ado Horse Park, member of the Western Stock Show Association board of directors, and upcoming president of Roundup Riders of the Rockies.

“Littleton Equine Medical Center has been in business for 75 years and has been there for every Thunder. Kelly and Elizabeth are very knowledgeable. I’m confident with them taking over,” Magness Blake says.

“We felt it would be a wonderful opportunity to share our knowledge of—and love of—horses and continue the tradition of Thunder, which means so much to Broncos Country,” Elizabeth Tisher says.

The Tishers’ first priority was finding a trainer and rider, which led them to Gretchen Flynn and her husband, Phillip, who own Tailored Equine Training. They also began going to Broncos games and learning the process of how to run the horse and keep everyone safe while entertaining a stadium packed with up to 76,000 fans.

At the same time, they began looking for a horse to be the new Thunder. Many were considered before the Tishers found an 11-year-old Andalusian in Utah. “He has a big personality. He likes to be front and center,” Elizabeth Tisher says. “He’s going to be great with the fans because he’s easy going and loves people. When he is in the tunnel waiting to lead the team out, he thinks the crowd is out there just to see him.”

Andalusians are often used in parades and as show horses because they are beautiful to look at, with flowing manes and tails, and can be trained to be at ease in crowds. “The horse has to go through a lot of desensitization to become accustomed to loud noises and things like the smoke machine,” Tisher says. 

 In addition, Gretchen Flynn’s relationship with him has to be very tight so that he isn’t afraid to run through smoke or be alarmed at the high noise level. “He has to trust you,”      Tisher says.

The team is rounded out this first season with another veterinarian, Dr. Jackie Hill, and Denver native Adam Writer as team support. “We all have specific duties on and off the field to keep everyone safe and aware that there is a horse on the field,” Tisher says.

Game days for the Tishers are now a lot busier with their new responsibilities, while the Blakes are observers rather than participants for the first time in decades. Magness Blake finds it bittersweet. “It has been an amazing journey,” she says. “Some of the things we’ve been privileged to do, like go to Super Bowls, make you feel so fortunate. I’m really going to miss it. On the other hand, it’s time for a new, younger group to take over.”

“Our team is so excited for this incredible opportunity and has been hard at work to continue the Thunder legacy in its 34th year,” Kelly Tisher says. “We have every confidence in our entire group to put this special horse on the field. We are ready for the season, playoffs and a Super Bowl.”

Suzanne S. Brown is a Denver-based writer and contributor to Mountain Living and Colorado Homes & Lifestyles as well as Colorado Expression.