For Ann Judge and the Thunder Spirit team, the 2025 NFL season was their last ride.
The Denver Broncos announced on Monday, August 10 that their live mascot, Thunder, and Judge, his faithful rider, are retiring.
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Sharon Magness Blake, Thunder’s owner, started the program in 1993 and Judge joined in 1998. The elegant white horse and his fashionable rider, who always wore a blue and orange Western-themed outfit and carried a team flag, delighted fans through three Super Bowl-winning seasons. They rode snow or shine leading the team out of the tunnel and then from end zone to end zone every time the Broncos scored at Mile High Stadium, which got a new home in 2001 and is now known as Empower Field at Mile High. The horse that appeared in the 2025 season was Thunder IV.
“On behalf of our organization and all of Broncos Country, we thank Sharon Magness Blake and (her husband) Ernie Blake, Ann Judge and the entire Thunder Spirit team for their extraordinary contributions to the Denver Broncos,” Broncos owner Carrie Walton Penner said in a statement. “For more than three decades, Thunder created lasting memories for fans as an iconic part of our gameday experience and community outreach.”
The Broncos said they will continue the Thunder program in the 2026 season and beyond with a new team and horse.
Thunder appeared at events for youth and older adults throughout the city of Denver, which Judge said was gave the job an extra sense of purpose.
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“I’ve always felt like what we did in the community had the most personal impact,” she said in the team release. “The things that we did with schools and libraries and elderly care centers and Boys & Girls Clubs. Those experiences, those are the ones that were not the most visible, but that’s where we really changed the course of people’s lives. And we did it with a horse.”
Speaking with 9News, Magness Blake gave insight into why it’s time to hang up the reins. She cited advice that a Super Bowl MVP and NFL Hall of Famer gave her.
“(Thunder IV) is 19 and we don’t have a backup horse anymore,” she said. “And so it’s his age and we want to be careful with him. We don’t want him to overextend himself. And then we’re all getting older. It’s hard to give it up. But you know John Elway told me one time, he said, ‘Sharon, always leave when you’re at the top.'”
Other NFL teams that have a live mascot in the past and the present are the Cleveland Browns’ Bullmastiff dog and the birds of the Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks.
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Elsewhere in Colorado, the CU Buffaloes have a live bison mascot, Ralphie, who runs around Folsom Field before each football game.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denver Broncos’ live horse mascot Thunder and team retiring
