"Old-timers like Frank T. Hopkins, probably the greatest long-distance endurance rider who ever saddled
a horse, proved the virtues of the American mustang many times. A former dispatch rider in the United
States Army, Hopkins developed his endurance-riding ability carrying dispatches for frontier generals and
his horse-handling skill as a specialty rider in the Buffalo Bill wild-west shows. All in all, Hopkins won
more than four hundred races in the late 1800's, when endurance riding was the rage, and for most of
those rides he was mounted on a mustang.
One of his lengthy rides started at Galveston, Texas, and ended at Rutland, Vermont. He covered the
eighteen hundred miles in thirty-one days and finished two full weeks ahead of the rider who came in
second. Another of his best performances was made in October, 1893, when he covered approximately
one thousand miles from Kansas City, Missouri, to Chicago, Illinois. Hopkins was the only man to
complete the grueling ride, which he did in twelve days six hours.
One of the first proponents of the mustang and the Paint Horse, Hopkins became internationally known
not only for setting unbeatable records in endurance racing but also for the excellent quality of the horses
he rode. His ranch in Wyoming Territory was the home of a number of good western-type stock horses
and one outstanding Paint Horse, Hidalgo. Described as a cream-and-white Paint Horse, Hidalgo was bred
on a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota. Since he came into the world before the days of pedigrees
and family lines, it can only be assumed that he was of "western stockhorse blood," and was descended
from horses brought to this continent by the Spanish conquistadors. He was known as an American
mustang and possessed the indefatigable endurance typical of the breed. Hopkins obtained the young
Paint from the Sioux about 1882 and owned him until 1890.
At the World's Fair in Paris in l889, Hopkins was approached by Rau Rasmussen, a freighter who
dominated most of the trade from Aden to Gaza, to enter his Paint Mustang in a three-thousand-mile
endurance race across the Arabian desert. Rasmussen had heard of the American mustangs' hardiness and
asked Hopkins if he would be willing to pit one of his best against prized Arabian horses. Hopkins
accepted the challenge. The desert endurance race was a true test of a horse's strength and stamina. To
be able to complete the course, a horse must have a healthy constitution, incredible power, a staunch
spirit, strong legs, and sure steps. Beginning in Aden, in southern Arabia, the course followed the Persian
Gulf and then turned inland over the barren sandy land along the borders of Arabia, Iraq, and Syria.
The contest had been held annually for a thousand years, and in the past had always been won by an Arab
horse. In the words of Anthony A. Amaral, writing of this famous race:
"Slightly over one hundred horses started on the ride from Aden. The great caravan of skilled Arabian
riders rode their most prized mounts. They were spirited, accustomed to the dljcficulty of the sands,
accustomed to the sun that sprayed exhausting heat upon them. Even among the mass of mounted
horsemen, Hopkins stood out with parti-colored, 950 pound Hidalgo from the American plains.
Hopkins held Hidalgo at a steady pace as they made their way through the dry heat and over sandy soil.
The march progressed to the Persian Gulf and up toward Syria and then along the border of Iraq and
Arabia. Each day the riders started with the sun, following it until they were marching into it. Horses
dropped by the way, some exhausted, some lame. At the end of the first week, the scarcity of water and
the meager diet the horses were forced to exist upon in the barren country had culled the inadequate
horses. The strung line of riders dwindled daily.
Entering the second week of the grueling trek, Hopkins made his move and started to pass the other
desert riders. In the wake of the sand kicked up by Hidalgo, treasured Arabian horses of the Bedouins fell
farther and farther behind, while Hidalgo kept to a steady pace.
On the sixty-eighth day of the ride Hopkins rode Hidalgo to the finish stone, leaving behind him three
thousand scorching miles.
The tough Paint Mustang was the winner by thirty-three hours over his nearest competitor. The only
American Paint Horse in the history of Arabian endurance racing ever to win the historic race, Hidalgo did
it, and did it on merit. In the eastern United States horses transplanted to the mainland from the islands off
the Florida coast were called Chickasaws by the early English settlers. There was little difference in this
breed of horse and the Spanish horses in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Both were
descendants of sixteenth-century Spanish stock and were endowed with the same fine Oriental blood. The
Chickasaw was of a more even temperament, but that can be attributed to his close association with man,
while the Spanish cow horses and mustangs roamed freely in the rough, unsettled West. The early
colonists acquired several Chickasaw mares and mated them with their own well-bred stallions imported
from England and France in an effort to improve their using stock and to produce a running horse for short
distances up to a quarter of a mile. This successful blending of blood formed the foundation of today's
American Quarter Horse."
