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[RC] [Guest] Hidalgo - Ridecamp Guest

Kathryn ksmithyman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
HI,

Im researching an endurance horse named Hidalgo who was ridden by a Frank T.
Hopkins circa 1890. Disney is currently making a film about it and most of
the internet searching I have done has pulled up these movie websites. I am
interested in the historical horse, not the film. So far my search has given
me the following information which I found on the following  websites which
quote "The American Paint Horse" by  Glynn W. Haynes.
http://www.higherpowered.com/horse_articles/historyphorse.htm
http://www.springwaterstation.com/kiger/endurance.html
Hidalgo was a cream and white pinto western-stock horse bred on a Sioux
Indian Reservation in 1882. He was purchased by Hopkins, an Army dispatch
rider who began to compete with Hidalgo on endurance races. He raced from
Galveston, TX - Rutland, VT. and from Kansas City, MI - Chicago IL. He
supposedly set all kinds of records for endurance racing, and was also a
trick rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. While competing in the 1889
World's Fair he was challenged by an Arab trader named Rau Rasmussen to race
Hidalgo in a historic Arab race across the desert from Aden to Syria along
the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Hidalgo and Hokins won
the race. Makes for a great story right? Problem is, I can't find any
historical records to back it up. This information from author Haynes sites
a different book: "A Calvalcade of American Horses" by Anthony A. Amaral as
her source for this information. Upon finding this book I discovered that
although it contains the same information, Mr. Amaral, did not site any
sources for this story. The Army has no record of Hopkins being a dispatch
rider, the Buffulo Bill Wild West Museum has no record of him, neither does
the World's Fair Association, the Saudi Arabian Embassy cannot confirm the
existence of such a "historic race" neither can the Yemen Embassy, the
Turkish Embassy, or the Dubai Museum. The International Horse Museum at the
Kentucky Horse Park has no record of him, and I have personally looked
through all 365 issues of the New York Times published in 1890, and there is
no mention of "famous" horse, rider, or race. If anyone has ANY information,
or any leads, or any English speaking contacts in Dubai, or any great
grandparents who remember, or anything I haven't thought of PLEASE PLEASE
email me. Thank YOU!!!!

Sincerely,

Kathryn Smithyman
Marketing Assistant
Breyer Animal Creations



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