| |
11.
"Legendary Ride"
By Glynn W. Haynes
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
1800s 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 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 stock-horse blood," and was descended
from horses brought to this continent by 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 1889, 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 Mustang's 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 has
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 difficulty 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 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. |
|
