"Frank Hopkins remains a legend today among America's mustangers for proving the worth of America's First Horse against all comers. The tale of Frank and Hidalgo will live as long as our ponies run on the farms and ranches of the preservationists, from the Dakotas to Texas, and from California to the Banker Islands of Virginia. But the fact that no horse alive today can be traced to Hidalgo, or any of Frank's White-Y Mustangs only points out how easily our heritage horses can be lost. Probably less than 5,000, including all the horses of the known strains, remain today. And like Frank, our job is preserving America's rare Colonial Spanish Horse, the pony that helped our country through its birthing pains, ruled as the versatile and steadfast mount of the Old West, and continues to excel as a distance mount today."

Vickie Ives Speir (pictured here riding Rowdy Yates, a slate grulla roan Spanish Mustang) has over 2,000 miles in NATRC competitions. She is the owner of Karma Farms, Marshall, TX, the world's most decorated Colonial Spanish breeding farm. An approved judge from HOA & SMR competition, she has written numerous breed articles for national periodicals and is the author of the book, Saltbush and Sagebrush, the story of a 1,200-mile trek across Australia and Texas.

"My take on Frank Hopkins from the outset was about romance and adventure as opposed to facts and Heritage. We regularly need such stories infused into our soul or we lose our humanity and our American-ness. That is the value of Hopkins today; why I picked up on him in a long-ago reading of J. Frank Dobie. I don't need to smell his sweaty saddle blankets... frankly, it doesn't much matter to me if Hopkins rode those rides or not. If he was a fabulist, he was a damn fine one. His work holds together because something in it is authentic."

Tom Hebert, a management/public policy consultant and writer, has been fooling with horses most of his life. He proudly owns Whirlwind— a registered black International Barb, and Eusebio—a slate-colored, line-backed grullo registered with the Spanish Mustang Registry. Hebert currently lives on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, just outside of Pendleton, Oregon, where he is consultant to the Confederated Tribes (the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla tribes) on a proposed Umatilla Tribal Horse Program.

"The story of Frank Hopkins and his endurance races is a source of information and inspiration to all aspiring long-distance riders. He always took care of his horses first."

Gretchen Patterson (pictured here riding Spanish Mustang Pescante Rojo) is part owner of Horse of the Americas. She has been a competitive trail rider for twenty years and is a certified judge for AIHR, HOA and NATRC events. Gretchen is also a Certified Equine Massage Therapist who specializes in long distance and barrel racing horses.