Frank Hopkins was an American professional horseman who at one time performed with the Ringling Brothers Circus

Ringling Brothers Circus

The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...

. He was known as a legendary distance rider, claimed to have won 400 races, and was recognized by his contemporaries as supporting the preservation of the mustang

Mustang (horse)

A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...

.

Early life and education

Hopkins said he was born to a Lakota mother, with a European-American father. He grew up in both cultures and learned to ride and care for horses at an early age.

Career

Hopkins became a cowboy and professional horseman in the American West, where he gained a reputation for distance riding. In his autobiographical memoir (unpublished in his lifetime) and accounts to friends, he claimed to have been featured as one of the "Rough Riders of the World" in Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

's Wild West show, which toured in Europe and Great Britain, as well as the United States.

A number of his stories have been disputed by historians, for example, that he had won more than 400 races. He also said he had raced in a ceremonial 3,000-mile ride that passed the Gulf of Syria and the inland borders of two other countries, which was supposed to have taken place in Arabia in 1890.

Hopkins' age is disputed. When he married in Los Angeles in 1929, he wrote on the marriage license that he was 44 years old. That would place his birth at about 1885 rather than 1865, however his 1905 photo, reprinted on this page, is clearly not that of a 20-year-old, indicating that the 1885 birthdate is highly unlikely.

His claim to have been a rider with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was disputed by the curator of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Buffalo Bill Historical Center

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is a complex of museums displaying artifacts and art of the American West located in Cody, Wyoming. Founded in 1917, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is the oldest museum in the West...

, who said his name is nowhere to be found in the archives. Hopkins has been found as listed in 1917 as being employed by the Ringling Brothers Circus

Ringling Brothers Circus

The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...

 as a horse performer.

In the 1940s, the elderly Hopkins was honored with a position as trail judge for the annual Green Mountain Horse Club's 100-mile endurance ride. Up to the time of his death in 1951, he remained an outspoken champion of the threatened mustang which he called "the most significant animal on the North American continent."

Frank Hopkins is interred in Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens County, New York City.

In popular culture

Hopkins' life and the story of the race were the inspiration for the 2004 film Hidalgo

Hidalgo (film)

Hidalgo is a 2004 film based on the legend of the American distance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang Hidalgo, and recounts Hopkins' racing his horse in Arabia in 1891 against Bedouin riding pure-blooded Arabian horses. The movie was written by John Fusco and directed by Joe Johnston...

, written by John Fusco

John Fusco

John Fusco is an American screenwriter born in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. His screenplays include Crossroads, Young Guns, Young Guns II, Thunderheart, Hidalgo, and the Oscar-nominatedSpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron...

, directed by John Johnston

John Johnston

John Johnston was a Scottish-American farmer. He is credited with the first public introduction of agricultural drainage in the United States. He did so in 1838....

, and starring Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...

. The Disney Corporation marketed the film as "based on a true story."

External links

• "Frank Hopkins", Tribute Website sponsored by The Horse of the Americas Registry and the Institute of Range & The American Mustang, owned by John Fusco
• The Longriders Guild Website