Based on an article that I've read. This movie is only partly true. There truly was a Frank . Hopkins which was played by Viggo Mortensen. He lived from 1865 to 1951 and he wrote in his memoirs with wife Gertrude in the 30s and 40s, he showed a lot of cowboy swagger. He called Buffalo Bill a stinking drunk and he also said that Sitting Bull is a coward.

He also claims that he was a long-distance U.S. Cavalry rider by age 12 and won hundreds of long-distance races across America, a friend of Black Elk, a star in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and the first American to compete and win in the Ocean of Fire.

But the problem is these claims are false. Basha and CuChullaine O'Reilly who are two avid equestrians and founded Long Rider's Guild have devoted considerable time to proving that Hopkins was a sham and that his story is a lie. Both edited and published an annotated version of Hidalgo and Other Stories by Frank T. Hopkins. O'Reilly refuted Hopkin's claims point by point and supported by 50 curators, criminologists, and other experts. They said that Hopkin's fantasies are in no way an autobiographical account.

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Yes, the movie was based on a true story. Apparently, the remaining herds of the wild horses have been driven from the free range and are facing extinction. They are direct descendants from the ..