Talk:Frank Hopkins

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After finally seeing the movie "Hidalgo", two years after it came out, I searched for information online about Frank Hopkins and his horses, and only then became aware of the huge controversy surrounding Hopkins' claims about his life, and the particular set of stories on which the movie was based. Concerned about the passionate emotional involvement of the Long Riders-sponsored debunking of Hopkins, I read some of Frank Hopkins' biographical comments and articles he wrote. I have a bachelor's degree in history, and have worked with local historical society museums and archives in Colorado. I also breed, raise, and train Arabian and part-Arabian horses, so I have some qualifications to be able to judge Hopkins' expertise with horses, or lack thereof.

While I agree that there was probably never a 3,000 mile Arabian endurance ride such as the movie describes, we do know that the Arabian horse was bred for endurance and stamina in desert and semi-desert conditions, and there is every reason to suppose that there are and were endurance rides, staged primarily for Arabian horses, to improve the breed.

The major point which stands out, to my mind, is the allegation by the debunkers that Hopkins did not know very much about horses. This would seem to be disproved by the article "Gentling", which carries his name, and was apparently written for the The Vermont Horse and Bridle Trail Bulletin in the 1940s. Whoever wrote this article knew a good deal about training young or unbroken horses. If Hopkins was the writer, his expertise is proven by this article alone. The methods he describes are not what a modern gentle-method trainer like John Lyons or Monty Roberts would use in every detail, but strongly resemble the procedures they teach. The similarities are impressive. The methods Hopkins describes also do NOT resemble those used by many of his contemporaries who favored a more quick and violent approach; an exponent of this latter approach to horse training as unfortunately typical of of pre-World War II era trainers is shown in Monty Roberts' description of his father in Monty Roberts' book "The Man Who Listens To Horses".

I cant say anything about Hopkins credibility and the other aspects you are mentioning, but endurance races are regulary held on the Arabian peninsula. Which does not mean that the specific race that Hopkins claimed to have taken part of really existed. For someone with an scientifical approach to the topic, turkish or arabian print-media or regional print media of that time may be the only real source for fact based information, that is if they still exist somewhere.-- 178.115.249.139 (talk) 10:27, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

On the question if its likely that a Mustang or any foreign horse could beat Arabian (Asil) breed horses in such a race - Some years ago there was a german lady who regulary took part on such races with her european breed horse (that was specially trained for endurance races) in some of the Arab Gulf states (dont know which it was) and with great success.-- 178.115.249.139 (talk) 10:35, 24 July 2012 (UTC)