Historical Accuracy

I've read a few discussions arguing whether or not "Spirit" is historically accurate. Some say that the horse legends are false, or that the atmosphere is contrived, and so on and so on. I posted this to clear up any misconceptions about the history.

A brief summary of mustang history:

Wild horses lived in the Americas tens of thousands of years ago, but died off during the last ice age. In the early 1490s, Spanish explorers introduced European horses back into the Americas. Some of these horses escaped and became feral mustangs - the ancestors of Spirit's herd. Native American tribes bought or tamed (or stole) these horses, and legends claim "the grass remembered" the horses' hooves. The Nez Perce tribe in particular became master horse-breeders, and are famed for breeding the Appaloosa.

Spirit's story takes place in the 1800s, when horses were already well-established on the plains and with both the Native Americans and the pioneers. It's quite logical that Spirit would feel he "belonged" in the wild, since his ancestors had been feral for at least 300+ years.

A brief summary of the social atmosphere:

The story takes place in and around what are now the Black Hills of South Dakota. The timeline is the mid-1860s - the half-finished rail in "Spirit" was completed in 1872. During this time, the Lakota tribe had openly hostile relations with the white pioneers (yes, in this case most of the pioneers were white). There were many skirmishes, battles, and assassinations between the two factions during the 1800s, and defeats and victories were dealt on both sides. In light of the social atmosphere, the hostility between Little Creek and the Colonel is very believable.


I hope this has shed some perspective on the historical accuracy behind "Spirit." However, as many other reviews have pointed out "Spirit" is not perfectly accurate; it has, unfortunately, clinched a few biased stereotypes. Flawed as it is, I still very much enjoyed it. And well, there was a lot of research involved in the making of "Spirit".

And I appreciate that. :)