I think to tell a story that's animated, that's not talking/singing animals, that alone sets apart from almost everything that's been done in America. For the most part I think that was one of the most appealing parts about it; we're making a FILM, we're not making a cartoon. Director Kelly Asbury on the uniqueness of SPIRIT in an interview with Paul Fischer
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Did you know that a real Spirit exists? Have you ever tasted SPIRIT ice cream?
What are mustangs and how do herds of wild horses, such as the Cimarron herd, behave?
And whilst watching the movie, did you ever notice mistakes or inconsistenties?
On this page you can find all kinds of SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON fun and facts (trivia)!
What are mustangs and how do herds of wild horses, such as the Cimarron herd, behave?
And whilst watching the movie, did you ever notice mistakes or inconsistenties?
On this page you can find all kinds of SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON fun and facts (trivia)!
Trivia
Spirit was based on Donner, a real mustang. Donner was born in 1995 and was 3 years old when DreamWorks started production in 1998. Donner was given to the Return to Freedom wild horse sanctuary in 2002, after the movie was finished. Donner was renamed Spirit. They celebrated his 25th anniversary in 2020.
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Rain received an honorary registration certificate from the American Paint Horse Association (APHA). She is the first animated horse to be registered by this organization!
Check out the certificate here. |
Remember the little Lakota girl in the village when Rain shows Spirit around? She is based on Meredith Wells, the toddler daughter of one of the producers. The toddler even voiced the Lakota's girl text ('Bye bye horsey') and noises!
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Have you ever eaten SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON ice cream? Baskin-Robbins released Spirit-themed treats from April 15th through June 16th, 2002. Flavours included S'More Spirit, Wild 'N Reckless Spirit, Cimarron Sundae and Spirit's Swirlin' Shakes (in Blue Sky and Purple Mountain).
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All the horse sounds in the movie came from genuine horses; real horses were recorder for all the audio. At no time were any human vocalizations used for the horse characters. Sound designer Tim Chau recorded the sounds at a stable outside Los Angeles.
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The opening scene (nicknamed the Homeland Pan by the filmmakers) took over nine months to design. It had a total of 700 background elements and averaged 30 layers of artwork for each frame.
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The scene in which Spirit jumps the gorge was originally designed to have the shadow of imaginary wings appear underneath Spirit, to give the greater illusion of him flying. It was deemed a little bit over the top and unnecessary, and was left out of the final cut.
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Both Tom Hanks and Robert Redford were considered for the narration of the movie, before Matt Damon took the role.
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In 2002, Kathleen Duey wrote four books for the SPIRIT OF THE WEST series. SPIRIT is a novelization of the movie, whilst the other three, BONITA, SIERRA and ESPERANZA, take you back to the backgrounds of Homeland and the Cimarron herd.
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Homeland was based on Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park and the Teton Mountain Range. The cavalry outpost was also based on Monument Valley.
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In contrast to the way animals are mostly portrayed in an anthropomorphic style in other animated features, Spirit and his fellow horses communicate with each other through sounds and body language, like real horses. They've only be given eyebrows to better express their feelings, for real horses don't have eyebrows.
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SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON was one of the 2002 nominees for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The movie lost to Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli).
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The construction of the railroad in the movie is that of the Transcontinental Railroad (Pacific Railroad). It was a 1,912-mile (3,077 km) continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network with the Pacific coast.
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The screenplay was written by John Fusco (Young Guns), based on an idea by Jeffrey Katzenberg. Fusco began by writing and submitting a novel to the studio and then adapted his own work into screenplay format. He remained on the project as the main writer over the course of four years.
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James Baxter said that the animation was the most difficult piece of production he worked on for a movie: "I literally spent the first few weeks with my door shut, telling everyong, 'Go away; I've got to concentrate.' It was quite daunting because when I first started to draw horses, I suddenly realized how little I knew.
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Many of the animators who worked on Spirit would later work on Shrek 2, as their influence can be seen for the horsification of the character Donkey.
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The production team, consisting of Kelly Asbury, Lorna Cook, Mireille Soria, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kathy Altieri, Luc Desmarchelier, Ron Lukas and story supervisor Ronnie del Carmen, took a four-day trip to the western United States to view scenic places they could use as inspiration for locations.
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Kelly Asbury, who directed SPIRIT alongside Lorna Cook, sadly passed away on June 26, 2020 (aged 60). During his over thirthy-year career as an animation artist, Asbury worked on some of Hollywood's most popular animated films, including projects from Disney and DreamWorks.
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Pinto horse Bonnie (photo) was used as inspiration for Rain. Influence of Bonnie's markings can be seen in this early concept art of Rain, done by Luc Desmarchelier.
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Most of the songs are written by Hans Zimmer and Bryan Adams. Canadian musician Bryan Adams performed the songs in both English and French. Garth Brooks was originally supposed to write and record the songs, but the deal fell through.
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Bouteloua dactyloides, known as buffalograss or buffalo grass, is a North American prairie grass native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It is a shortgrass found mainly on the High Plains, a subregion of the Great Plains, mainly in the Western US.
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For Native Americans, painting a warhorse was a sacred act, believed to hold power in the paints made from Nature and the painted symbols as well. Symbols were usually drawn from nature. Paints were derived from animal, plant or mineral sources. Both the symbols and the colours held significant different meanings.
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In the movie, we can see the Colonel wearing shoulder straps. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the US Army would wear shoulder straps, whilst the CS Army would wear collar badges. An US Army Colonel had an eagle depicted on their shoulder straps.
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It is thought that the Colonel was inspired by real-life US Army officer and cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), he played a part in attempting to drive out the Native American people. He died at the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876), whilst battling Native American tribes.
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The coyote on the picture, drawn by story artist Tom Sito, was going to be the comic relief throughout the story. He was going to be voiced by Cheech Marin (Banzai in The Lion King), but later on during production, it was decided to not have any of the animals talk.
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During the development of the story, Spirit was given a sympathic friend at the army barracks, named Old Fontenot. He was a Buffalo Soldier that, because of his age, was limited to being a groom for the camp horses. Fontenot had conflicted feelings about capturing and limiting the freedom of wild horses and Plains Indians.
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Kiger Mustangs
The kiger mustang is a free-roaming horse breed, originating from North America, specifically the Western United States. The mustang descends from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish in the late 1500s. Mustangs are often reffered to as wild horses, but because they are descendants from once-domesticated animals, they are actually feral horses. The original mustangs were Colonial Spanish horses, but many other breeds and types of horses contributed to the modern mustang. Some free-roaming horses are relatively unchanged from the original Spanish stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.
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Wild Horse Behaviour
In SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON, Spirit is the lead stallion of the Cimarron herd. During the movie's introduction, we even hear him saying: "Like my father before me I became leader of the Cimarron herd (..)". But what about natural horse behahaviour? How do herds of wild horses work?
Contrary to the movie, in natural horse behaviour the herd stallion is not the leader ('ruler') of a harem of females. |
Stallions usually engage in herding and protective behaviour. They tend to stay on the periphery of the herd where they fight off both predators and other males. When the herd travels, the stallion is usually at the rear and apparenlty drives straggling herd members forward, keeping the herd together. Mares and lower-ranked males do not usually engage in this herding behaviour. During the mating season, stallions tend to act more aggressively to keep the mares within the herd, however, most of the time, the stallion is relaxed and spends much of his time 'guarding' the herd by scent-marking manure piles and urination spots to communicate his dominance as herd stallion.
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Rather, the horse that tends to lead a wild or feral herd is most commonly a dominant mare. The mare guides the herd to food and water, controls the daily routine and movement of the herd, and ensures the general wellbeing of the herd.
A recent supplement theory posits that there is 'distributed leadership', and no single individual is an universal herd leader. A 2014 study of horses in Italy, described as 'feral' by the researcher, observed that some herd movements may be initiated by any individual, although higher-ranked members are followed more often by other herd members. |
Most young horses in the wild are allowed to stay with the herd until they reach sexual maturity, usually in their first or second year. Studies of wild herds have shown that the herd stallion will usually drive out both colts and fillies; this may be an instinct that prevents inbreeding. The fillies usually join another band soon afterward, and the colts driven out from several herds usually join together in small 'bachelor' groups until those who are able to establish dominance over an older stallion in another herd.
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Herds are usually made up of several seperate, small 'bands' which share a territory. Size may range from two to 25 individuals, mostly mares and their offspring, with one to five stallions. Bands are defined as a harem model. Each band is led by a dominant mare ('lead mare'). The composition of bands changes as young animals are driven out of their natal band and join other bands, or as stallions challenge each other for dominance.
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In bands, there is usually a single 'herd' stallion, though occassionally a few less-dominant males may remain on the fringes of the group. The reproductive success of the herd stallion is determined in part by his ability to prevent other males from mating with the mares of his harem. The stallion also exercises protective behaviour, patrolling around the band, and taking the initiative when the band encounters a potential threat. The stability of the band is not affected by size, but tends to be more stable when there are subordinate stallions attached to the harem.
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Projecting this knowledge back on the movie means this:
It is most likely that Esperanza is the lead mare of the Cimarron herd. That makes Spirit the herd stallion. He either fought off his father, Strider, when he was old and strong enough, or Strider died and Spirit took his place. The foals in the movie are most likely Spirit's offspring. Well and Rain.. has to get used on sharing Spirit with the other mares. |
Movie Mistakes
When Spirit is first born, there is a moment where he pulls on a lock of his mother's mane, revealing that he has a full set of teeth. Newborn foals don't develop teeth until they are a little older.
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Moments after Spirit's birth, he starts suckling at Esperanza for the first time. At one moment, you see a piece of Esperanza's tail is missing; you can see the background through it.
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In Spirit's first winter, he starts licking an icicle. His tongue gets melted to the ice and he breaks it off. The icicle is first quite thick, but when Spirit has it in his mouth, the icicle is way thinner.
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When a young Spirit and the other foals are playing in the water, Spirit is shown drinking water by lapping at it with his tongue. Horses do not drink in this fashion; rather they suck the water.
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When the herd of bison arrive, the other foals run away from the water and hide behind Esperanza. A moment later, when we see the Cimarron herd, the foals have disappeared. You can only see adult horses in this shot.
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At the end of the scene where the cavalry men try to break Spirit, he runs to the fences to scare the soldiers. At one moment you can see the inside of his mouth has disappeared; you can see the background through it.
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When Spirit got tied up to the pole in the cavalry outpost, the rope is quite long. But some time later, during the night, the rope somehow got very short.
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When the Colonel is about to shoot Spirit in the cavalry outpost, he cocks the hammer on the Remington revolver. Moments later, when Little Creek runs into him, the hammer is uncocked.
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When Spirit and Little Creek escape from the cavalry outpost, they release some of the cavalry horses. At first they wear halters, but when they follow Spirit outside the fort, the halters are gone.
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During the first arrival at the Lakota Village at night, the pen consists of nine panels. Later, when Little Creek tries to ride Spirit, the pen suddenly consists of thirteen panels.
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Spirit is fed a pile of apples twice. But apples are an old-world fruit, and would not arrive in the western United States until the arrival of white settlers and farmers. Besides, the pile of apples disappear from the Lakota Village's pen a few moments later.
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At the cavalry outpost, Spirit's mane and tail are cut short by their blacksmith, Murphy. Spirit's mane and tail are still short when Rain takes him around the Lakota Village. But at one brief moment, Spirit's tail is long again.
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When Little Creek notices that Spirit cannot be broken, he puts the blanket and bridle on the pen's fence. A moment later, the blanket is still there, but the bridle has disappeared.
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When Spirit and Rain fall down the waterfall after the siege on the Lakota Village, you can see the computer animation is not rendered well; you can see the digital lines of the water.
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When Spirit pretends to be dead during the pulling the locomative, he wears a halter. Just moments later, whilst being dragged away, the halter has disappeared.
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During his struggles to free all the pulling horses from the locomotive, Spirit is caught in a metal chain. After the explosion downhill, it looks like the chain is coming out of his neck.
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Three cavalry men, including the Colonel, keep on chasing Spirit and Little Creek through the canyons, after they have lost a few men in the chase. Besides the Colonel, one soldier has no facial hair and the other has a mustache with sideburns. Moments later, the sideburns are exchanged with a goatee.
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According to the progressing seasons throughout the movie, the two Cimarron foals have not aged as they should have. It looks like they have not grown a bit. Besides, during the scene where Spirit returns to the herd with Rain, one of the foals' facial markings has disappeared. A moment later, it is back again.
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Colouring Pages
Colouring pages (click to enlarge)
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Here you can find a bunch of official SPIRIT printable colouring pages. How to print:
The first four pages came from the official DreamWorks SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON website, which doesn't exist anymore. You could obtain them as prizes if you successfully concluded their SPIRIT quiz. The others come from the different SPIRIT colouring & activity books (check them out on Homeland's Books page). If you have better quality files of any of these colouring pages, please let us know in the guestbook. Please leave your e-mail (it won't be visible for other visitors), so we can contact you. |