Fans celebrate stallion movie star 'Spirit' at Santa Ynez fundraiser for wild horse preservation

Horse lovers from as far away as the East Coast turned out for a good cause Saturday at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum, despite the rain which prevented the event's main attraction — Spirit the stallion — from meeting his adoring fans.

Cory Golden, a spokesman for Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation, said, regretfully, the star of the show — a Kiger mustang stallion who was the artists’ inspiration for the 2002 movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” — was unable to travel from his home in Lompoc to Santa Ynez on Saturday because of rainy conditions.

Despite the setback, more than 80 people were treated to a special screening of the DreamWorks animation movie, introduced by veteran artist Peter Paul who was in attendance to share his experience working on the movie. Paul has also worked on a number of other animated films and shows for Warner Brothers, Disney and Netflix.

According to Golden, Paul spoke to the audience and sold sketches to raise money for RTF work.

041624 Spirit stops in SY 1 — Guests turned out for a special movie screening and fundraising event Saturday at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum despite the rain which prevented the star of the event, Spirit, from traveling to meet his fans.
Contributed, Meg Frederick

Guests turned out for a special movie screening and fundraising event Saturday at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum despite the rain which prevented the star of the event, Spirit, from traveling to meet his fans.
Contributed, Meg Frederick

The event reportedly raised more than $2,100 in ticket sales to support Return to Freedom's mission, Golden said. Return to Freedom is a Lompoc-based wild horse and burro advocacy organization. The nonprofit operates three sanctuaries in California that house 450 rescued wild horses and burros, one being in Lompoc, that Spirit calls home.

For his role as an ambassador for mustangs, the EQUUS Foundation and the United States Equestrian Federation inducted Spirit into the Horse Stars Hall of Fame in 2018.

After the event, a handful of visitors who traveled from as far away as Delaware were invited to take a drive to Return to Freedom's Lompoc headquarters sanctuary to meet Spirit, Golden said. Others who attended the screening received passes to visit Spirit at a later date.

A movie star is born

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Spirit the movie is an American animated western film about the adventure and friendship of a wild horse (voiced by narrator Matt Damon) that cannot be broken. A Netiflix spin-off series for children, “Spirit: Riding Free,” ran for eight seasons, and a feature film based on the series, “Spirit Untamed,” was released in in 2021.

Historically, the makers for the original film needed to find a horse that embodied the characteristics of the iconic wild mustang.

Spirit, previously named "Donner," was born to a stallion and mare that had been captured by the Bureau of Land Management on the Kiger Herd Management Area in Oregon.

Meet Spirit

Fans are invited to meet Spirit in May at Return to Freedom's Lompoc headquarters for Opening Day programming. The season opener will also serve as a celebration of Spirit’s 29th birthday at the sanctuary.

The event will feature a Native American blessing of the horses and the land, staff-led walking tours, music, local food, wine tastings, pictures with Spirit and shopping in at the sanctuary store.

More information about Opening Day and other programs, including photo safaris, tours, family days and special workshops, visit returntofreedom.org/visit/

Private tours are available by arrangement.

According to Golden, the filmmakers chose Spirit as a colt "because of his beautiful conformation, wide-set eyes, and his thick, wavy and multi-colored mane and tail — a perfect example of genetically and historically rare 15th-century Spanish Barb horses."

Animators then observed Spirit closely to create a horse character with realistic movements who could communicate without speaking, Golden said.

Following the completion of the film in April 2002, DreamWorks Animation selected Return to Freedom’s sanctuary as a home for Spirit.

An exhibit about America’s wild horses and Return to Freedom's preservation efforts will remain on display at the historical museum in Santa Ynez until May 15.