The story that I want to tell you cannot be found in a book.
They say the history of the west was written from the saddle of a horse,
but it's never been told from the heart of one...
Not till now.
I was born here
in this place that would come to be called the old west
but to my kind, the land was ageless.
It had no beginning and no end,
no boundary between earth and sky.
Like the wind in the buffalo grass
we belonged here.
We would always belong here.
They say the mustang is the spirit of the west.
Whether that west was won or lost in the end
you'll have to decide for yourself
but the story I want to tell you is true.
I was there, and I remember.
I remember the sun and the sky and the wind calling my name
in a time when wild horses ran free.
And so I grew from colt to stallion
as wild and reckless as thunder over the land
racing with the eagle, soaring with the wind.
Flying?
There were times I believed I could.
Like my father before me I became leader of the Cimarron herd
and with that honor came responsibility.
Something new came upon the land one night,
something that would change my life forever,
and so, my journey began.
A wiser horse might have turned and run
but I wanted to know what strange creatures were here.
What the...
Son of a...
Look.
Man, look at that stallion!
It's beautiful!
Sadie Mae.
Get him, boys!
Easy, boy!
C'mon, boys! Let's go!
C'mon, boys!
Where did he go? I don't see him.
We'll find him!
What the...
Faster!
What?
Get him!
Come on!
Get him!
Come on, come on, come on!
- We got him now! - You betcha!
Look out!
Thought you got away, didn't you, mustang?
Over here!
Get back here! You crazy?
Get back from him!
Take him! Take him, Joe!
Get the horse!
He's ours now.
Hold him!
Watch him!
Watch the lines! Watch the lines!
Come on!
He can do all the kicking he wants now.
It won't do no good.
Careful... Careful...
I was scared, and I didn't know what was going to happen to me
but at least my mother and the herd were safe.
- Come on! - Let's go!
Yo... Come on...
Open the gate!
What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?
We got us a crazy one here, sir.
Pure mustang, Colonel.
Really?
The army has dealt with wild horses before.
This one will be no different.
Come on, mustang.
I remember the first time I saw a rattler curled up in my path.
- Induct this animal, Sergeant. - Yes, sir!
This one didn't look like a rattler
but I was still thinking, snake.
Take up that slack.
Grab him! Grab him!
Come on, horse!
Okay, Murphy, he's all yours.
He's a wild one.
We'll see how wild he is when I'm done with him.
See that?
You want to fight, do you?
Right.
Make sure that's good and tight.
- Murphy, look out! - Watch out!
He's a wild one.
You all right, Murph?
You...
Murph, you okay?
Corporal, round up some volunteers to take this animal to the stables.
Not the stables.
Sir?
The corral.
It's time to break that horse.
Make sure it's good and tight.
Okay, my turn!
Lousy heap of horse flesh!
Come on! Run out of there!
We got a rider!
- Sergeant! - Yes, sir.
Tie this horse to the post.
No food or water.
- Three days. - Yes, sir.
My heart galloped through the skies that night,
back to my herd, where I belonged
and I wondered if they missed me as much as I missed them.
Get some water over to the stable.
Yes, sir.
We caught a hostile!
Bring him back this way!
What do we have here?
We caught him by the supply wagons, sir.
A Lakota.
Not as tall as the Cheyenne,
not as fine-featured as the Crow.
Take him away, gentlemen. Show him our best.
Corporal, take him to the stockades.
Not the stockades... The post.
No food or water.
Come on!
What are you looking at, boy?
He was called Little Creek and he seemed different from the rest.
Hey...
There was just no end to the strange ways of the two-leggeds.
C Company! Ten-hut!
With the Colonel's permission, Sir.
Incoming patrol reports hostiles headed north.
The railroad has expressed concern, sir.
They've requested additional patrols.
- How long has it been, sergeant? - Sir?
The mustang, how long has it been tied?
Three days, sir.
Good. Fetch my crop and spurs.
You can break easy or you can break hard, mustang!
No! Back up! Back up! Back up!
Come on!
Come on... Come on...
Come on, mustang!
You see, gentlemen, any horse can be broken.
Move along, mustang.
There are those in Washington
who believe the west will never be settled,
the Northern Pacific Railroad will never breach Nebraska,
a hostile Lakota
will never submit to providence...
And it is that manner of small thinking
that would say this horse could never be broken.
Discipline, time and patience,
are the three great levelers.
Sometimes a horse has gotta do what a horse has gotta do.
Mustang?
And this was one of those times.
No!
You all right, sir?
Get off me!
Soldier, secure that horse!
I wasn't sure what happened back there and I wasn't about to stop and ask.
All I knew was that I was headed home.
I couldn't believe it.
One moment I was free, and the next, more ropes.
Steady. Steady.
I'm not going to hurt you.
Nice and easy.
There you go.
That feels better now, doesn't it?
Hey, hey!
I couldn't understand it.
She treated this scrawny two-legged like one of our kind
prancing around him like a love-struck yearling.
It was downright unnatural.
Great mustang, today I will ride you.
This ought to be good.
Mares!
Okay, Rain, let's see if you can teach this mustang some manners.
Okay, I admit it, she was charming in a stubborn, irritating kind of way.
So, I let her show me her world.
Horsey!
Bye-bye, horsey.
For the first time in my life, I felt my heart torn two ways.
Hey, hey...
No! Give it back! Come on!
Mustang, no! Mustang!
Come on.
I had to hand it to that boy, he just wouldn't give up.
I'm never going to ride you, am I?
And no one ever should.
You can go.
It's okay. Go.
Go on, get out of here!
Go home.
I knew this was hard for her and that she was scared,
but more than anything,
I wanted to share my homeland with her.
I lay beside her that night, hoping,
praying that somehow she would be okay.
There's a couple of horses over there.
Leave the mare. She's not going to make it.
Come on.
Come on!
Rain.
Easy, girl.
Easy.
It'll be okay.
Come on.
You saved my life.
Two more men on that brace!
Collins! Evans!
Bring it down!
Let's go!
Jackson, grab ahold of that end!
Got it!
This one's loaded.
I'm not gonna hurt you. Come on. It's gonna be okay.
Come on. Come on now. It'll be all right.
Come on. That's it. That's it.
Let's go!
Come on!
I didn't know why we were brought here.
What I did know
was we had to find a way to escape and get back home.
Clear!
- No good! We hit bedrock! - That's it.
We're hauling the steamer over the mountain.
That's crazy.
We got six days to connect with Utah.
We move out at dawn.
Ready to go!
Move it out!
Get back in line!
We're almost at the top!
Slow down up front!
That was the moment I understood.
They were headed to my homeland, and I had to stop them.
Get back!
Come on! Get back in line!
It's starting to slip!
Pick up the slack!
Hold it!
Get the mules up here!
Secure it on the left!
Good work, boys!
Hey!
Easy...
Get him. Get him.
Hurry! Bring the poles!
Hurry!
- Hold him there! - Go!
They're breaking! I can't hold it!
Over here!
Get out of the way!
Holy...
I don't know where he came from or how he got there
but I sure was happy to see him.
I knew I would find you.
Halt!
I don't believe it.
Go, go, go, go! Run! Run!
Come on, come on!
Yeah!
That's it! Come on! Come on!
Get off!
We got them now!
Where did he go?
There they are! Up there!
No.
Yes.
You will always be in my heart.
Take care of her, Spirit-who-could-not-be-broken.
I will miss you, my friend.
I had been waiting so long to run free
but that good-bye was harder than I ever imagined.
I'll never forget that boy
and how we won back our freedom together.