Lompoc, Calif. — Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary recently celebrated the 30th birthday of Spirit, the Kiger mustang stallion that served as muse and model for the beloved Oscar-nominated DreamWorks Animation film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
Return to Freedom (RTF) celebrated Spirit’s birthday on Saturday, May 10, as part of the Opening Day of its 2025 program season (Spirit’s birthday is May 8).
“Spirit” co-director Lorna Cook and one of the film’s animators, Peter Paul (“Moana,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) spoke at the event, which attracted more than 300 fans from across the United States and from Brazil, Canada, Australia, Poland and England and raised funds for the more than 460 rescued wild horses and burros in RTF’s care.
“I was weeping listening to some of their stories,” said Neda DeMayo, founder of RTF, a national nonprofit wild horse and burro advocacy organization. “This movie and this horse have meant so much and been so transformative in so many lives! At one point, as staff led Spirit back up to his pasture, people from all over the world sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to this very special horse who carries their dreams of a free and kind world.”
DreamWorks Animation chose RTF’s sanctuary, headquartered in Santa Barbara County, California, as Spirit’s home following his time as the animators’ model for the 2002 film.
The “Spirit” filmmakers searched for a horse that embodied the characteristics of the iconic wild mustang. They selected Spirit, then called Donner, a young colt born to a stallion and mare captured by the Bureau of Land Management on the Kiger Herd Management Area in Oregon.
The filmmakers chose Spirit 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 observed him closely to create a horse character with realistic movements who could communicate without speaking.
In April 2002, after completion of the film, DreamWorks selected as a home for Spirit Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, Calif. Fans continue to travel from all over the country and all over the world to meet the stallion.
Like the animated film, Spirit continues to inspire many to learn about — and advocate for — the wild horses and burros whose survival on our public lands remains in jeopardy.
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. RTF opened its American Wild Horse Sanctuary in 1998 on 300 acres among the rolling hills of the Central Coast. There, visitors can experience the diverse herds that represent the American Mustang, including descendants of Padre Kino’sSpanish Mission horses, the Iberian Sorraia-type Sulphur Springs herd, and descendants of the Choctaw Indian ponies that carried the infirm on the Trail of Tears.
RTF offers a variety of other scheduled programs at its Lompoc headquarters as well as a 2,000-acre San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite location. Programs include tours, photo safaris, Family Day events, as well as special workshops. More information is at returntofreedom.org/visit.
About the Film
DreamWorks Animation’s film Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron is a tale of adventure and friendship about a wild horse (voiced by Matt Damon as a narrator) that cannot be broken. It features a combination of hand-drawn and computer animation. The screenplay was written by a longtime figure in the wild horse community, John Fusco, and directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook.
“Spirit” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A song from the soundtrack, “Here I Am,” sung by Bryan Adams, was nominated for a Golden Globe. A Netflix spin-off series for children, Spirit: Riding Free ran for eight seasons and earned a Daytime Emmy Award. A feature film based on the series, “Spirit Untamed,” was released in 2021.
About Wild Horses and Burros
At a time when herds of wild horses and burros were fast disappearing on federally managed public lands, an outpouring of support led Congress to unanimously pass the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. It provided a measure of protection but failed to set up a real management plan for the future of wild herds. Congress assigned the task of managing wild horses and burros primarily to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The BLM has attempted to control population numbers almost entirely through capture and removal with helicopters — despite the availability of proven, safe and humane fertility control, which could slow herd growth and allow for more humane, on-range management.
In March 2025, the BLM estimated that there were 73,312 wild horses and burros on public lands it manages. Its goal is to reach a BLM-set “Appropriate Management Level” of no more than 25,556 total wild horses and burros across 177 Herd Management Areas in 10 Western states.
A total of 62,534 wild horses and burros now live not on the range but instead warehoused in government facilities at a cost to taxpayers of more than $101 million annually.
About Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation
RTF is a pioneering wild horse advocacy organization that has worked to preserve wild horses and burros through sanctuary, education, conservation and advocacy since 1997. RTF operates the American Wild Horse Sanctuary at two California locations. Since 1999, RTF has modeled the use of fertility control and other solutions there that can be implemented on the range.
Further Reading
◆ Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary
◆ Q&A with Elaine Bogen, Director of Spirit Untamed
— Edited Press Release
