MyHorse: And you were adopted into the Lakota tribe?
Fusco: Yes, the Red Bow family - Buddy's family - took me in, and Stephen Red Bow adopted me as his son. I was given the name Wakinyan Cant'e, which means "Thunderheart," also the name of the script I was writing.
The adoption ceremony is called "the making of relatives," so when I speak of the Lakota of Pine Ridge, I speak of them as my relations. Not only did I write Thunderheart, but we filmed parts of Hidalgo there. I also did an ABC miniseries called Dreamkeeper, set on the reservation. It's the story of a 16-year-old boy who drives his grandfather to New Mexico for the All Nations Pow Wow. The Lakota are a treasured part of my life.
MyHorse: What's the story behind the name of your Red Road Farm, Canku Luta?
Fusco: Summers, Stephen Red Bow would come out to Vermont to live in my farmhouse, sometimes bringing my Lakota mother, sometimes others. Stephen always asked me, what was the name of this place? It had no name.
One morning, I woke to sunrise and the sound of Stephen drumming. I joined him to sing and pray, and he said, "Canku Luta," Red Road Farm. This is the place where you will keep up Red Road tradition and raise Indian ponies."
To walk the Red Road is to walk the good and holy path, the virtuous path, and to walk in harmony with your relations: the four-legged, the winged ones, Mother Earth. "The Red Road"- those are powerful words. They carry a responsibility, and I take it seriously.
MyHorse: Did you become involved with the Indian Pony at this time?
Fusco: It all intersects. After the Thunderheart period, I got word that Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks wondered if I was interested in writing for animation. It wasn't something I'd considered. He said, "What if it was the story of the American West, told from the view of the horse?" And I replied, "When do we start?"
Researching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, I learned about the original horses, the direct descendants of horses that had arrived with Spanish explorers. On the reservation, I'd seen some of these horses, usually in strange places like walking down the steps of someone's home. Literally. They looked like a Remington sculpture of Indian ponies.
I learned of an old cowboy, the late Bob Brislawn, who found the last pockets of true Spanish Mustangs, the true Indian ponies. He was doing a geologic survey, and his mules kept wearing out. An Indian man told him he needed an old-style Indian pony. They still existed. He bought some, and was so knocked out by their abilities and horse sense that he dedicated the rest of his life to them.
I bought horses from Brislawn's last preservation project, then more and more. I purchased their registry, Horse of the Americas, and eventually turned it over to folks more capable than me of running it, and it's thriving.
MyHorse: What's the distinction between the Spanish Mustang and the Mustang?
Fusco: The Spanish Mustangs, which we now call Colonial Spanish Horses, are straight descendants of the horses that came over from Spain. Most of the wild mustangs under BLM control have been crossbred with other breeds for many, many years. They all deserve to be preserved.
MyHorse: Are there different strains within the Colonial Spanish Horse?
Fusco: Yes, due to the selective breeding of the Native American tribes. For instance, the Choctaw strain began with the pure Spanish horses brought to Mississippi with De Soto. The Choctaw people adopted this war horse and selectively bred for endurance, ability to pack, and gait. These tough, intelligent horses later endured the grueling forced march from Mississippi to Oklahoma.
Today, there are less than 150 pure Choctaw Indian Ponies. We're helping to preserve them, and we'd like to see them widely recognized as more than endangered horses with a unique heritage. We'd like to see them rediscovered as the superb trail and distance horses they are. That's the best way to preserve them.
MyHorse: Why is it important to preserve and protect America's wild horses?
Fusco: Willy Nelson recently said that the horse should be the symbol of the United States. I agree. As great as the bald eagle is, the wild horse is the true symbol of self-reliance, freedom, and the pioneering spirit.
The Colonial Spanish Horse is America's first horse - the true horse of the Native Americans; the true horse of the cowboy and the Pony Express. For Native Americans, the wild horse is the symbol of unbroken spirit.
MyHorse: Tell us about your current favorite horse.
Fusco: Little Fox is the guy I ride now. He's special. We know he's a Cheyenne through Brislawn's records. The Cheyenne Indian Ponies were bred as buffalo runners - that's where "cow sense" in today's horses comes from.
Little Fox was born at Red Road Farm and named for his relatives: Yellow Fox, a champion endurance horse, and Little Bit. His color, called "purple corn," is a purplish-blue tint with dark corn spots. This color was prized by the Native Americans who interpreted the dark spots as arrow wounds and thought this made a good war pony.
A couple years ago, I planned to do a 100-mile ride in Vermont with Little Fox to help raise funds and awareness for the breed. Initially, he thought, "What are you getting me into?" But as he got his wind and got lean, it became an exhilarating experience! We'd do 17 miles before breakfast.
Then, about a month before the ride, he tore his suspensory ligament in the pasture, and it derailed us. Heartbreaking. Fortunately, he's recovered, and we're considering another attempt.
MyHorse: Was the controversy generated by your film, Hidalgo, a surprise?
Fusco: It was a complete surprise. We were in the middle of the Mojave filming Hidalgo, when I got a call from Disney saying that there were people attacking the movie, alleging that Frank Hopkins was a fraud.
I was taken aback, because Hopkins was obscure. I'd been fascinated by his legend among the Lakota - Hopkins was part Lakota. His story is also told on the Blackfeet Reservation and I recorded it in the Blackfeet language for a documentary for Animal Planet called America's First Horse.
I wrote Hidalgo two years before 9/11, but the attackers incorrectly assumed that it was corporate propaganda coming from Disney to support the invasion of Iraq. We were accused of making a jingoistic, chauvinistic, vulgar movie. I tried to contact those people, but they ignored me. They wanted a media storm, not a resolution.
They said they'd found a box in a museum basement, with papers written by Hopkins that proved he was a fraud. I obtained photocopies of everything. What they didn't tell anyone was that the box also contained brilliant writings on horsemanship by Hopkins and photographs of him with his horses. It wasn't in their interest to have that material see the light of day.
MyHorse: Then what happened?
Fusco: This is where the silver lining comes in. I hadn't known that Hopkins was such an incredible horseman. His essays were powerful. I didn't realize that he was one of the progenitors of "natural horsemanship" and a passionate fighter for mustang preservation. He inspired a generation of endurance riders. Something else happened: Hearing the attacks, elderly people who knew and revered Hopkins came forward. Their strong, first-person testimony vindicated Hopkins.
Fortunately, the movie was a solid hit and a big success on DVD. But the attacks changed the complexion of a project that had been a labor of love. My politics are opposite what they were imagining, so it was doubly frustrating. But we came through it, and Hopkins seems an even more fascinating character.
MyHorse: What three people of any era would you invite for an evening around the campfire?
Fusco: Frank Hopkins, of course! We know he was a fine horseman and a gifted storyteller, so he's a good guy to have. Robert Johnson, the Delta blues master with his guitar. And Zane Grey, the great western writer.
MyHorse: Complete this sentence: People would be surprised to know that I...
Fusco: ...study Kung Fu and play the Hammond B-3 jazz organ and sing like an 83-year-old black man! One is for early morning; the other for late at night.
MyHorse: What living person do you most admire?
Fusco: I've been fortunate to have many wise elders around me. The living person I most admire is Dayton Hyde. He and I shared a podium at Hot Springs, South Dakota, at a premier for Hidalgo. We'd filmed on Dayton's land. He made a speech. Then I got up and said, "When I grow up, that's what I want to be."
Dayton is a gifted and unique writer. He didn't take the easy path. He made sacrifices to follow his convictions, and to speak out for wildlife, the environment, and for wild horses. And he's still doing it with passion and love. Dayton's the man. That's what I want: to preserve and write stories about these special horses, the environment, and the lifestyle, and to inspire future generations to be stewards of these things.
MyHorse: What do you most treasure?
Fusco: My wife, my son, and this farm - including this herd of wonderful horses - they are true treasures.
