Cinchfoot and Blaze Face, under different names, are based on real characters. The remarkable friendship between them was a reality. Horsemen of the West, including Lloyd Hardin and John Campbell, have more than once told me of the two horses and their unusual friendship for each other. Nor was this the only incident in the West when a gelding befriended a small colt and a friendship sprang up between the two that lasted throughout life. When Cinchfoot was last heard of he was twenty-three years old, living on a ranch in Montana. It was said by those who saw him that he was in excellent health and as beautiful as ever. Old Blaze Face lived to be twenty-six years of age before he crossed the Great Divide. – T.C.H.
