Nan Aspinwall may be one of my all time favorite female horse stories ever.

Why?

Have you ever seen the movie Hidalgo? That movie is allegedly based on Nan Aspinwall.

In 1910, Nan Aspinwall – a girl from small town Nebraska who’d previously traveled with Buffalo Bill as a vaudeville cowgirl – left San Francisco on a journey to ride her horse across America. She did this all on the back of the same horse, a Thoroughbred named Lady Ellen. And on July 11, 1911, she rode into New York City at City Hall, completing her coast to coast adventure.

To read more about their journey, check out the full story on Diary of an OTTB.