In 2000 a finance student dreamed of a grandfather offering two horses, one black and one spotted. Years later, lost after dark on the way to Son Kul while filming True Appaloosa, Munarbek recalls what happened next.

In 2008 Munarbek Kuldanbaev had only three horses to sell to a British TV crew, so a fourth was bought from a friend: a spotted horse full of energy. How that sale led, years later, to a film.