Ben and the Missing Pony
This is my newest book. It's in the Choctaw Adventure series and is published by Doodle and Peck Pub. Co. It's illustrated by Gwen Coleman Lester. I intend to write books using the names of the Code Talkers from World War I because they were sworn to secrecy and received little, if any, recognition for being "telephone warriors" during the war.
This story has Code Talkers, Ben Carterby, Charles Walter (C. W.) Veach, and Tobias Frazier in the story.
The back of the book introduces information about the Heritage Horse of Oklahoma.
Review
http://midwestbookreview.com/mbw/mar_20.htm#nancylorraineBen and the Missing Pony: A Choctaw Adventure
Una Belle
Townsend, author
Gwen Coleman
Lester, illustrator
Doodle and Peck
Publishing
P.O. Box 852105,
Yukon, OK 73085
www.doodleandpeck.com
9780999249772,
$9.99 (soft cover)
9780999249789,
$18.99 (hard cover), www.amazon.com
"Ben and the
Missing Pony" tell the exciting story of two friends, Ben and C. W., who
discover an injured pony on a fishing trip. Delicate colored illustrations
portray Ben as a Choctaw boy and C. W. as a white boy. The two friends are very
concerned about the injured pony. Attempting to care for it, they wash and
bandage the barbed wire wounds on its legs and stable it in an abandoned barn
with food, bedding, and water. Not knowing whose the pony is, they fantasize
about keeping it for themselves. Then the boys discover there is a Heritage
Horse of Oklahoma missing and there is a reward for its return.
The boys fear
that the pony might be taken and turned in for the reward money by a friend,
Toby, who lives near the abandoned barn. Together they find a poster for the
Heritage pony and make a phone call to tell the owner of the pony's location.
Soon the owner drives up in a truck and tells the boys their pony is named
Bakoa Chiponta or Tiny Spots. When he offers Ben and C. W. the reward, they
refuse it, glad that the pony will receive attention and care from its owner.
Then the Choctaw owner thanked the boys and invited them to his ranch where
they could see a herd of Choctaw ponies and practice jobs as ranch hands! It is
a happy ending for two boys who cared about the Heritage Choctaw pony they had
rescued.
A fine
bi-cultural detail of "Ben and the Missing Pony" is the inclusion of
many Choctaw words with their English meanings in parentheses in the story
narration. A glossary of terms at the end of the book lists all Choctaw words,
their meaning, and their pronunciations. The second book in a series, "Ben
and the Missing Pony" is a great bi-cultural adventure story with Choctaw
history and Oklahoma Heritage Horse history woven into it. Kids will love
reading "Ben and the Missing Pony" and learning the real Choctaw
words to help tell the story.
Information on the Choctaw Pony
Choctaw Pony
The Choctaw Pony
is a rare strain of the Colonial Spanish Mustang. For many years, the ponies grazed in the southeastern part of Oklahoma. They
were used around the farm and as a means of travel. Children were often given a
pony, cow, and a pig at birth. They were taught to ride their ponies very
early, and by age five were considered skilled enough to ride without restraints.
The ponies are gentle, have wonderful
dispositions, and are intelligent and people oriented. They are around 14 hands
tall, very athletic, and built to carry weight. They have strong legs and are
rarely shod. They usually have long, full manes and multi-colored tails. There
are many patterns, and no other breed of horses has as many colors.
Dr. Phillip
Sponenberg, DVM, PhD, at one point stated, “The historical record for the
Choctaw Indian horses is extensive and more details are known for this strain
than for many other strains of Colonial Spanish horses. But, they are surviving
by a thin thread…perilously close to extinction.”
In the 19th
and 20th centuries, the following families (Brame, Carter, Crisp,
Helms, LeFlore, Locke, Thurman and Trotter) owned and preserved these “equine
treasures.” Now, thanks to those who helped preserve this breed, the horses are
thriving.
Gilbert Jones founded the Southwest Spanish
Mustang Association and soon moved to southeast Oklahoma. He brought with him several Spanish Mustangs
of the Chickasaw, Comanche, Apache, Kiowa, and Huasteca bloodlines. He began
speaking to the elders to learn additional information about the horses, and if
there were any descendants of the original horses which arrived with the
Spanish conquistadors in the 1500’s. He and his son-in-law, Bob Ele, worked tirelessly
to develop his own strain of Spanish Mustangs using the Choctaw pony as a base
for their research.
In the 1980’s,
Bryant and Darlene Rickman became stewards of the few remaining Choctaw
ponies. They worked closely with Dr.
Sponenberg to insure that this breed wouldn’t become extinct. Some of the
horses that the Rickmans own are descendants of some of the original horses
which came from Mississippi with the Choctaw families who brought them along
during the Trail of Tears. Later in the 80’s, the Rickmans became the owners of
the Gilbert Jones herd of Colonial Mustangs, too.
Gilbert Jones, who died in 2000, had told Rickman that “a
group of these horses must always be allowed to run wild and free as a Spanish
Mustang was meant to be” (on Blackjack Mountain). Many of these horses did roam free in the
Kiamichi Mountain area, especially around Blackjack Mountain, until the land
was sold in 2007. Suddenly, the Rickmans had to find pastures for hundreds of these
beautiful treasured horses. They are now located in various pastures in Pushmataha
and Choctaw counties in Oklahoma.
Ideas for Teachers
Ideas for Teachers Using the Book, “Ben and the Missing Pony”
1. Make a maze
for students.
2. Have
students design their own crossword puzzle and exchange with each
other.
Have a race to see who finished first.
3. Have students
scramble some words found in the book and exchange with a
friend.
4. Have students make a puppet. Use a sock, a
paper bag, or cloth Find a picture
of
a horse or find one on Internet and draw it.
5. Have
students write a story about something they’ve saved or helped save.
6. Have
students write their own play about Ben and the missing pony.
7. Using a
discarded CD or DVD, have students make a pony or a Heritage Horse
of
Oklahoma. Use construction paper, cloth, foam pieces, or buttons.
8. Have
students write questions about the book and then design their on
game
board.
9. Have
students use some of the Choctaw words in the back of the book to write
a
story with Choctaw words in it.
10. Have students learn some of Choctaw words in the
back of the book and how
to
pronounce them.
11. Have students design their own cover for the book.
12. List four items that they needed to help the
horse.
More Ideas
BEN
AND THE MISSING PONY
1.
Find five words that begin with “b” in the story.
2.
Think of 5 words that rhyme with “Ben”.
3.
Look in the book and answer the following questions:
a. The boys fished in a ________.
b. What part of the animal did the boys
bandage? _______
c. Who did they call? _________
d. Ben and C.W. made a bed from old
_______.
e. Where did the animal come from? _______
4.
Write the following words on some paper. Look up the Choctaw word for each
word
and write it down. (barn, fox, creek,
wolf, water, horse, and bear)
5.
What does the Choctaw words “Bakoa Chiponta” mean?
Beautiful horse.
This is one of the Heritage Horses of Oklahoma.
These horses were present during a ribbon cutting ceremony in the Southeast part of Oklahoma. They are a few of the Heritage Horses of Oklahoma.
This is also a Heritage Horse of Oklahoma that I took at the ribbon-cutting.
These two Heritage horses were at the Pasture Ribbon Cutting Ceremony when a new pasture was available for more Heritage Horses of Oklahoma.
Over the last few years, there have been bridges dedicated to the Choctaw Code Talkers. Here is the Tobias Frazier Bridge. It is located in Southeast Oklahoma. I mention the Frazier Creek in both "Toby and the Secret Code" and in "Ben and the Missing Pony".
Links
rickmanspanishmustangs.com/our-website/
http://www.newson6.com/story/26075869/volunter-www.TheSpiritofBlackjackMountain.comdedicates-life-to-preserving-oklahomas-heritage-horse
http://kfor.com/2016/02/05/face-of-oklahoma-heritage-horse-allegedly-stolen-from-pasture/
horsehints.org/Breeds/GilbertJonesStory.htm
horsehints.org/Breeds/SpanishMustang.htm
southwestspanishmustangassociation.com/TheHistMedSprngsMust.hml
Ben and the Missing Pony is available from Doodle and Peck Pub. www.doodleandpeck.com/product-page/ben-and-the-missing-pony
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