FAYETTEVILLE — Some 2,200 fourth-grade students from schools around Northwest Arkansas spent part of Thursday with Frederik the Great.
Frederik, an enormous black Friesian stallion from Rogers, drew great cheers as he galloped in front of the students at Pauline Whitaker Arena on the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville campus. With a long black mane that nearly touched the ground, Frederik resembled The Black Stallion, the titular character from Walter Farley’s best-selling fiction series about a horse and his young owner, Alec Ramsay.
Frederik’s run was part of the Horse Tales Literacy Project, a program that aims to develop a love of literacy in children by connecting them with horses. Laura Graves of Big Flat, who along with her husband, Gene, is one of the southeast regional directors for the program, said the project expects to perform in front of 11,000 fourth-grade students this school year.
“If we demand our children to read and don’t have them enjoy reading, we miss the forest for the trees,” Laura Graves said. “This program is all about finding the joy and magic that books can bring.”
Formerly known as the Black Stallion Literacy Foundation, the nonprofit Horse Tales Literacy Project was first performed in Arkansas in 2006, Graves said. That year, some 5,000 children saw performances.
From the start, all students attending Black Stallion Literacy Foundation events have received free books. The fourth-graders who came Thursday each received a copy of The Black Stallion, the 1941 book that launched Farley’s series.
“The kids really like this event,” said Jennifer Worthy, a fourth-grade teacher at Springdale’s Sonora Elementary School, who was in attendance for the fifth time. “It brings The Black Stallion to life.”
Thursday’s program began with Mary Kathryn Bryant, Miss Arkansas High School Rodeo Queen, bearing the United States flag as the national anthem was sung. Then came an appearance by performer Fred Woehl of Harrison, who brought two mustangs from his farm and spoke of their heritage.
Woehl also told the students how he developed a lifelong love of reading at an early age, which inspired him to dream big. Between 2008-2011, Woehl spent 28 months in the Middle East for the government, volunteering to teach farming in Iraq and then teaching better horsecare techniques in Jordan.
Other performers included Steve Jones, “the Whipmaster,” who demonstrated whipping techniques; a parade of Arabian horses; and Civil War re-enactors.
Arkansas, Pages 20 on 11/30/2012