Sarah Silver is the founder of Navigations2College, a local nonprofit focused on equitable and inclusive access to higher education and training as a matter of social and economic justice. She and her husband moved to Ashland from western Colorado in 2008. Sarah’s first book, Dream a Pony/Wake a Spirit (2015) was based on her father’s experiences as a white child growing up in the Choctaw Nation of southeastern Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma statehood and on his stories about the rare native Choctaw pony he rescued. Sarah’s second book, published in 2022, draws on her long career as an educator, nonprofit manager, and college and career counselor, and is the first regional guide to exploring Pacific Northwest colleges and universities. Sarah has served as an Oregon ASPIRE Volunteer Mentor at Ashland H.S. since 2009.
In the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, in the year 1900, friendships between children of white “intruders” and their Choctaw and Chickasaw schoolmates had to cross a deep cultural divide. It was also a time when public ignorance could make a mockery of the ambitions of a boy with dwarfism and a place where children had to grow up fast. Trouble begins when a beautiful wild stallion, a supposed man killer, is rescued by two adventurous young brothers. When the stallion is identified as a rare Choctaw horse, the question of who should own him threatens to destroy cherished friendships. Then a courageous decision by a young boy allows the ancient spirit of Buster, their Choctaw Pony survivor, to live on for future generations to love and respect.
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