Pit Pony (novel)
# Pit Pony (novel)

Pit Pony is a children's historical novel written by Joyce Barkhouse. It was published in 1990 and won the first Ann Connor Brimer Award. Pit Pony was adapted for television in 1997 and 1999.

## Plot summary

In Pit Pony, Barkhouse describes life in a coal-mining town in turn-of-the-century Cape Breton and also deals with the importance of education. It is the story of Willie and Gem, a pit pony. Willie is an eleven-year-old boy forced by family circumstances to work as a trapper in a Cape Breton coal mine, and Gem is a Sable Island mare working as a pit pony. As they work together, a strong bond develops between boy and horse.

The book describes the grim realities of life for a young miner – cold, exhaustion, fear – discomforts and dangers that also affected the horses. When Willie and Gem are trapped in the mine during a "bump" – with falling rock and timber, and choking dust – Willie must choose between escaping with Gem or saving the life of another young miner. Willie's choice to save the young miner's life over Gem's life sets Willie free – free to leave the mines and to pursue his education. As it turns out, however, Gem had been pregnant, and her foal is saved.

## Awards

Pit Pony was named as notable by the Canadian Library Association; received the first Ann Connor Brimer Award in 1991 for "outstanding contribution to children's literature in Atlantic Canada"; and was the unanimous choice of Nova Scotia librarians to be produced as a Talking Book for the CNIB, for national and international distribution.

## Movie and television series

Pit Pony was made into a CBC-TV movie by Cochran Entertainment (1997), won three Gemini Awards, and became a 44-episode TV series.

