Once each year during the early 1900's Hunting Horse would don his blue and gold uniform, a replica of one worn when he was a scout, provided by the Smithsonian Institute, and would take honors on his birthday at homestead near Meers, Oklahoma. The event turned into quite a celebration in southwest Oklahoma with many Army friends and old braves gathering for a feast and parthy each year. The United States government would give Hunting Horse and his family a choice buffalo each year from the refuge herd. Tsa-Toke, his Indian name means, "Young Man Hunts His Horse". Known to his people as Old Man Horse, he was born at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in the winter of 1846. He came to this area of the country by invitation of Kicking Bird. In 1871 he enlisted in the Troop L Seventh Cavalry for two years of service. Col. DeShazo attended the birthday celebration as one of his last official social functions before departing to Washington D.C. President Roosevelt and Mayor George Hutchins of Lawton, were among the hundreds of visitors each year. Hunting Horse became a Christian in the late 1890's through the Methodist Church and he frequently attributed his long life and health to daily prayer.

Camp Y'shua in Meers, Oklahoma and the Saving Grace Outdoor Chapel recognize Chief Hunting Horse of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma for his contribution to the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ during the early 1900's. Click Here for a Slideshow of the March 6, 2005 event held at Camp Y'Shua honoring Hunting Horse.

A Land That Speaks

By: Kim Shahan, founder of Camp Y’Shua

When the history and heritage of a person is known, the past can be brought back to the present, to build faith for the future, but sometimes one must read between the lines, to see all that needs to be known for the whole truth to be told. As in the case of a young Kiowa warrior, that was born in the winter of 1846 at Medicine Lodge, Kansas and who lived to be 107 years old, I find this statement to be very true.

As I drove through the cemetery of Ft. Sill and came to what is known today as Chiefs Knoll, I saw for the first time the marked burial site of Chief Hunting Horse. As I looked at the head stone, I felt an incredible feeling of wishing that I could have ridden the plains by horseback and talked with him of his incredible life while living here in southwest Oklahoma. On a later visit I drove out to his homestead that was just 3 miles from a Christian camp named Camp Y’Shua near Meers, Oklahoma that my family began developing some twenty years ago. This is where my first knowledge of Hunting Horse was revealed and the search to know and to understand his life and culture became an interest to my life and ministry.

Historically the property that is known today as Camp Y’Shua that God has graciously allowed my family to own is known as one of the winter encampments of the Kiowa Nation during the 1800’s and was also an original allotment of land given to Hunting Horse.

In the year of 1985, I met a young Kiowa boy named Mark Cody, a direct descendant to Hunting Horse. Mark began to share the history of the land through the stories of his family as we worked and cleared the land to develop Camp Y’Shua, which means Jesus in the Hebrew language and Gathering Place in the native language.

A firm belief in God is the only way to establish a united brotherhood that will affect world peace. This is the philosophy expressed by Hunting Horse, whose life of 107 years witnessed the transition from an era when the Kiowa Nation roamed and hunted the buffalo on the plains of Oklahoma.

It seems as only yesterday that Hunting Horse was assisting the government to bring peace to the prairies of this great land. A celebration each year was given in honor of his life by his family and friends, during the early 1940’s and early 1950’s and it was attended by the military and many government officials each year. The whole world should turn to God and then we could all live in peace once again, says the honorable Horse, shoe Indian name is Tsa-Toke, or “Young Man Who Hunts a Horse.” Live the right kind of life, be a Christian and you will prosper and live long.

With this type of commitment to God and country so clearly demonstrated by a man that lives his last 57 years as a Christian, which is amazing to me given the circumstances of the times in which he lived. The more I looked into this man’s life; I could see the parallel of his life to the Apostle Paul in the Bible to the people of our great land. His message and his story must be told. That is why family, friends, and Camp Y’Shua have revisited this celebration and brought it back to life. On the first Sunday in March the governor of the great state of Oklahoma Brad Henry, made a proclamation, declaring this day, Hunting Horse Day.

Over 52 years ago this very significant birthday celebration took place in the Wichita Mountains near Meers. As stated in the newspaper of that time, “An American flag flew over the birthday ground where ‘Old Man Horse,’ reverently called by his close friends and relatives, recited to listeners stories of a day when he roamed the nearby prairies and rugged Wichita Mountains as a young brave scout for the Army.” Hunting Horse said, “I feel very happy on my birthday and I am glad that the redman and the whiteman can meet in peace under the banner of Christianity, as president Teddy Roosevelt and General DeShazo from Ft. Sill along with 300 soldiers and friends looked on.

With this being the prayer of Hunting Horse, I see that the land on which Camp Y’Shua is built, “Is a Land that Speaks.” Lets humble ourselves today to embrace the desire of this prayer to continue to be a reality for our great land.

The promise of free land by the government in the early 1900’s opened the floodgates for people from all over the nation which resulted in some major spiritual iniquities or what the Bible calls “broken covenants.” Part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Oklahoma was established as Indian Territory but was not given territorial government. Over 381 treaties made by the US government with the Native American tribes have been broken, which from a spiritual perspective has opened the door to the culmination of massive wounding to the people of this land, resulting in premature death, sickness, and poverty. Oklahoma leads the nation in broken covenants with the First Nation people; consequently, our role in the nation is to restore covenant. The Bible clearly states to give honor to whom honor is due, when it is the power of your hand to do so. With respect to my Native American Christian brother Hunting Horse and the First Nation of people who occupied this land, I encourage the church to recall and to revisit the prayer in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

My prayer is that after hearing the historical and spiritual perspective of the land known today as Camp Y’Shua, is that you will hear the heart of God and embrace the vision of the Restoring the Heritage, Hunting Horse Celebration which is the original “Banquet in the Wilderness” and become actively involved in this outreach endeavor of the church in southwest Oklahoma.