By Robert Boswell

Publisher, Wild Pony Tales

See “Life Better Now for Rescued Chincoteague Ponies,” under Recent Posts

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Clipper, a small bay gelding, had no hair from under his jaw to his chin with pus oozing from a dozen sores. 

Ginger, a big chestnut mare, was very thin and weak from starvation and parasites.

Captain, a bay pinto gelding, was very thin too. He had the worst parasite problem of the three, so bad he had stopped eating.

All three ponies were several hundred pounds under weight. All had cuts on their faces from ill fitting halters. All three were covered in dry, caked on feces from laying in a dirty stall for days without clean bedding.

All three are registered Chincoteague ponies, sired by island stallions, and they were all bought at the July 2001 wild pony auction on Chincoteague Island.

The three are safe now, thanks to the kindness and courageous work of Debbie Ober who rounded up money to rescue the three ponies. She provides a home for some 15 Chincoteague ponies with her husband, Tom, on a 30 acre farm in Ridgely, Maryland.

Debbie stays on the lookout for Chincoteague ponies no longer wanted and are headed to sales barns where horses are sold only to be sent to slaughter, some for human consumption and some as dog food. She had already noticed the three ponies in a Pennsylvania holding barn, but then she got about 15 emails from people letting her know what was happening.

Friends with Debbie Elliott-Fisk from California, a member of the Buyback Babes who are known for buying ponies at the Chincoteague auction, the two women knew they had to move fast when Deb Ober discovered the three registered Chincoteagues in a “kill pen” that were going to slaughter if not purchased by that coming Saturday night, Sept. 10.

“I had the means to transport them and care for them, but not the bail money to buy them off the kill truck,” said Debbie. So with Debbie Elliott-Fisk they called some members of the Buybacks and other friends for help. “We had a dozen donations come in and we were able to save them,” said Debbie.

But all did not go smoothly.

“The three ponies were paid for on a credit card on Sept. 10, but due to hurricane Lee and flood damage, including a washed out bridge, we had to wait an additional two weeks to pick the ponies up.  They were held in a ‘holding barn’ and brought to the separate ‘pick-up’ barn the evening of Sept. 25.”  The pick-up barn is south of New Holland, PA.

For Debbie these were a very long two weeks. “I continued to make daily calls, sometimes 10 a day, and send emails to check on the status of our ponies.” Another week, then more phone calls, more emails. “My feelings during those days were like a roller coaster, elated that the ponies would not go to kill, then disappointed that we could not go get them. We were losing time to get them to safety and to get them well.”

As much as she wanted to go on the pickup, Debbie had to stay behind. “We had a new foal born the night before and I didn’t want to leave with the foal so young as the first 48 hours are the most crucial.  So my husband and a friend, who gave up his only day off that week to help the ponies left pulling a rescue trailer on September 26 and went to Pennsylvania.

“My feelings were an emotional roller coaster,” Debbie said. ” Tom got home around 6 p.m. that evening and I was elated to finally have them home and safe, but they were in dire condition. I was heart-broken. I found that one had come down with strangles and would have to be quarantined for a week or so.”

But no sick ponies have likely gotten more love and attention than these three rescues. “Two of the three were very sick upon arrival,” said Debbie. “They have all been treated for strangles, similar to human pneumonia, and parasite infestation. Not to mention cuts, scaring, etc. from their auction experience.”  We aren’t out of the woods yet, but are on our way, Debbie wrote on her Facebook  page.

On the Ober farm the new dwellers will have plenty of company.

“We now have 20 Chincoteague ponies on the farm, 10 of which are either retirees for life, have been cared for and are waiting for their forever homes and the last three that just came on September 26 for rehab due to illness and injury,” said Debbie. ” Five of our personal ponies were purchased at the auction on Chincoteague in 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2011. 

Debbie has been providing shelter and care for horses for 15 years, and exclusively Chincoteague ponies for the past 11 years. “With the current economy,” she said, “many more of our Chincoteague ponies are in trouble and I can no longer carry it alone.” She said she gets four to eight ponies a year, some of them weanlings a month after the auction on Chincoteague. “People can’t care for them or didn’t realize the expense involved.”

“If old or injured horses don’t sell, they are usually purchased by buyers who take  loads of horses to Canada and Mexico to be killed for human consumption,” Debbie said. “Very few end up in a retirement facility. A few are purchased as companion horses if someone has another horse needing a “buddy.”  We have four of those on the farm now, she said.

“The kill pen is the last stop for unpurchased horses,” said Debbie.  It is a holding area waiting for the trucks to pick them up.  The trucks come weekly to these auction barns and take any horses left.  I have been told that a facility in New Jersey has two to four tractor trailers a week hauling horses to market for human consumption and dog foods. 

The parents of the rescued ponies are well known to Chincoteague pony fans.

Clipper is the small bay gelding who’s sire was Gunner’s Moon.  Ginger, a big chestnut mare, was sired by  Surfer Dude. Captain, a bay pinto, is a gelding sired by Wild Bill.  “They are all great island stallions, two of which are still living on the island,” said Debbie. ” These are the names on their Chincoteague Pony Association registration papers which they gave the owner in 2001.”

So far little is known about these three ponies between their life on Assateague Island and now. The three  ponies will be available for adoption once they are well. 

Other well known ponies reside on the Ober farm. One is Tornado, a buckskin pinto stallion born in 1988. “He was king of his band for two decades,” said Debbie. “Though he inhabited the same island and roamed the sandy beaches of Assateague made famous by “Misty of Chincoteague,” Tornado become a legend of his own.” He has sired many foals over the years and is one of the most photographed stallions on the island. He was removed from the herd after being injured. Tornado is the sire of Prince, bought by the Buyback Babes in 2007 for $17,500, the most ever paid for a Chincoteague pony.”

Debbie has owned horses since she was 13, as a member of the local 4-H Club. She has bred, shown and raised Quarter Horses and Appaloosas since 1986. “My first Pony Penning was in 1998 and I fell in love with the Chincoteague ponies.” Like countless others, she said she was raised on the Misty stories by Marguerite Henry and in 2000 purchased her first Chincoteague pony.

Having lost her job a few months ago, the cost of caring for the ponies is becoming more than Debbie can handle. It cost nearly $1,500 to buy the three rescues off the kill truck and that was just the start of it. Vet bills so far have hit $300 and then there is hay at $5.00 a bale, feed at $11.50 per bag, wormer at $10 per tube and the ponies need a farrier every eight weeks to have their hooves trimmed.

So with the need growing to pay for the rescues Debbie and others have applied for a formal non-profit  organization to be known as Chincoteague Pony Rescue. Debbie said she thinks the rescues she has handled are only the tip of the iceberg.

 ”We would be grateful for donations to go toward feed and care,” Debbie said. She said if anyone knows of a Chincoteague pony in need, she can be reached at hawkeye@goeaston.net. Her cell is 410-829-3026 and messages may be left on her Facebook page. The mailing address is P.O. Box 125,  Ridgely, MD 21660.

She is also looking for personal and corporate sponsorships for the ponies and the rescue organization.  Corporate sponsors will be listed on the horse trailer and elsewhere, she said. A new website will be chincoteagueponyrescue.org and it is expected to be up and running in a week or so. 

Meanwhile, Debbie is supporting the herd by selling items on Ebay and she is working on a home-based business selling custom business forms, tee shirts and patches and she provides phone answering services.

“I truly love these ponies and they are worth saving,” said Debbie.