Posted By Admin on March 1, 2010

 

By Tammy Rickman

In 1839 English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote, “…the pen is mightier than the sword.” Though I suspect he coined the term with somewhat more purposeful intentions, they rang no less true for less intense purposes.

Not unlike Mr. Lytton, Marguerite Henry is famous in her own right for her stories of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands and the wild mustang ponies that roam freely there.

Her words have reached far around the world touching the hearts and souls of many, young and old alike. She no doubt had little inkling how mighty her sword would prove for both individuals and the islands. Her words became the substance of dreams.

In July 2009 one family saw their dreams of the islands, which sit snuggly off the Eastern Coast of Virginia, become a reality.

Anna McAllister 72, her four daughters Nancy Caiazzi 50, Susan Hughes 49, Patricia Stavdal 47, Janice McIntyre 44, and her two granddaughters Courtney Hughes 28 and Jillian Caizzi 12 made their way from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York to live out a childhood dream.

The girls grew up in Long Island, New York along with their three brothers. When Nancy, the eldest of the four, was about 10 years old Santa gave the girls a three book set of Marguerite’s books for Christmas including Misty of Chincoteague, Stormy Misty’s Foal, and Sea Star. Nancy said, “I loved reading and horses so the books were a perfect gift.”

Anna said she and her husband had decided to give the kids a book every Christmas as something they could keep over the years rather than always getting the books from the library. Nancy was “into” horses then so they bought the set of three books for the oldest three girls, Nancy, Susan and Patti, to share. Anna said she knew little about the story of Misty at the time. However, the girls quickly fell in love with the books and their animated conversations over the books led Anna to read them for herself.

From the moment they read them their imaginations bloomed and it wasn’t long before Nancy began talking about going to Chincoteague someday to see the ponies and the swim. With seven children vacations of that type were not easy and it seemed that it just never developed.  

Years passed and Susan said that she had found a new desire to attend the event when she was able to visit the Maryland span of Assateague Island several years earlier with two of her three children and saw the horses roaming the campgrounds.

In the fall of 2008, after many years of dreaming, talking  and saying “someday,” the girls began planning their trip as a surprise birthday gift for Nancy’s 50^th birthday.  Susan said, “After talking about it for years—2009 was the year we were going to finally ‘make it happen’.”

Nancy said her mother and three sisters knew that seeing the ponies and round up had long been her dream. On her birthday in February 2009 they told her it was about to come true. They had rented a house on Chincoteague Island for the week of the round up, and Nancy and her 12 year old daughter Jillian would be going with them, no excuses.

The group would spend the next few months in anxious anticipation and planning. Finally, after many long years and several months of counting down days, they began their trip south to fulfill a lifelong dream.

The girls would arrive in two groups. The first would be Janice, Susan and Susan’s daughter, Courtney. They arrived on Sunday afternoon, July 26, 2009, 4 days prior to the swim. The anticipation was building as they neared the island, a place they had desired to see for so many years.

Susan said as they crossed the causeway she couldn’t help but notice how calm and beautiful the water appeared before the fishermen who cast lines along the banks. However, the serene scene was soon interrupted by the swarm of gulls that had come out to welcome them to the island.

Once on the island they reluctantly put off checking out the island and visiting Assateague Island in order to pick up their rental key. Shortly after arriving they headed out to the holding corrals off Beach Road on Assateague Island. Susan said that as they stood watching the herds corralled there it finally hit home that they had actually arrived

That afternoon the first of several afternoon storms rolled through the sky. Following the guidance of a few locals they grabbed some takeout form Captain Zak’s Seafood and headed back to the rental to wait out the storm.

On Monday afternoon, July 27, the rest of the girls made their way across the causeway. “Crossing the bridge I remember just about shaking in excitement of finally visiting Chincoteague,” Nancy said of her first reaction to the event. She noted how different it was from the approach to Long Island which is filled with the feel of the city. The open space and marsh filled waters was a pleasant surprise.

The girls spent the next few days exploring the island, window shopping downtown, visiting Assateague Lighthouse and getting in some valuable family time playing games at the rental house in Smuggler’s Cove during afternoon thunderstorms.

They took pictures of the Misty statue and Misty’s hoof prints outside the Island Roxy Theatre. They visited the Beebe Ranch and attended the 84^th annual Fireman’s Carnival which Nancy said was smaller than she had expected. Her 12 year old daughter Jillian rode her first Ferris wheel at the carnival.

They spent many afternoons watching sunsets that set the sky ablaze and walked along Chincoteague Bay. The sunsets across the bay became one of their favorite activities. A few of them took a canoe from the rental house out into Chincoteague Bay. The group also took a sunset boat tour of Assateague Island and Tom’s Cove where they saw dolphins and other wildlife aboard the Assateague Explorer. Nancy said visiting places like the Beebe Ranch, carnival and Tom’s Cove was especially fun due to their parts in the books they had read so many times.

The girls had matching pink tank tops and sweatshirts made that read “Girls Round Up—Chincoteague.” Along with the shirts, they each had a different colored cowboy hat. Some even wore bandanas.  On Wednesday morning July 29, 2009 they donned their hats and tank tops and headed out at 5 a.m. for the event they had waited to see for so long.

Prior to that morning, they had scouted out the best places to park, facilities and the perfect viewing spot. What they had not expected was the mucky, marshy trek they would make to their perfect spot.

The ponies came ashore on a grassy beach near Pony Swim Lane. A boardwalk bridge that aids emergency personnel, cowboys and other staff to access the water and floating barges that help with the swim reaches from the lane to the water’s edge. When scouting they had used the bridge. What they had not known was that the bridge would not be accessible to the public the day of the swim.

Mucky marshes are part of the landscape of the islands. The area between the lane and the beach can be semi dry or soupy and swampy. The series of afternoon thunderstorms throughout the week had left the area looking more the bayous of Louisiana rather than the marshes of an island.

A large pool of murky, muddy water stood between viewers and the more solid ground near the viewing area. With hundreds of feet wading their way through the area and then back again, when someone needed to use the facilities, the ground was soupy, slurpy, and deep. In some spots one step left you knee deep in thick suctioning mud that was reluctant to let you leave with your shoes still attached to your feet.

The girls were not completely ill-equipped. Their outings around town, and conversations with locals had at the very least warned them that there could be mud and to find form fitting shoes. With that information, they had found shoes which stayed on their feet and allowed them to make it through the muck with their shoes intact.

Susan said they were glad to have “marched” through because it was all part of the experience. She also noted they had expected large crowds and long waits pre-swim.  She didn’t feel the crowds grew as large as they had thought, but then again they are New Yorkers and large crowds come with the territory. Had they ventured over to Memorial Park, they would have noted several thousand more people who had not marched through the muck.

The group enjoyed the wait with an Amish family whom befriended their mother and shared their chairs. Their anticipation grew as swim time neared and they waited to live out a once in a life time experience.

 Nancy noted that she had visions of what she thought the swim might be like from the books she had read. However, she was reluctant to expect anything for fear of being disappointed. She felt it better to just experience the events as they occurred.

She would not be disappointed. The excitement built as the long awaited ponies neared shore and finally gathered on the marshy shore to graze on marsh grasses and rest.  A moment the girls had dreamt about for years was now happening, and a dream became reality as the famous ponies of the childhood stories mulled around only feet from where they stood. Nancy even bought a chance on King or Queen Neptune. King or Queen Neptune is the first foal to step onto land after the swim. Tickets are sold for a drawing to win the foal at the carnival grounds after the swim. This year’s foal was a boy and so called King Neptune.

The excitement and emotions are not something easily described. The realization of a dream is a high nothing can duplicate, especially a dream so long in the making.

After the swim they made their way to the parade route. This is the route the ponies take after the swim and a rest down Pony Swim Lane and Main Street to the carnival ground corrals.

With their gear they attracted lots of attention and comments, even from one of the famous “Salt Water Cowboys” who yelled to them during the parade that he wanted one of those tank tops. “It was a wonderful Girls Round Up,” said Susan.

The girls went to the Auction on Thursday, but some of them missed most of the actual auction when they were distracted by a vendor selling souvenir photos of the swim. Jill and Susan spent some time watching an artist sketch some of the ponies through the corral fence, and watching the famous “Surfer Dude” and his newest foal prance through the corral.

Surfer Dude is one of the few studs who roam the marshes of Assateague Island. He is famous for his coat of amber and blonde mane and tail which gives him the illusion of a trademark surfer. The name fits with some irony given he roams the beaches and marshes of an Atlantic Ocean island.  Surfer passed his trademark coloring to a previous foal, a mare named Gidget and to his new off spring who will also roam the island with his father. The foal, later named Riptide at the auction, was one of the “buybacks” which are bought and then given back to the herd. Males are rarely kept, but Riptide was kept due to his father’s age.

Nancy said not seeing the auction was not necessarily a bad thing since she would have had to disappoint her husband by bidding on one after she had made him happy by informing him she had not won King Neptune.

Nancy and Susan said it was alright that they missed things like the Beach Run which brings the Northern herd down Assateague Beach to the corral on Beach Road to join the Southern herd, because it is reason to come back again. Prior to this event the Northern herd is corralled in a more secluded corral on the northern end of the island after being rounded up.

Courtney and Janice left on Thursday following the auction. The rest stayed through Saturday and enjoyed the cruise, Friday’s swim back to Assateague by the ponies and a day on Assateague beach to wrap up the week.

Nancy said just being on the island was magical and even overwhelming at times, like when visiting Beebe Ranch and seeing the actual mounted statues of Misty and Stormy. When asked what her favorite part of the whole experience was she said, “Seeing a dream become reality in the company of my mom, sisters, niece, and daughter was the best part of the trip.

Nancy’s mom Anna said that since returning home she has spent a lot of time telling the children’s dad, Jim, about the experience.  She has also promised to take him there in the not too distant future. She said, “I know he will also share my feelings, because over 50 years of marriage we have spent innumerable hours on beaches.  For us, it’s the best place in the world.” 

The beach has been a big part of the family life with dad an avid swimmer and lifeguard, each one of his seven children at some point lifeguarded and/or taught swimming lessons and now eight of the 16 grandchildren have followed suit.

Nancy, Susan, and Anna all mentioned return trips to see the round ups, beach run  and maybe even one of the spring or fall round ups that are used to monitor the health of the herd twice a year.  Who knows,  maybe next time they’ll even invite the boys!

Tammy Rickman is associate publisher of Wild Pony Tales.

Categories: Island Life, Pony Tales
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