Monthly Archives: January 2010

Motorists, Beware of those Scampering Squirrels

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By Kate White

Co-Editor, Wild Pony Tales

Thanks to the efforts of the biologists and other staff members of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and those at other refuges, the fluffy tailed Delmarva Fox Squirrel, still on the endangered species list, continues to gain in population. Around 200 of them live on the refuge now.

But with mating season arriving in February and March, with young ones to follow in about 45 days, the refuge biologists want to caution drivers to be on the lookout for them as they scamper across roads and along the sides of roadways. As Joelle Buffa, senior biologist tells visitors about the Delmarva Fox Squirrel, she warns them to slow down and watch for the squirrels on roads throughout, the refuge. Three to nine squirrels are killed by cars annually. The first squirrel death this year occurred last week

 The Chincoteague refuge was one of seven sites designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for fox squirrel recovery, first in 1979. In the following years habitat was established or altered to help build the population and information was collected on growth rates, movements, age and sex.

Ms. Buffa said along with efforts to protect the Delmarva Fox Squirrel, staff members work to educate the public. She said they have anniversaries, events, and sometimes even go to schools to tell kids about them and show them how to trap one. This is done by refuge staff only for population assessment.  Ms. Buffa said the biologists and other staff members will spend the same time monitoring and managing for the squirrel even if it comes off the endangered list, which is a long process

The Delmarva Fox Squirrel has a large, fluffy tail. It’s frosty silver to slate gray with a white belly. Females weigh more than the males, but they can grow up to 30 inches long and 15 inches tall.

 The breeding season peaks in February or March, but older females may breed twice a year. Places you might see them are in pines, marsh and shrubs, especially along the Woodland Trail, a popular trail for visitors, and at the end of the parking lots near forested areas

The female raises her young alone, taking care of a litter of 3 or 4. The young are born naked and blind, with their eyes opening in about five weeks. The refuge has built small boxes in several locations which some squirrels use as homes and for giving birth. The small wooden boxes are mostly made for protection from other animals and the weather. The squirrels also nest in hollows and cavities in trees. The fox squirrel prefers to move about in open areas under trees rather than dense undergrowth. Some wooded areas have been cleared of undergrowth to provide the fox squirrel with their preferred habitat. In moving around, the fox squirrel usually climbs down a tree then crosses on the ground to another tree, rather than jumping from tree to tree like the gray squirrel.

Their diet consists of insects, fruits, seeds, and flowers which are located in small forested areas. But during the harsh winter, they eat harvested nuts and hibernate in pines, oaks, and maples until spring. They can be seen on the ground nibbling on small buds starting to bloom or varieties of fungi. They especially like pecans but snack on other small things including mushrooms. 

By the Time Most People Arrive, the Cowboys are Already Riding

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     Pony Penning in 2010 will be held the week of July 26-July 30. The Swim will be Wednesday, July 28 and the Auction, the following day, Thursday, July 29. For full schedule go to http://www.chincoteaguechamber.com/

  By Misty Thornton and Robert Boswell

Here in the middle of winter on the Eastern Shore of Virginia may be an odd time to be looking ahead to summer and the grand event that is known as Pony Penning, which brings thousands to Chincoteague Island around the end of July. But actually the planning for pony week goes on all year long.

The ponies, unknown to many, are rounded up not only in July, but also in October, the fall roundup, and again in April, the spring roundup. No ponies are auctioned off at these roundups but Dr. Charlie Cameron, the long-time pony veterinarian, gets to see every one of them. The ponies don’t like it much, but Dr. Cameron makes them open their mouths anyway, and gives them each a squirt of worm medicine and other protections against the elements of living in the wild of Assateague Island.

The ponies also get to see the Salt Water Cowboys who come to the islands three times a year for the roundups.  

In July, visitors who plan to get up early Monday morning to see the ponies as they are herded along the Atlantic Ocean waterfront, or plan to get up even earlier to see them swim Assateague Channel on that Wednesday morning, might keep in mind it is the Cowboys who get up earlier than anyone. Their work begins on Saturday, two days before Pony Penning even begins.

The Cowboys, almost as famous as the Chincoteague ponies begin their work on Saturday with the roundup of the southern herd. Then, on Sunday they move to the northern range to round up the larger herd of about 100 ponies and foals. The Cowboys come from near and far places including Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.

All of them bring their own mounts in trailers along with hay, water, and riding gear. Some leave early in the week for what is an annual family event, meeting old friends and children of friends they have known for years.

Generations of Cowboys have ridden in the roundups. The current  July pony week came about after a string of disastrous fires in the Town of Chincoteague. The villagers realized their fire fighting equipment was seriously inadequate. In 1925 the town authorized the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company to hold a carnival during Pony Penning to raise funds.

That year over 15 colts were sold to benefit the fire company and the carnival was a huge success. Bolstered by the interest in the pony swim, visitors began arriving from across the country for the annual penning. The crowd in 1937 was estimated at 25,000. The increased revenue from the carnivals and auctions enabled the fire company to modernize its equipment and facilities, and in 1947 it began to build its own herd by purchasing ponies from local owners. They moved the herd to Assateague where the government allowed, publicly owned, not private, herds to graze on the newly established Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

That same year, 1947, Marguerite Henry published “Misty of Chincoteague,” the story that made Pony Penning internationally famous. A movie followed, as did several sequel books. The tale of the wild pony Phantom, her foal Misty and the children who buy and raise her has become a classic, still loved and enjoyed by each new generation.

As much as pony week has become an occasion they look forward to, no one should fail to realize that rounding up the ponies from the ranges of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in July is a hot, sometimes dangerous task in prime mosquito and biting bug territory.

The July roundup for Pony Penning can take place in extreme heat. The fall roundup, in October, and the spring roundup in April, can have unbearable weather conditions too.

Cowboy Tom Garner drives 250 miles from his home in North Carolina to get here, pulling Buzz in his trailer.

During spring roundup a few years ago a nor’easter moved in, he said in a previous interview. “In the morning we had thunder and lighting and by the time we finished the rain had turned to sleet.”  In the driving rain, he said, if you don’t keep your horse in motion he will turn his back to the wind. “It was the wettest and coldest I have ever been in my life,” said Mr. Garner.

Mr. Garner said he has been thrown off  twice because the horse’s hooves got stuck in the mud.  ”The job is definitely harder than it looks,” he said “Getting out there and just riding through marsh and grass sounds easy, but it’s not. Each step your horse takes you hear the sound ‘squish, squash, squish, squash’. Bringing in the ponies is a lot of work and taking them through the town, they seem to wander off every once and a while.”

But Garner, nor any of the other cowboys, would rather be anyplace else. “It’s a real honor, to ride,” he said, “and I enjoy seeing spectators enjoying the horses and look forward to it each year.”

Another veteran cowboy who has many stories to tell is Walter Marks, riding for some 28 years. Like so many other riders, he plans to keep it going in the family. His son, Tyler, now a 10th grader, is going to take the reins at the spring roundup as a full fledged Cowboy. Tyler has been by his dad’s side as long as anyone can remember.

The senior, Mr. Marks, a retired state trooper recalls being injured twice. Once was when ice caused his horse to rear up, catching his stomach on the saddle horn, sending him to the doctor.

About 20 years ago, a horse snagged a foot in the sand and “did a summersault on top of me.” That time he broke his leg.

The work of the Cowboys is not done when the ponies are herded into their pens. The northern herd is brought in on Sunday. At daybreak Monday, the ponies are herded down to the beach front and follow along what has become known as the beach run. The ponies are kept in a tight formation because some try to break out. It is often foggy this time of morning on the beach and quiet, except for the lapping waves. So the appearance of the cowboys with ponies in tow can be sudden. The first signal may be the crack of a bull whip, the sound used by the cowboys to move the ponies along. As the whole parade nears Beach Road, the road that runs all the way to the beach, applause breaks out from some 3,000 people who now turn out for this event.

The Cowboys move the ponies into the turn and continue up beach to the big holding pen on the curve. There, the northern herd and the southern herds are joined together, remaining there until the next step of their journey, Wednesday morning. Once again the ponies are moved across sometimes difficult terrain down to the water’s edge. At the first slack tide, the Coast Guard sends up red smoke signaling that the swim is underway.

That brings an uproar from the tens of thousands waiting on banks of the west side of the channel for this storied event to take place.

The wait can be long. To be assured of getting a decent view, people begin arriving as early as 5 a.m for a swim that may not take place for hours. This year visitors should check the latest word from the fire department and on the radio for the time of the swim.

No matter what time it is held, it is another very early day of work for the Cowboys. As the ponies swim over, with only their heads above water, they are watched over by Cowboys, fire department and medical staff. When they come ashore, they are steered into a holding area to rest for about 45 minutes before moving along to their final destination, the Chincoteague Carnival grounds on Main Street.

Many visitors take advantage of the rest to get a close-up look at these famous animals, even getting close enough to pet a forehead or two, but always under the watchful eyes of the Cowboys.

After resting, the ponies are again put into a tight formation and moved along Pony Swim Lane to Ridge Road, where thousands of people line the route cheering and just taking in an experience that bought them to Chincoteague from around the world.

The ponies, with a fire vehicle loaded with members of the press and usually a news helicopter overhead, moves slowly along Ridge to Beebe Road, turning right and going on to Main Street, turning right for the final leg of the journey to the carnival grounds where the auction will take place Thursday morning.

Every step the ponies take is aided by the Cowboys who watch out for people who get too close and see that the roadway is clear of people and vehicles.

The cowboys remain on the job at the auction, then Friday morning, the adult ponies and the few buybacks are marched back down to the Assateague waterfront and returned to the pastures they call home. Only then can the cowboys pack up their own horses and go back home, until the next roundup. ]

   Misty Thornton is editor of www.wildponytales.info and Mr. Boswell is the publisher.

Bus Tour, Great Way to Learn About the Wonders of Assateague

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Questions about the tours can be directed to the visitor center through email at FW5RW_CNWR@fws.gov and by phone 757-336-6122. Other information can be found on at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/chinco.

Admission for the tours is $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for children 12 and under. Tickets are sold at the Bateman Educational Center and visitors should board the bus at that location.

The following article was written by a student staff member, her assignment after riding out on the bus in the fall of 2010.

By Brianna Bowden

First Posted on January 21, 2010 by Admin

I have lived near Assateague Island in Virginia all my life. Most of my ancestors were born nearby, on Chincoteague Island and many have lived there for years. I have visited them often over the years and have been to the beautiful Assateague Beach many times.

But today I got to see a part of Assateague that was new to me. I got to ride 7 ½ miles into a wilderness seen only by a few of the 1.5 million visitors that come each year not only from all over the U.S. , but all over the world.

Along the way, as part of a group on a small tour bus that leaves from the information center, I learned a lot. The driver, Mrs. Joanne Lapole, carefully told us about everything that crossed our path including a snapping turtle, a Sika elk, the glossy ibis, which is a long-beaked wading bird; the nesting boxes of the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel, Canada geese and the snowy egret. She didn’t mind stopping, or even backing up, for us to get a clearer view.

Our guide told us about the history of the Chincoteague Lighthouse which is a favorite stop for visitors. She said that at the bottom of the lighthouse there was a village, the families that lived there had to change the candles that provided lights for the ships and boats that came along.

Joanne has two other jobs. She is a county school bus driver and is a teaching assistant at Kegotank Elementary here in Accomack County. “I love my job as a tour guide,” she said, and my other jobs.”She is the mother of two daughters, 21 and 24.

The wildlife tours are not without some amusing incidents. “When grown men ask me to stop the bus so they can go to the bathroom,” she said, they had better hope she stops near a large tree because, other than the woods, there are no bathrooms. All of the birds and animals we saw share this wilderness in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, with some pretty famous four-legged residents, the Chincoteague ponies. And boy did we see ponies.

There were newborn foals, some sleeping and others bouncing along after their mothers. The older ponies were grazing and being themselves, only a few feet from us. Passengers are not allowed to get off the bus, but the bus has large windows that give everyone a great view. We learned from Joanne that the pony mares live in bands of six or seven that belong to a stallion who keeps a watchful eye on them.

One colt came right up to us trying to figure out who these intruders were, looking at him through the bus windows. As we took photos he seemed to say, “Hey, what are you guys doing out here?”
This colt and most of the others don’t have much time left to enjoy their freedom in the wilderness where they were born. On July 22 he will be rounded up with all the others and run into a large corral, where the next morning they will be escorted by the world famous Salt Water Cowboys along the sand of the Atlantic Ocean in front of several thousand anxious spectators. (See story, the Beach Run, on the story menu.)

They will be moved into the corral on Beach Road to await the big day when they will swim Assateague Channel in front 30 to 40 thousand people. The foals, except for a few holdbacks and buybacks, will never return to their homeland, but will move on to new homes after being sold one by one to the highest bidders at the auction on July 26. Money from the auction, with some ponies going for $7,000 or more, supports the Chincoteague Fire Company.

The ponies of the Virginia northern herd, not seen by most visitors to the islands, share a vast wilderness with other wildlife, including snapping turtles, Sika elk, white tailed deer, wild turkeys, the Delmarva Fox Squirrel and birds of all kinds.   On our way back we got to see a lone elk just springing across the shallow water of Chincoteague Bay near the shoreline. He went a long way before finally coming onto land just a little ways from us. There is just something about seeing an animal completely free in their natural surroundings that is hard to describe. These little elk are hunted, though, in the fall to keep their population under control.

This was my first time on a tour, which is sponsored by the Chincoteague Natural History Association. This is a large organization mostly of volunteers that supports the educational goals of the agencies that run the national park.

I had a great time with my friends on this trip, which took two hours, but it was not just a pleasure outing. I am one of the newest writers for this on-line magazine. So along with me were two other writers, Harley Gooldrup and Misty Thornton, and Robert Boswell, the publisher of www.wildponytales.info and our journalism teacher. Harley is a rising 8th grader at Nandua Middle School here in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore.  Misty and I are both students at Arcadia Middle School where she is going into the 8th grade and I am going into 7th.

For us it was a learning day, as Mr. Boswell calls it, with us taking notes and learning to use the cameras, especially the one with the 100-400 mm lens. As he tells us, we get to share what we see and hear with our viewers around the world. It is a good feeling to be able to do this, to tell people who may never come here, about this place so close to my home.

If there is one more thing I want to say, it would be that if you are coming to Chincoteague, take this inexpensive bus tour, only $10 for adults and $5.00 for children. (The prices are now $12 and $6.)  It is almost the only way you are likely to see the ponies up close in their natural, wild habitat. There are commercial boat tours that take visitors up to the shoreline where the ponies roam and sometimes you can see ponies from the southern herd up close, but not often. These tour buses are air conditioned, comfortable with big windows and the tour guides are the best.

Just remember, use the restroom before you board the bus, two hours can be a long time.

Since this story was written, the students mentioned including the writer have all moved on to high school. Misty Thornton, now in the 11th grade, is a co-editor of the publication.

Wildlife on Refuge Adapting as Salt Water Levels Decline

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 By Windy Mason

The thousands of snow geese and other waterfowl that each year take the Atlantic Flyway to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge where they feed and rest in the pools of fresh and brackish water, delighting the visitors who show up to see them each Thanksgiving, this year found their feeding grounds covered with deep salt water, forcing them to relocate to places further north on the refuge.

In the pounding that the refuge and the Eastern Shore took for three days, November 17, 18 and 19, when it seemed like the wind and rain would never let up, the Atlantic Ocean roared ashore, sending water overtop roads, and filling the carefully managed feeding impoundments with salt water, that was too deep to allow the ducks and geese to reach the plants and bugs they eat. The unrelenting storm also dumped three feet or more of sand over the beach parking lots.

Joelle Buffa, senior biologist at the refuge, came back to work the Sunday after the storm. “There was water in a lot of places that didn’t normally have water,” she said. “A lot of the Wildlife Loop was under water so I was unable to drive on it,” said Buffa. “In the pools where there are normally dabbling ducks, mallards and shovelers which like water between six and 12 inches, instead there were diving ducks, like ruddy ducks, which normally only like the deeper water,” Buffa said. “There were shorebirds feeding on the water covered roads,” she said. “The immediate reason that the birds left the ponds was because the water was too deep.” These ponds are starting to have ducks in them again, because the water is low again, she said.

Amanda Daisey, the refuge wildlife biologist, said the habitat alteration and structure damage, from the November storm was very similar to changes caused by hurricane Isabel in 2003 and tropical storm Ernesto in 2006. Daisey has been at the Chincoteague refuge since 2002. Daisey said when she was sitting in the briefing given the Monday morning after the storm by Lou Hinds, refuge manager, she thought, “Here we go again.”

On Wednesday after the storm Daisey and others surveyed Assateague Island by helicopter. “Viewing the refuge and all of its islands from the air gave me a better understanding and appreciation of how Virginia’s barrier island chain functions in a natural ecosystem,” she said.

There was apparently little impact on the smaller wildlife on the island, or the wild ponies.

Hinds said they had found a few dead frogs. The turtles, and other amphibians, are believed to have moved out of elevated salinity ponds, said Daisey.

There are 14 fresh and brackish water impoundments covering over 2,623 acres. Going all the way to the Maryland line, they were constructed on the refuge 40 years ago to provide wetland vegetation as forage for waterfowl and habitat for other water birds and wildlife.

Impoundments are pools of water formed by dams or pits, to supply water for wildlife, protect their habitats and to control erosion. Fresh water impoundments are rich in soil nutrients needed for plant food growth for the wildlife. Impoundment water levels are controlled to encourage the growth of these plants and improve overall impoundment vegetation for winter feeding, nesting and other wildlife uses.

“My biggest concern was the integrity of the water control structures,” said Buffa. “Riding up Beach Road, I could see the waves coming up and over into Swan Pond Pool. There was the concern that some of the infrastructure that keeps these ponds fresh water ponds was not in good shape to begin with and it was getting worse.”

“One of the reasons we didn’t open the service road for Thanksgiving was because of damage to the road, as well as the fact that we couldn’t get people to the road because the Wildlife Loop was covered with water, Buffa said. “The service road was also closed to staff, because too much pressure could collapse it,” Buffa said.

“When we realize that there is a storm coming, there’s certain actions we take with our impoundments,” said Buffa. “As far as opening up the water control structures so that the water can flow out into the ocean, prior to the storm arriving here, we had done everything that we could to lessen the impact of the storm,” she said.

Despite opening up the water control structures prior to the storm, these pools were invaded by salt water pounding in waves up Beach Road into the impoundments, creating lingering problems with elevated salinity levels in the fresh and brackish pools. The impoundments are inhabited by plants with limited salt tolerance including linear-leaved loosestrife, swamp rose-mallow, rushes, umbrella-grass and Virginia button weed. These elevated saline levels are a danger to the composition of the plants and insects necessary to sustain the coming growing season beginning in March.

“Almost three weeks after the storm, the water levels are returning to normal. The salinity, however, is still elevated,” Buffa said. “This takes a longer time to go down than the levels; because the salt water is sitting on the bottom, meaning that the impoundments are getting rid of fresh water faster than the salt water,” she explained. “They cannot just be flushed out really fast,” she said, “This is a lingering effect of the storm.”

“Right now it has less of an effect because it is not growing season,” said Buffa.

Eva Savage, Biology Technician is the primary person in charge of water level management on the refuge. She has the heavy workload of removing or replacing the boards on the water control gates that allows water to flow in and out.

The refuge, which attracts about 1.5 million visitors a year, supports wintering snow geese, canada geese, black ducks, mallards, green-winged teal, northern pintail, ruddy duck, tundra swan and many other species.

Assateague Channel and Tom’s Cove provide critical winter feeding habitat for brant, who use refuge impoundments for fresh water and resting. The snow geese also loaf and rest in the protected impoundments. Mute swans nest in the impoundments. The geese rely on vegetation found in the impoundments and grain in mainland fields for nourishment. The ducks eat bugs that live on the plants and in the mud, as well as seeds from flowering plants. The diving ducks eat fish and dive for clams.

“The biggest effect was on the snow geese,” said Buffa. “We had like 3,000 and then they went down to zero,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that they left the refuge; they just weren’t in the places that they usually were.” They kind of adapted,” she said. “Snow geese normally like fresh or brackish water, she said, “Snow geese reach their peak in November when some of the migrants are here and also some of the wintering birds.” “The migrants just rest here and then move on,” she said, “We have a fairly high wintering population here.” Joelle explained, “We didn’t see the November peak this year; because of the storm.”

Management of refuge impoundments also enhances this habitat for wading ducks, egrets, heron and ibis which frequent the borrow ditches. Glossy ibis, black-crowned night heron, green-backed heron, tricolor and blue heron, several rail species, and great, snowy and cattle egrets all feed in the refuge marshes.

Ponies’ Visit to the Doctor Disrupts Quiet Afternoon

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 By Harley Gooldrup And Elizabeth Fread

This article appeared in the October 18, 2006 edition of the Eastern Shore News and the October 19 edition of the Chincoteague Beacon. Assateague Island is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Atlantic Ocean.

It is quiet Friday afternoon, far out on the range, where the famous Chincoteague ponies of the southern herd were lazing around in the afternoon sun.   Chewing on their favored cord grass, and swatting the remaining flies with their tails, they were probably unaware that carloads of visitors were pulling over to the side of Beach Road, straining to get a look at them, these mystical ponies of Assateague Island that so many come so far to see.

Suddenly, there is the crack of a bullwhip and riders on horseback are coming at them from all sides. Whatever plans the ponies had for the rest of the day are ruined. It is the October roundup, time for the ponies to visit the doctor for a dose of worm medicine and a check to see if they are fit for the coming harsh winter months.

These ponies of the southern herd are headed toward a large holding pen just off the curve of Beach Road, about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean on Assateague Island. Waiting there as darkness grows near is a small crowd of anxious onlookers, standing around the outside of the corral. They have been there for almost two hours.

Among those waiting are a group of ladies who call themselves The Buyback Babes. Coming from various points on the East Coast, they pool their money each year at the July pony auction and buy a pony that is returned to the herd. They are there to see their ponies, about the only time they can.

Without a sound, the first pony appears through the brush, bringing a hush to the crowd. He stops, takes a cautious look and is soon leading the way for the rest of the herd that comes at a run with the riders who interrupted their afternoon not far behind. The ponies trot along side the pen, through the gate, and mill around, checking out their unaccustomed confinement. There they will spend the night.

Early the next morning, one by one, the mares, foals and their stallions will be driven into a stanchion that restricts their movement while they await an unpleasant intrusion from Dr. Charlie Cameron. He is waiting with a squirt gun of liquid medicine on the end of a 10-inch metal tube that will be inserted into the ponies’ throats.  

“The only differences between working with the Chincoteague Ponies and working with domestic ponies is that these ponies are not trained, so their not as disciplined. As far as the health issues they are about the same, but I think the Chincoteague ponies are more hardy and brave. They’re basically survivors, their tough and their dispositions are gentle, that’s why I think they work well as kids’ ponies or horses,” said Dr. Cameron.

Dr. Cameron, employed by the Chincoteague Fire Company that owns the ponies, has been working with these ponies for some 17 years. By the end of Saturday he and his associates will have treated all 150 ponies plus foals that roam the ranges of Assateague Island, first the southern herd, then the much larger northern herd.

Dr. Cameron, who said he was inspired to become a veterinarian by his friend’s father who was also a vet, runs the Eastern Shore Animal Hospital in Painter.  Part of his work there is to treat ponies as well as other animals. People will trailer them in, he said, or he will go to the horse owner’s house.

The pen, where he treats the Chincoteague ponies, is divided in half by a fence. This separates the ponies that have been treated from those that haven’t. There is space to move around that keeps the ponies comfortable until Dr. Cameron is ready to give them their worm medicine.

The worm pump is a long metal tool, called a liquid drench. This tool has a larger tube in the middle where the medicine is held until he injects it. He will inject the medicine by pushing a handle into the larger tube holding the medicine, pumping it into the pony’s mouth.

While Dr. Cameron is getting ready, various helpers chase the ponies into the other half of the pen. One by one the ponies are run through a chute, and then into a wooden stanchion that allows for little movement. Once in the stanchion, an assistant to Dr. Cameron will take a wand and wave it around on the left side of the pony’s neck. The wand actually reads a micro chip put in their neck so Dr. Cameron will be able to identify which pony they are working on.

When they find the micro chip, numbers and letters will appear on the screen. Dr. Cameron will then, with the help of an associate, open the pony’s mouth and place the metal tube at the back of the throat where there is a place with no teeth. When the pony has swallowed the medicine the assistant will open the front of the stanchion that leads to the other side of the pen. They will repeat this procedure until every pony has had its medicine.

Dr. Cameron finishes his work on the southern herd by 9:15 a.m. Then it is time to load up and move much further into the wilderness of Assateague to the pen that would later that morning hold the northern herd and three bands of the southern herd that had escaped the cowboys on Friday.

With the southern ponies released back to the wild, the cowboys begin to round up the northern herd, numbering 50 to 60 ponies more than the southern group. They do not bring this group of ponies to the same pen; the northern herd’s pen is located out in an isolated area of the island. The only way to get out there is to walk, unless you are part of the veterinarian’s crew or one of the cowboys. Then it is accessible by vehicle or horseback.

The northern herd is not seen by most of the visitors to the island. Access to these ponies is only by taking one of the charter boats that cruise the shoreline, go out on the tour bus that is operated by the Chincoteague Natural History Association, or you can walk. But this walk is for those with hiking experience, as far as 7 ½ miles out, where in warm weather the flies, mosquitoes and poison ivy are plentiful. And bring along your camping skills. There are no bathrooms.

The northern pen is about four miles out, and the area where the northern ponies roam has a seven mile range. As a result of this, it takes the cowboys much more time to round up the northern herd. The northern ponies also have a sense of what to do when round up time comes, and some bands even start moving before the cowboys round them up.

The Salt Water Cowboys, as they are known, are nearly as famous as the ponies. They come not only from Chincoteague but from nearby communities. The roundups mean early days for these men who begin loading their own horse trailers and moving to their meeting point in darkness.

There are four pathways for the northern ponies to get to the pen; they could come from down the road, along one of the fences, from between the trees, or from cross the water. When all the ponies are in the pen, there will be conflicts, even fighting between the stallions. When they fight they will kick and bite each other for control, they do this so they won’t lose any mares. The stallions make sounds that tell their mares to come to them even if they get mixed up with the other mares.

The northern herd is wilder then the southern herd so it’s harder to give them the medicine. When the cowboys get the ponies into the stanchion and Dr. Cameron tries to open their mouth they will kick the back of the stanchion and try to put their heads out of reach of the assistant’s hands. Not only is it dangerous for the people inside the pen that are helping get the ponies into the chute, but it’s also dangerous for Dr. Cameron and his assistant. If the ponies get really riled up, they will turn around and charge at the people. Dr. Cameron has been bitten and kicked in his years of working with the ponies.

Sometimes when a stallion has been given his medicine and has been moved to the other side, he will stand and wait for his mares to come out. He will count them making sure that each and every one has returned to where they need to be, with him.

The Chincoteague round up is traditionally held three times a year. The cowboys will ride again in April, up bright and early, old friends out on the range taking care of the wild ponies of Assateague.

Harley Gooldrup is a staff writer and Elizabeth Fread is editor in chief of this website www.wildponytales.com. Harley is also an editor of The Nandua News, the Nandua Middle School newspaper. Elizabeth was editor of the paper last year.