Tag Archives: chincoteague wild ponies

The Day Bidding History Was Made

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Prince, the record buy-back, runs in the corral after his vet check.
Prince, the record buy-back, runs in the corral after his vet check.

By Wild Pony Tales

Originally posted August 2007

It was a steamy morning on Chincoteague Island, the weatherman calling for a 93 degree day. A big crowd had gathered early this late July 2007 morning , excited about the yearly Chincoteague Pony Auction which would soon begin. Those planning to bid and those coming to watch had gotten there early to claim their seats.

Also getting up early had been members of the Chincoteague Fire Company who had a lot of work to do, setting up the auction site, preparing to keep records of the sales and most importantly, getting the bucking, excited ponies safely into and out of the auction ring.

In the early morning as the bidders got into their seats no one knew auction history would be made this day. As the auction moved along, a pony that many had been waiting for was brought into the ring. He was a white stallion. The bidding began.

Up to $5,000 it went, then on to $10,000 and the crowd grew quiet except for some gasping as the price edged upward. No matter how high the bidding went a higher bid was called out by a group of women sitting to the right of the auctioneer. The women, known as the Buyback-Babes, had their hearts set on this white stallion pony and they were not to be outbid. When they called out their last bid, $17,500, the auctioneer said “sold,” and a sales record had been reached. The previous record for a pony at the auction was $10, 500 in 2001.

The three-month-old foal was to be named Prince, and the Buyback Babes had purchased another foal to be returned to the herd.

Anyone who has attended the auction knows of this group of women who try to purchase a pony every year to be released back into the wild. These women are from all across the nation. They pool their money together for one lucky pony. This was Prince’s lucky year.

Prince enjoys the warm sun on the southern range of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. This photo was taken March 29, 2012 by Robert Boswell. His band of mares was grazing nearby.

Dr. Charles Cameron, from Eastern Shore Animal Hospital, the official pony veterinarian, gave Prince and the others a clean bill of health so he could be released back into the wild after the April roundup. Dr. Cameron and his staff have been giving inoculations to the wild ponies of Chincoteague for 18 years. The ponies are treated for the diseases encephalitis, West Nile, rabies, and equine infectious anemia. They are also treated for worms and given a tetanus shot.

Before Dr. Cameron can treat the ponies they have to be rounded up from both the southern and northern ranges. These ponies are on the Virginia side of Assateague, not to be confused with the Maryland ponies.

This year’s spring roundup began Friday afternoon (April 18) when the Saltwater Cowboys rounded up the southern herd, riding out on the range and shooing them along into a holding area off Woodland Trail. From there they are moved along to the big corral on Beach Road where they spend the night dining on hay and drinking fresh water from tubs.

Once in the corral, bands of ponies that belong to the stallions get mixed together and this often leads to conflict with the stallions who give off various signals of displeasure, with a little biting and kicking to make their points.

After a busy late afternoon on Friday, the cowboys had to be back on the job at 7 a.m., reporting to the much larger northern range for a full morning of riding.

Dr. Cameron’s morning started early too, with breakfast with his medical team and the wildponytales staff at Bill’s Restaurant. After breakfast, everyone headed for the corral where the southern heard was waiting. As Dr. Cameron backed his truck in and got set up, ponies were being separated into groups, by fire department officials.

When he was ready, fire officials ran the ponies into a chute, one by one. It was not a quiet scene. The ponies were kicking and whinnying, making an incredible array of noises. The ponies could not move around much once in the chute, giving Dr. Cameron’s helpers a chance to pry open their jaws. In a quick action, Dr. Cameron then gives each one a squirt of medication through a long tube connected to a pump, a contraption called a drench.

While all this is going on, seven miles away the northern herd was on their way into their corral, awaiting their own fate with Dr. Cameron. It took a huge effort by the cowboys as they worked to get every pony in the corral. At midday Dr. Cameron arrived and he and his assistants went through the same steps over and over until over 100 ponies had been treated.

But it was Prince that got the most attention, Jean Bonde, a member of the Buy-Backs said. “His Misty coloring made him stand out.”

The Buy-Backs knew they wanted to keep a colt when the Pony Association decided to keep males. They settled on Prince. The Buy-Backs only get to see their ponies at the three yearly roundups, but sometimes along Beach Road and from the tour bus run by the Chincoteague Natural History Association.

Prince was not released back into the wild until April 18, 2008. According to Bonde, Prince was kept over the winter at the carnival grounds along with several other foals. The fire department takes care of these foals during the winter months because they need time to grow stronger before released to the owners or back into the wild. Prince has now reached the age of about 15 months old and is living his life on Assateague Island.

To See Chincoteague Ponies, Wildlife Assateague Bus Tour Is Best Bet

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By Cyndel Brunell

”What kind of bird is that?”

“How much smaller are the Chincoteague ponies from regular sized horses?”

“Are there any foals this time of year?”

“How deep is the water they swim in?”

If you want answers to these questions and many more you should take the bus tour out into the wilderness of Assateague Island on the East Coast of Virginia. On this ride you will see the world famous Chincoteague ponies and other wildlife in their natural habitat. 

The tour bus begins it 2012 schedule April 6 with a Friday trip at 4 p.m. For current information regarding wildlife tours, or to purchase tickets, inquire at the refuge visitor center or call the CNHA office at (757) 336-3696

The CNHA offers visitors the opportunity to tour the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge during the months of April to November. The tour accesses areas of the refuge that are normally only open to foot traffic. The tour covers approximately 15 miles and lasts about 90 minutes.

Depending on the time of year, foals may be frolicking in the vast forest and bush of the island or mares may be grazing in the saltwater grasses. Always standing guard nearby, is the stallion who commands a band of mares and foals. The bus leaves from near the information center and has now been in operation for a little over six years. In October I went on my first bus tour. The tours are ran by the Chincoteague Natural History Association, a large group of volunteers that supports agencies that run this national park in many ways.

The bus takes you 7 ½ miles out into the wilderness. Inside the bus there is a wheelchair lift, two double seated flip up benches, and individual seats two next to each other going down the aisle. Each seat has a very large window with hatches so you can take pictures without the interference of glass. Some drivers will tell you not to open the hatches, however. Many people from around the world go to the refuge to experience this tour of the island trails.

You can see many ponies of the larger northern herd on this trip, the herd that is kept out of sight of the public until Pony Penning. This is the big event that draws thousands to Chincoteague and Assateague each July. Ponies are not the only animals you will see on this relaxing yet exciting nearly two-hour journey. The smaller southern herd of wild ponies is sometimes seen right from your car on the right side of Beach Road, on the way out to the Atlantic Ocean.

On your bus trip you may also see sika elk, white tailed deer, turtles, egrets, snow geese, hawks, eagles, Canada geese, the glossy ibis and other migrating birds. With any luck you might see a Delmarva fox squirrel, an endangered animal that gets lots of attention from park managers. And in the nesting season you might get a distant look at a piping plover cage that provides protection against predators. The piping plover is a small at risk bird. Each trip promises something new.

The driver will stop or slow down whenever they see something and will normally give you a description of the animal. On rare occasions however, there can be a few surprises that you may not see regularly. Horses sometimes interact with other animals, or a predator bird catching food in a near-view. There are always unexpected happenings on this tour.

One thing is for certain though, you are sure to learn a lot about this historic barrier island from the driver-tour guides. The drivers are very well informed and just full of interesting details. You will most likely be with people from all over the country and even other countries. The questions above the first paragraph were asked on a tour this past summer by guests from Annapolis, Md., Long Island, New York; Michigan and Accomack County.

This is not a rushed tour and it is not expensive. For tour times and prices go to www.assateague.com. One word of caution, there are nice, clean restrooms at the information center where you buy your tickets, but this is the last one you will see until you return. Passengers are not allowed to get off the bus.

The information center which now runs the bus tours is where you buy tickets. It is a good idea to call in advance, because many trips are sold out. Officials of the historical association have talked about getting another bus. Also they run special tours upon request in advance. I hope I have inspired some readers to consider going on this tour. It is the only way, really, to be sure you will see the wild ponies up close by traveling on land. Unless, of course you want to hike the seven miles out, which some people do. The drivers and tour guides are well informed. I will assure you that you will at least be stunned, marveled, fascinated or surprised at things you may see or learn. I know I enjoyed this wilderness adventure and hope you will too.

 

Calling All Artists for 2012 Bird Celebration Logo Art Contest

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It’s that time of year, when aspiring artists of all ages are invited to showcase their talent by competing in the logo art contest for the 18th Annual International Migratory Bird Day Celebration at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. 

The winning artwork will be the official trademark of the celebration to be held at the refuge on May 12, 2012.  It will appear on event-related materials including the program, flyers, T-shirts and other items.

International Migratory Bird Day will celebrate its 20th anniversary.  Created in 1993, this year’s theme Connecting People to Bird Conservation will focus on 20 ways people may help preserve birds every day.

“The logo art contest is a great way to connect people to bird conservation and the beauty of birds,” said Refuge Manager Lou Hinds.  Nature found at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge has always been a source of inspiration for artists.”

 Artists should submit an original line-art drawing of a migratory bird that can be seen on the refuge except for the past three winners, belted kingfisher, eastern bluebird and great horned owl.  In order to compete, submitted art must be an original, line art drawing in pen and ink.   Artists may submit as many pieces as they wish.  The logo art should be clean and precise, as it will be reduced to fit in a number of event-related items, including buttons that are approximately three inches in diameter. 

The contestants’ art will not be mailed back. However, contestants may pick up their artwork at the refuge after the contest has ended.   The only exception is the winning submission, which will become the property of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Contestants must submit their art work to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge by close of business on Thursday, March 30, 2012.

To submit a drawing, please send artwork to Sally Bowden at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 62, Chincoteague, Virginia, 23336.  For more information, call (757) 336-6122.

A Better Life Now for Rescued Chincoteague Ponies

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By Robert Boswell
Publisher, Wild Pony Tales

The three Chincoteague ponies who were rescued by Debbie Ober and her husband, Tom, from an auction barn in Pennsylvania in September are nearly back to full health. As a result of our stories some donations have come in and so have requests for adoption.

More donations are needed though. See the information at the end of the story.

The moment the three Chincoteague ponies she had rescued from near slaughter came out of the trailer Debbie had sent to get them is not a time she will ever forget. She still can’t talk about it without her voice breaking up. 
Saturday, November 5, with our writer/photographers Misty Thornton and Kate White, we traveled the two hours from near Chincoteague to the Ober’s Hawkeye Stables in Ridgely, Maryland. There was more to the story, we knew, of what goes on at the Ober horse farm where Debbie cares for 20 ponies. Some of them are Misty of Chincoteague descendants and most are closely connected to the famous Chincoteague wild ponies.
The three rescues were all bought at the 2001 Chincoteague pony auction but little is known about where they spent their years until now. All three are registered Chincoteague ponies, sired by island stallions.

Debbie had earlier described what confronted her when the rescued ponies arrived at her place. There was Clipper, a small bay gelding, who had no hair from under his jaw to his chin with pus oozing from a dozen sores. When he came out of the trailer he laid down, unable to get up.

Ginger, a big chestnut mare, was very thin and weak from starvation and parasites. And Captain, a bay pinto gelding, was very thin too. He had the worst parasite problem of the three, so bad he had stopped eating.

From communicating with Debbie, we knew they were much better but we didn’t really know what to expect. Because they had all come down with strangles, a pneumonia-like illness the rescue ponies had been quarantined in their own pasture and shelter.

Upon arrival we followed Debbie from the barn area to the rescues’ pasture with her pulling a small wagon with hay, grain buckets, brushes and, if needed, halters.

As we neared the fence she asked, “Are you ready?” In a minute we had climbed through the fence and set up cameras. The ponies, however, were nowhere in sight. But with a call from Debbie, three specks in a distance, actually three pastures away, began moving toward us at a gallop. It was the three rescues, who did not slow up until they reached us.

Two things were obvious. They were ready to eat and they were glad to see Debbie.

Debbie spends several hours each day hugging and caring for her horses. She is devoted to them, spending more time with them than she does with people, more time outside with them, she says, than inside her house.

She has a routine.

“I check all of them daily from head to tail. Making sure there are no kicks, cuts, etc. Also, I make sure they eat their grain in a reasonable time. If they don’t eat, I know I have a problem. I always check noses, especially this time of year. The foals tend to get a runny nose, but unless they run a fever, my vet suggests that I let it run its course without interference to build immunity. I always check halters on the young stock. They can be fine one day and too tight the next as they seem to grow in spurts.”

Imagine this and she left out mucking stalls, driving two hours for hay every few weeks, and of course her house work.

When Captain, Ginger and Clipper arrived they were in poor shape. Debbie spent most of the next three nights with these Chincoteagues, making a bed for herself under the shelter and wrapping up in a horse blanket to stay warm. Debbie changed her clothes several times a day to keep strangles from spreading to her other horses.

Who knows what the three ponies think has happened to them, but they have to know someone now cares. Since coming to the Ober home they have not been a day without proper food, medications, and lots of hugs and kindness. They can thank Debbie and Tom, but also others who helped put up money for their rescue, including Debbie Elliott-Fisk and other members of the Buyback Babes, friends and family.

While our time with the rescues has its special memories, they were not the only ones we brought back from the Ober farm.

One pony rehabilitated by Debbie is the majestic Tornado which has sired many foals born on Assateague Island. Tornado is the sire of Prince, bought by the Buyback Babes in 2007 for $17,500, the most ever paid for a pony at the Chincoteague auction.

In 2008 Tornado was injured while on the Assateague range and the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which owns the Virginia herd, decided to remove him from the herd and arranged with the Obers to care for him the rest of his life. In an article that ran in the Caroline Review in July 2010 the Obers wrote, “Though he inhabited the sandy beaches of Assateague made famous by “Misty of Chincoteague” Tornado became a legend of his own. He is one of the most photographed stallions on the island.”

Tornado is a buckskin pinto stallion born in 1988. He might have been a wild stallion for 20 years, but around us he was just another friendly head to pat, nose to rub. Or maybe he just wanted Kate to take his picture again. She was clearly his favorite visitor on this day.

The other memory we will have forever was provided by Tornado’s newest offspring, one of four now with the Obers. She is a nine day old filly Debbie calls Freckles due to her red leopard coloring. We have video of this baby making her second trip outside her stall, trying to make up her mind how far to venture. It is precious and we will share it with you soon.

Meanwhile, Debbie is in need of financial help for these rescues and future ones. “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.

The Obers are 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 soon.

The writer is publisher of www.wildponytales.info, a web magazine that covers Chincoteague and Assateague Islands in Virginia. 

Editor’s note: A photo gallery and video clips will be posted with this story soon.
 

 

 

A Long Day in the Chincoteague Marsh, But the Ponies Finally Swim

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By Misty Thornton

Editor – Wild Pony Tales

It is the time of the year when children’s eyes mist over. It is the time when the sounds of summer become nays, whinnies, squeals and an occasional snort. It is the annual Swim of the wild ponies across Assateague Channel as thousands settle into the marshy banks and others jockey their boats to get a close-up view as the ponies, heads bobbing, make their way to shore on Chincoteague Island.

For most of the foals the swim means leaving home. They will be sold to the highest bidders the next day and board trailers to go to new homes across the country.

But for now it is time to enjoy the sights and sounds that inspired Marguerite Henry to write her bestseller, “Misty of Chincoteague,” that more than anything else is responsible for the audience that waits in a hot sun on a mucky marsh.

The 2011 Swim on was held July 27. The last week of July every year is pony week, known as Pony Penning, here on Chincoteague Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Swim this year was well past noon, but eventually umbrellas came down as the ponies came closer and closer with only their heads above the waterline until they splashed ashore. You didn’t have to be down front to know the ponies had reached land. The big crowd reacted with yells, applause and all around excitement that could be heard all the way back to Ridge Road.

But down front no one took their eyes off the ponies even for a second, not wanting to miss a moment that most had come many miles to see. And when the ponies were granted some 45 minutes of rest before heading to the corral at the carnival grounds, when visitors could actually walk up and children could reach out and pet a pony’s head, yes, you could find young eyes that were taking in a moment they would never forget.

 For the Wild Pony Tales staff, swim day means getting up early. A couple of our writers live on the Island and got to make a later start to their day. But for Zackrey Hoverson, Robert Boswell, our publisher, and I Wednesday, swim day, began at 3:45 a.m. After a 20 mile drive, we arrived at 4:50 a.m. at our usual parking lot directly across from Pony Swim Lane. Here, 8 1/2 hours later, the ponies would be guided by the Salt Water Cowboys for a three mile parade onto Ridge Road., then south to Beebe Road and on to Main Street, ending at the carnival grounds. At about 5 a.m. the parking lot owner Tyrone Mason of Mason Oil, opened the gate and took our $10 parking fee. We were first in the lot and got our front row parking spot.

Since we would be a long way from a bathroom, I figured I should try and use one of the portable potties set up for the large crowd.  The portables potties are a few yards away from Pony Swim Lane, but a long way from the waiting area where we will be stationed. However, they have improved over the previous years’ potties even though one of them tended to rock back and forth, not quite being on solid ground.

While waiting in the very early morning, the only things we could see were  headlights from vehicles, shining brightly, and a TV news reporter getting her equipment set up. Soon, Zackrey and I unpacked and repacked everything separately that we needed to take with us across the marsh to the waiting area. Mr. Boswell had made sure we carried water, snacks and the ever important bug spray. On our mucky walk to the water, we planned out everything we had to do from what we’ve done in the previous years.

To get to the main waiting area, we had to travel through muck and marsh, which at times can be up to your knees. When we started across, taking off flip flops and sandals, it wasn’t so bad. There were only two other small family groups that had passed through before us. Besides our snacks and water we carried two tri-pods, a camera bag, chairs, and blankets, making our trip through the marsh a little challenging.

As the earliest people started showing up, before fire company officials arrived, they took one look at the marsh, then decided they had found a better way to get down front. They hauled their coolers full of food and drinks, baby carriages and chairs up on the dock built by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, a much dryer way to our waiting area. What the visitors didn’t know was that even if they missed sinking up to their knees in smelly muck on their way to the shoreline, they’d have to travel through it on the way back. The dock is for  fire company members and is used mainly for getting people out in emergencies. Once the emergency crews were on the scene no one else was allowed on the dock.

Umbrellas and chairs full of people were all around us within an hour. Having at least a seven hour waiting period before the tide was suppose to slack down enough so that the ponies could swim across, people started rolling out blankets on the wet marshy grass to lay or even sit on. Some even decided to take a nap.

During the wait, those who weren’t grabbing a nap or reading a book, were buying raffle tickets for the first pony to reach the shore, to be crowned either King or Queen Neptune. Proceeds from the tickets go to the Women’s Auxiliary of the fire department.

As noon came many of the sleepers awoke and began to get impatient with the wait. Every other minute or so, another person asked what the time was and when the ponies were going to swim.

A voice over a loudspeaker kept the crown appraised of the coming event. Then the announcer said that the governor of Virginia, Robert McDonald, was to give a speech shortly before the pony swim was to begin. The governor reminded everyone that all of the profits of the whole Pony Penning week went to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, along with proceeds from the month long carnival that began around the first week of July.

Suddenly the crowd heard the sounds of horses and everyone got up from their seats to see. A few of the Famous Salt Water Cowboys, who round up the ponies each year, were passing through the crowd to get to the resting area for the ponies. “Oohh’s” and “Ahh’s” were all we could hear around us as they watched the cowboys and their horses make sure everything was secure for the ponies now to arrive within the hour.

Soon, a small barge used by cowboys to get their mounts across the channel, came along through the water with about seven Saltwater Cowboys and their horses. Everyone got excited and cameras were snapping photos like crazy.

Well, at around 1: 29 p.m. the Coast Guard finally sent out the red flare from their boat, signaling that the Swim had begun. This is all it took for the crowd to jump up, everyone was pulling down umbrellas, just waiting to see the first ponies in view. As the bobbing heads came into view, some people near us started yelling at a camera crew who had managed to get further to the front and block our view. “Get out the way!” one yelled. “Can you move? We need to see the ponies!” another shouted. Willingly they squished in so that the people behind them could see.

As the swimmers got closer, people started saying  “I can hear them,” and “Look that one’s in the lead for King Neptune.” When they were about 100 yards away, two ponies took the lead. Each determined to get there first. The crowd was cheering and sure enough one of them was crowned King Neptune.

Shortly after the first pony reached the shore, the others piled up behind it, all of them coming in dripping to the delight of their audience. Most of the foals decided to take a lunch break, nudging their mothers to stand still so they could nurse. One little pony was having a hard time getting up onto the resting area grass so the mother nudged it along and up the hill and onto  land. Most of the older ponies used the rest period to munch on the cord grass that is a main part of their diet.

As the rest time ended for the ponies it was time for the “city folks”, to make it back through the marsh. This time the route was the same for everyone, mud up to your knees. But this didn’t seem to slow the conversation about the magic of the Swim still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Not every pony from Assateague had to swim. The ponies and mares that are too young, too old or too pregnant are pulled out by Dr. Charlie Cameron, the official pony vet. They get a trailer ride to the carnival grounds.

As visitors walked up Pony Swim Lane ahead of the ponies they lined up along the streets, to get another look at the famous. Soon the ponies, under cowboy escort,  paraded down Ridge Road to Beebe Road and then onto Main Street. Getting things packed and in our car to leave I heard the sound of galloping. I looked behind me and sure enough a pony had escaped from the formation and decided to circle around into our parking lot, giving several cowboys a little added adventure.  It didn’t last long because they had the little one surrounded and led back to the others leaving the onlookers smiling even more.

Another big crowd awaited the arrival of the ponies at the carnival grounds which ended when they reached the big corral. There they would have plenty of hay and water, and the little ones could nurse and sleep. A big day was coming up, the auction, the last day mothers and foals would be together.