Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge invites students K-12 attending public, private, or home schools to participate in the 2012 Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest.

“The competition is an art-based educational program that allows students to participate in a nationwide waterfowl arts competition. The process also exposes students to the nation’s wealth of migratory waterfowl and motivates students to take active roles in conserving these species,” said Virginia Junior Duck Stamp Program Coordinator, Aubrey Hall.

Ms. Hall also emphasized that “the program is meant to be a fun journey into the world of waterfowl. The artistic skill level of the students is not the focus of the contest. Not only do we want artwork from all children, we enjoy seeing the variety of pictures that the students produce”.

All students entering the state contest will receive a Certificate of Participation.  Entries may also receive prizes or honorable mention ribbons. The State Best of Show will represent Virginia in the national competition.  National awards include a complimentary trip to the First Day of Duck Stamp Sales Ceremony in Washington, DC and a monetary award.

Participants select a bird from a list of native North American waterfowl.  Other design guidelines include, but are not limited to: a size of 9”x12” not exceeding ¼” in total thickness; horizontal orientation; and the absence of lettering, words, or signatures on the front of the design. For more information contact refuge staff or explore the Federal Duck Stamp website (http://www.fws.gov/juniorduck/).

Entries must be mailed to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 62, Chincoteague, VA 23336 and postmarked by midnight, March 15, 2010.  Judging will occur Friday March 23, 2012.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.  We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals commitment to public service.  For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

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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.
 

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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.

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By Wilma Young

Welcome to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Today you will be walking the Woodland Trail. We can’t know in advance all the things you will encounter on the trail, but we can give you an idea of the possibilities and probabilities.

Before you begin your walk, just as your car turns off the Beach Road onto the Woodland Trail, there’s a landmark on your right. Just a few slabs of concrete in a tangle of greenbrier vines. This is all that’s left of an old life saving station- probably a portion of the cistern. In the previous century there were four of these stations on Assateague Island. Two of them were here on the Virginia’s end of the island.

Imagine now that it’s the eighteenth century. You would have been near the shore line, hearing the surf; instead of which, you are hearing the sounds of the pine forest, nearly a mile from the beach. Barrier islands grow and change rapidly. They are always in transition.

The Assateague Beach Life Saving Station was established in 1875. It wouldn’t have been manned in summer weather, but between August and June, a keeper and six or eight men were on duty twenty-four hours a day. These surf-men got room, board and twenty dollars a month in pay. You won’t, be surprised to learn that they trapped Muskrats to supplement their incomes. They not only endangered their lives rescuing crew men and saving the ships, they also did beach patrol, returning lost property they found, giving assistance to hunters and fishermen who had gotten lost on the island and providing them with food and lodging. In times of storm and high tides, they evacuated families who lived on the islands.

As you walk through the forest, you may encounter a Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel. You will recognize him by his unusual size. He’s the largest of the tree squirrels, weighing up to three pounds and tail included, may be up to thirty inches long. His coat varies in color from light grey with silver chest and belly, to nearly black. Smaller species of squirrel seem to dash recklessly through the tree tops, traveling on tiny branches and launching themselves through the air, catching a nearby limb as if they were trapeze artists. The Delmarva’s are more cautious in the tree tops, running on larger limbs more suited to supporting their weight. They spend a great deal of time on the ground.  Now and then a grey squirrel may share habitat with the Delmarva’s. We try to discourage this by transporting them to more suitable areas as it is the Delmarva’s who are endangered.

Once, the Delmarva’s were common on the Delmarva Peninsula, ranging into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They depended on the Loblolly Pine for shelter as well as for the supply of seeds from the cones of the pine. Clear cutting of the forest denied them the advantages of food, shelter and space and moved them into the endangered category.

 By the 1920′s, they were extinct in all states except Maryland. Between 1968 and 1971, thirty of these squirrels were moved here to Chincoteague Refuge where they were released near the lighthouse and here on the woodland trail. They seem to be prospering here as they have not only loblolly seeds to eat but also acorns, and buds and flowers of trees.

The Maritime Forest provides loblollies for the squirrels to make nests in and the occasional Hardwood Hollow Trees for dens. The refuge provides nesting boxes as well.

 Odd name: Loblolly. One researcher writes that the early settlers were impressed with the ever presence of this versatile pine and named it for the common and ever-present breakfast food of England- their porridge known as Loblolly. Lob is of the Middle English origin and meant literally “thick” and Lolly was a dialect word for broth. Loblolly also means “a mud puddle” which doesn’t say much for the porridge- but perhaps we can justify it for the loblolly tree because this pine does like to have its roots in a damp environment.

As the Loblolly grows taller, the lower branches fall which gives the forest a relatively clear understory with not too many places for predators to hide.

The Great Horned Owl may silently sweep down in the dusk and pick off a young squirrel. Owls have special soft downy feathers at wings’ edge which eliminate the flapping noise most birds produce in flight. These owls haven’t large ears- just tufts of feathers on either side of the top of the head. Small creatures must be especially vigilant because the owls have eyes positioned on the front of their heads giving them better binocular vision than birds with eyes on the sides of their heads. The owl doesn’t have moonlight or starlight every night that he’s hungry, so he listens too for rodents rustling in the leaves. This is the owl whose haunting mournful call is often used on movie sound tracks.

The understory isn’t completely clear. Greenbrier is a thorny tangled vine with heart shaped leaves that gives the squirrel a hiding place on the ground and would trip the unwary human and would certainly impede other predators.

Trumpet Creepers and grape vines add to the tangle in some parts of the forest. Poison Ivy achieves spectacular growth in this environment with the stems reaching the thickness of your forearm and climbing to the tops of the pine trees. The fruit, twigs and berries provide excellent and abundant food supply for white tailed deer, sikas, possums, ponies and at least fifty species of birds.

If you see a small heart-shaped face peering at you from a thicket, it’s our Sika. You’ve heard about them if you’ve been on the refuge more than ten minutes. These are the small Asian elk with the distinctive white patch on their rumps – their trademark- the powder-puff behind. A few Sikas, probably less than twenty were released on the island in the 1920’s.  Present population estimate is somewhat less than a thousand.

When you reach the pony overlook you will be facing an area of marsh with groundsel and marsh elder, flea bane and seaside goldenrod in season.

In the distance is the red and white 142 foot horizontally striped lighthouse about a mile and a half away. This is surprising when you remember that when the original 45 foot lighthouse was built in 1833 it stood near open sea. Toms Hook, the curved sandy stretch of the island has developed since the mid 1800′s.

To both right and left are small stands of Loblollies on slightly raised land areas. Often there are ponies loafing under the trees.

Where did these shaggy ponies come from?  You may take your choice of fact or legend. The early islanders let their live stock graze on the Barrier islands. These may be the descendents of those horses who have adapted to the harsh environment. Or you may choose to accept the stories of horses shipwrecked in the 1700’s – which swam to the safety of the islands and established a colony here. If you have a romantic streak, you may blend fact and legend. In any case, enjoy these hardy little island dwellers.

After leaving the pony overlook, you’ll come into an area where pools of fresh water stand near the trail. Here the vines and small shrubs are thicker and here is where you’ll find a large amount of bird activity.

You may be thinking that if it’s damp there’s a chance of snakes and amphibians- and you’d be correct. But don’t panic. As far as we know there are no venomous reptiles in residence here. We do have Hognose Snakes. This fellow gets his name from an up-turned snout. If threatened, he puts on a brave front; hisses, puffs out his head, and if this fails to make you back off, he will lie on his back, tongue hanging out of his gaping mouth and play dead.

The Black Rat Snake grows quite long; possibly 5 feet and is an excellent tree climber – often living in tree cavities. He is not venomous either.

Here near the fresh water ponds and brackish marshes you may find southern leopard frogs. They come in green or brown.

 The other amphibians you’re likely to encounter on the refuge are Fowler’s toads. They appear on sandy trails or around buildings. Their skin is dry, usually in shades of brown or grey with pale chests.

There’s a slight possibility of meeting a Red-Backed Salamander. They are only two and to five inches long. Not threatening creatures.

As this site is on the Atlantic flyway, we have a great many species of birds who visit us. We can’t begin to guess which ones you’ll encounter…it’s all up to season, weather and chance. Over Three hundred have been identified on this refuge, and twenty that have been seen only once or twice. Would you believe that the common house sparrow, The English Sparrow… falls into the Latter category, having been seen here only rarely. Oddly enough they are commonly seen on the next island to our west on Chincoteague Island.

 Warblers are frequent visitors to our refuge, some of them like the Pine Warbler and Prairie Warbler nesting here. Yellow Rumped Warblers were formerly called Myrtle Warblers because of their preference for the berries of the wax Myrtle bushes. Those berries are wax like and few other birds are able to digest them.

Red Eyed and White Eyed Vireos both nest here. These little fellows hide in myrtle thickets which provide excellent camouflage. During breeding season they sing throughout the day.

Bald eagles may be seen soaring over the refuge. . They aren’t bald you know, they have white feathers on their heads.  Turkey Vultures, often seen wheeling in the neighborhood really is bald.

If you don’t see woodpeckers along this trail, you’ll probably hear them. They peck at trees to locate food and also do a good bit of hammering in lieu of song, to impress their mates and also establish territory. Downy, hairy and Red Bellied Woodpeckers are seen here as well as Pileated Woodpeckers. The northern flicker is common as well. The Red Woodpecker is an occasional visitor.

You may hear a great scuffling in the leaves, in which case, look for the Rufous-sided Towhee leaves; he is, as his name suggests, rusty reddish brown. He has named himself, shouting “see tow See” although some listeners say he is asking you to “drink your tea”.

You’ll not be surprised to see Starlings here. From a flock of one hundred birds released in Manhattan in 1890, they have spread across the continent.  Their consumption of insects may be the one favorable characteristic of this bird.

You see, we’re nowhere near covering the three hundred plus species you might encounter: Owls, Buntings, Cardinals, Chickadees, Juncos… the list goes on…but walk the trail with alert.

Wilma Young served as a senior volunteer at several national parks, coming to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge three times. 

Her last stay at the Chincoteague refuge was just before her 80th birthday in 1997-98. On this third stay she served as an environmental education teacher for the Chincoteague Natural History Association. As a volunteer in her first two summers, along with the various duties she was given, Wilma found time to write. She spent hours reading about Chincoteague history and conducting research in the libraries. Some of her articles later found their way onto the Refuge web site, some were published in our local newspapers and some were used as trail guides for other volunteers. Today, at the age of 90, Wilma is as intensely interested in protecting our planet as she ever was. She can talk non-stop about the ways we humans have found to cause harm to our environment. She is passionate about things most people never take the time to learn. Years ago she wrote a story for her granddaughter, explaining why she often wasn’t home. “Every living thing depends on other living things and although we know a lot of the connections, we don’t know them all.” In explaining her work with the Refuge to her granddaughter, Wilma wrote, “…I help report the numbers on the goose collars…I answer questions our visitors have about all the wild creatures…I notify the biologists of any reports of unusual sightings of sick animal or creatures caught in nets…sometimes I pick up trash on the beach…I wander the trails, answering more questions…and best of all I look up a lot of stuff then write about it to help people understand how much we all need each other.” It is hard to find the words to describe this caring, kind and concerned grandmother. But her precise and accurate writing speaks for itself. We are pleased to publish her work in Wild Pony Tales. – Robert Boswell, publisher. 

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By Harley Gooldrup and Windy Mason

With another winter approaching, both herds of the Chincoteague wild ponies will be rounded up October 8 and 9, checked over one by one by Dr. Charlie Cameron of Eastern Shore Animal Hospital and his staff and given de-worming medicine.

This is one of three times a year when the ponies are herded into corrals from the ranges on Assateague Island where they live for a visit with their doc. The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company which owns the ponies pays the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge $1,500 a year for a grazing permit which must be renewed each November.

Dr. Cameron is not expecting any medical surprises. At the July roundup he was pleased to find no evidence of a calcium deficiency which had appeared over the past year, giving the herds a clean bill of health. Dr. Cameron of Eastern Shore Animal Hospital in Painter and his associates have been taking care of the ponies since the spring of 1990.

Over these past 20 years, the Chincoteague Wild Ponies’ lactating mares have been treated occasionally for hypocalcaemia, a calcium deficiency, which can be life-threatening to nursing mothers. Usually two or three mares will be deficient, said Dr. Cameron. Some years there are none. But about 10 mares suffered from this ailment last year.

“Last year was the worst year we had had in a long time,” said Dr. Cameron. “We had one other year that came up to about that level about 15 years ago when we had something very similar.”

“Last year, we were actually on boats for the swim when they called me from the fairgrounds with mares down. The day of the swim, we had a mare down in the pen that morning before they took them out of the holding pen. That’s not the first time, but we’re prepared for it. We give them at least 500 ml of calcium, dextrose, magnesium and a little phosphorus, sometimes, 1000 ml, dependent on how they respond.”

“This is really more common in dairy cows. Dairy cows are more prone to this. It’s not a real common phenomenon in horses, although it does occur commonly in this herd,” said Dr. Cameron. “I think it’s because there’s deficiencies in the soil. There may be hereditary factors, too,”

Years ago, the ponies began receiving intravenous calcium treatments in an emergency. Dr. Cameron explains, “You can save their life if it’s given in a timely fashion. We’ve been doing it for years.”

We know what to look for, said Dr. Cameron. “The firemen have been trained. So we usually get them before they actually fall,” said Dr. Cameron. “We’re ready for it.” “What happens when an animal becomes hypocalcaemic, whether a horse, a cow, or a person, is the muscles start firing out of control and they’ll literally fall over. The first signs we’ll see is their jaw muscles start twitching and they start breathing in very rapid thumps. Their diaphragm is firing out of control,” explains Dr. Cameron. He said, “Calcium is essential to proper muscle tone and control.”

“This year, we didn’t have the first case,” said Dr. Cameron. Mares that were tested in the spring were either slightly low or right on the borderline of calcium deficiency. “They’d had a rough winter. In the spring, they didn’t look good; but when that grass comes in lush, they put on weight.”

Dr. Cameron directed that the ponies’ diet be supplemented with calcium fortified hay and mineral blocks at the round-up. Test blocks were initially put out about a month before the round-up. “We supplemented them with alfalfa hay, which is high in calcium. We also had these mineral blocks that Southern States donated, which are high in calcium and magnesium,” said Dr. Cameron. “These two minerals are important in a mare’s diet as far as helping them make milk and keeping their blood calcium levels in a normal range. The overall condition of the herd was very good,” said Dr. Cameron. “A lot of them were fat.”

“The jury’s still out. I think what we have done has helped, but this could’ve been one of those years. It was a little cooler week and I think that’s an important factor, too. With the heat and stress, the ponies start sweating and they lose electrolytes,” said Dr. Cameron. He said, “The firemen spot mares in trouble during round-up which puts some stress on them. That’s not their normal routine.” “They’re usually mares with older foals that are taking a lot of milk. Then, it’s the hottest week of the summer very often. You combine the stress, the heat and boom, it pushes them over the edge,” said Dr. Cameron.

These dietary supplements are the result of Dr. Cameron’s research. “I consulted with Dr. Julia McCann from the VA/MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine located on the VA Tech Campus and Dr. Vivien Allen from Texas Tech,” said Dr. Cameron. The manager of the Federal Park also emailed Dr. Cameron a copy of a study that was done by the Maryland Department of Agriculture of the native flora of Assateague Island, which he sent to Dr. Allen in Texas.

Dr. Cameron and his experienced team of vets offer a full lab, pet surgery, a pet pharmacy, in-hospital surgery suite, in-house x-rays, ultrasounds, a closely supervised hospitalization area, indoor boarding kennels, a pet spa for grooming as well as other pet services, all at the hospital in Painter. The hospital maintains a well developed website, www.esanimalhospital.com

Also on the staff at the hospital are Dr. Paula Cameron, Charlie’s wife, Dr. Nuno Carreiro and Dr. Cynthia J. Johnson-Larson. They have all contributed to the grown of the hospital which may be the largest animal facility on the Shore. (See separate story.)

Aside from the Chincoteague ponies, the doctors do make house calls. “Occasionally, someone will trailer in a pony, but most of the horse work we do is on an ambulatory basis. We go out on the truck to their place,” said Dr Cameron.

In discussing the Chincoteague ponies, “I think the Chincoteague ponies are more hardy and brave. They’re basically survivors. They’re tough and their dispositions are gentle, which is why I think they work well as children’s ponies or horses,” he said. Overall, the ponies are not high strung and dangerous. There are exceptions. There are a few you have to watch out for,” said the doctor.

Dr. Cameron’s parents owned two Chincoteague ponies when he was less than five years of age. His father would lead him around in an old Army Calvary saddle. These ponies lived to be about 30.

At the spring and fall round-ups, Dr. Cameron gives the Chincoteague ponies their vaccinations, checks them over and gives them de-worming medicine which is taken by mouth.

Mares are pregnant for about 11 months. The Chincoteague pony foals are sold at the annual auction held on the very last day of pony week at the Chincoteague firemen’s carnival grounds on South Main Street.

Roundup weekends are demanding for Dr. Cameron and his staff as well as the Salt Water Cowboys. The routine is almost always the same. Late Friday the riders report to the western edge of the southern herd grazing compound, spread out and and move those ponies along to a holding corral off Woodland Trail. When all the ponies are in the Cowboys run them across Woodland, through the woods and marsh where they enter the corral area from the back side.

Dr. Cameron’s work begins early Saturday, usually right after breakfast at Bill’s Restaurant. The rear of Dr. Cameron’s truck is set up like a mobile pharmacy.

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 for them.

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.

Next, Dr. Cameron, with the help of an associate, opens the pony’s mouth and place a metal tube near the back of the throat where there is a place with no teeth. He inserts a worm pump, or a long metal tool called a liquid drench. He will inject the medicine by pushing a handle pumping it into the pony’s mouth.

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 been treated.

Dr. Cameron finishes his work on the southern herd by about 9:30 a.m. Then it is time to load up and move much further into the wilderness of Assateague Island to the pen that will later that morning hold the northern herd.

When the southern ponies are released back to their range, the Cowboys are already rounding up the northern herd, numbering 50 to 60 ponies more than the southern group. They do not bring this herd to the same pen; the northern herd’s pen is located nearly four miles out on a service road. 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. In recent years, however, Lou Hinds, manager of the Refuge, has made available a bus that visitors can take to the northern corral.

Word of warning. If you plan to hike, bring plenty of bug spray. In warm weather the flies, mosquitoes and poison ivy are plentiful. And bring along your camping skills. There are no bathrooms.

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.

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.

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By Misty Thornton

Each year thousands of pony lovers arrive on the island of Chincoteague, Virginia the last week in July just to wrap their eyes around the famous Chincoteague ponies, many for a whole week full of fun and sight-seeing.

The Saltwater Cowboys, almost as famous as the Chincoteague ponies, begin their work on Saturday, the week before Pony Penning,  with the roundup of the southern herd. Then, on Sunday they move to the northern range at the tip of the Virginia side of the island to round up the larger herd of around 100 ponies plus foals. Where the land is so much bigger than the southern range, it  takes longer to round the ponies up and put them into their corra l. The northern herd is less seen by the public because the access road, which runs 7.5 miles into the wilderness, is only open to hikers.

Both the southern and northern ranges are part of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The ponies are owned by the Chincotegue Volunteer Fire Company.

The swim which takes place on Wednesday of “Pony Week” is the event that brings 30,000 to 40,000 visitors to this small island off the Virginia coast, but on the last Monday in July what’s known as the Beach Run has become its own attraction. More than 3,000 visitors made up of  vacationers, pony-lovers and pony bidders line the Assateague beach early in the morning  to see the northern herd escorted along the Atlantic Ocean to the  southern corral on Beach Road.  This day is just the start of the  Pony Penning, a weeklong event.

This year’s beach run started off with traffic backed up just as visitors arrived on the bridge to Assateague Island before 6 a.m. because only one toll booth was open and collecting money. So everyone had to wait in a very impatient line to enter the island. When we finally got onto Assateague, the parking lot for the beach was packed.

Walking north from the parking lot, we joined the crowd in search of the perfect viewing spot. As we walked along the beach we saw family after family with their beach equipment, towels, water, binoculars, sunscreen,  chairs and anything else they could carry to help them pass the hour-plus wait as the sun rose over the Atlantic. Everyone was settling down in what they hoped would be  just the right spot to catch an early morning glimpse of the Chincoteague wild ponies.

One of these early morning families was from Maryland. Their family car wasn’t the regular car with the total of five seats in all. It was a strtch limo, with enough seats for the parents to carry all 10 of their children. “We always thought it would be nice to bring the kids here, and we’ve been coming for a couple years now,” said Tammy, the mother.

The wait was on but it wasn’t so bad. As the sun started to rise, the ripples in the water made it look like the horizon of orange and yellow was exploding into waves that crashed along the island sand. Children played in the ripples with their bathing suits on, and little ones dug holes into the sand to try and build some small sand castles.

After a wait of nearly two hours, at 7:30 a.m. the ponies appeared in a distance through light fog, all encouraged along by the Cowboys in a tight formation. As they passed, spectators cheered, most getting their first up-close look at a Chincoteague pony.

Except for a few “buybacks” the foals, even those just born, would not return to Assateague.  Most would be taken to new homes by owners who cast the highest bids at the upcoming auction on Thursday. Buybacks are a few chosen ponies that are auctioned off but returned to the herd.

The end of their trip on this Monday were the big corrals on the Beach Road curve, where all ponies from both herds and all their foals would spend the night.

Nestled by their mothers, the foals slept and nursed while the parents ate and drank the fresh water that was awaiting them when they entered the corral to join the southern ponies. Groups of ponies played and pranced about sometimes accidentally bumping into their mothers. Life in the corral would only last until early Wednesday morning, known as swim day, when the ponies would either swim or go by trailer lighting up the eyes of thousands who had come from across the nation to see them.

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.

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