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By Sonora Hannah

In 2010, a non-profit organization called the Feather Fund made my life-long dream come true when they bought a four month old colt for me at the famous Pony Penning auction in Chincoteague Island, VA. That colt was my pony Mincaye (Min-KY-yee) who is literally my childhood dream come to life! And because of him, I am living yet another dream come true…training my own horse.

Hannah teaches Min how to shake hands.

The first step in Min’s training was for me to gain his trust. He was very nervous and frightened in the beginning and would turn tail to me every time I entered his stall. I desensitized him to touch by rubbing him all over with my hand, then with a lead rope; and then I built on that by tossing the lead over his back and around his legs. Once he realized that I was not going to hurt him, his fear began to melt away. I spent hours reading books aloud to him or just talking to him, getting him used to my voice and presence. I also introduced grooming tools to him and worked on the concepts of standing tied, leading, and picking up his feet. There is an entire world of things to teach a horse even when he is too young to ride!

When I first started working with Min, I had a tendency to become so frustrated with myself for not knowing how to deal with a situation that I would often wallow in a complete sense of hopelessness. I have since realized that I am much better off forgiving myself for my mistakes and persevering to acquire the knowledge I need to fix a problem. It is inevitable that I will make mistakes in training my first horse, but my biggest regret has been that I did not begin “formal” groundwork as soon as I had Min’s trust. I now feel it is very important to have a training program to follow in order to know what it is you are doing and what goals you are headed towards in your pony’s training. At first I simply took bits and pieces of advice from anywhere I could get it, but it wasn’t until I found world-renowned trainer Clinton Anderson and his program that I really began to make headway in Mincaye’s training. Unfortunately by the time I found Clinton, I had already allowed Min to develop some bad habits; thankfully, by following his method, I am beginning to see those bad habits unravel and disappear.

Mincaye has always been highly curious, full of energy, and just a tad bit devious. He is the smartest equine I have ever met, which in the one sense is in my favor, but it also means I need to study hard so that I will know what to do in any given situation when working with him. The pushy, disrespectful behavior I allowed him to develop in the beginning has proved to be one of my biggest challenges. However I am learning to become the kind of leader Mincaye can respect, and that is, I believe, the key to being a good horse trainer. Being consistently clear and concise with your cues, always rewarding the horse for giving the correct response, and taking the time to build on his successes (never expecting too much too soon) are all important things to remember in training horses. Body language, too, plays a monumental role in communicating with horses, because that is the language they use with each other. Horses are amazingly intelligent creatures, and they learn very quickly when we take the time to “speak” to them in their own language rather than enforcing our ideas on them without so much as asking.

The first thing I ever really taught Mincaye was how to shake hands. I can still remember the absolute thrill I felt when I saw that he had made the connection between my cue and the action of lifting his foreleg! I continue to feel an overwhelming sense of joy and accomplishment whenever I teach Mincaye something new. I work with him every day that I can, but with the snowy, soggy winter weather and no arena or round pen, I have to be careful of slippery footing. For this reason I am anticipating the coming of sunny weather more than ever! When things dry out again, I hope to work with Mincaye as many as six days a week as he will soon be two years old and I am eager to prepare him to start under saddle. The time I have spent and have yet to spend working with Min from the ground is an invaluable part of training him to become a good riding horse; but most of all it provides a wonderful opportunity to build  a friendship which will last a lifetime.

Training my own Chincoteague Pony is proving to be every bit as magical an adventure as I thought it would be! My ultimate goal in Mincaye’s training is to ride him bareback and bridleless, but in the meantime I choose to glory in our journey as we continue to learn and grow together. Mincaye is beyond the shadow of a doubt my dream horse, and with him, every day is a priceless treasure.

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By Kate White and Windy Mason

By 8 a.m. nearly all the chairs had been filled, along with all available bleacher seats. Hundreds of visitors from across the U.S. had settled in for the start of the 85^th annual Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company’s Wild Pony Auction. 

On this July 29, the auction, held at the Chincoteague Carnival grounds, would continue past noon and bring in $77,225.  

During the evening hours after the widely attended swim the day before, people had posted signs and placed chairs under the pavilion to reserve their seating for this event. Some are said to have even camped out in anticipation of the auctioning off this year of 59 Chincoteague Wild Ponies. 

Before the actual auction began, foals and colts were separated from their mothers strategically by the Salt Water Cowboys through the opening and closing of gates. A mother would be run all the way through the compound. As the foals followed, they were guided into another holding area through the opening of a gate in the middle of the fenced area. There were plenty of cries from pony mothers and children throughout this process. Some mothers tried to double back for their young only to be stopped by a Cowboy and a gate at the end. Their babies were about to be auctioned off and, in most cases, shipped off to new homes never to see Assateague Island or their mothers again. 

While everything was being set up for the auction, people flocked to the corrals to look over their prospects. Others socialized, finding their seats just before the auction began with the sale of a colt for $500.  

When unbroken ponies are brought into the auction ring, no ropes or harness is used. The nervous foals pulled and jerked away only to find themselves wrestled and held by volunteer wranglers, most of them sons of the Cowboys and firemen. These ponies are indeed wild and can be pretty feisty. This made for some very interesting moments throughout the morning. At one point, a filly brought its wardens down to the ground. People in the crowd could be heard saying, ‘That one’s too wild. We should wait for another one.’ This little lady sold for $375.

 There were four buybacks sold at this year’s auction. Buybacks are ponies that are returned to their home on Assateague Island to continue to live and grow with the herd. The buyers can name their pony and are given a plaque. Buyback ponies are ones designated by pony officials as ones they want to help strengthen the herd.  

The proceeds from one buyback were donated to the Hospice of the Eastern Shore by the fire company. This particular buyback pony was bought by Virginia Sappington for her 9 year-old granddaughter, Molly Dailey from Chase, Maryland.  

There was some pretty fierce competition in the bidding with the highest sale going at $8,100 for a buyback filly named Paint, a purchase made by Sue Fitzgerald of Washington, D.C. Ms. Fitzgerald has attended the auction for the last five years with her now 14 year-old granddaughter, Megan. The lowest priced ponies, one being the filly mentioned earlier and one colt, went for $375.  

The Feather Fund, a non-profit organization whose mission is to assist deserving children with the purchase and attendant costs associated with the buying and care of Chincoteague ponies, bought two ponies this year. Dream Catcher, a beautiful chestnut Tobiano colt with a big white lightning bolt on one shoulder and various other unique markings, was bought for $4,200. Dream Catcher now belongs to an 18-year-old girl, Hannah Pavlas of Snohomish, Washington. This is Ms. Pavlas’ first pony. Thetis, a little blue eyed overo colt sired by the famous Surfer Dude, was bought for $600 for Alexis Dowell of Georgia. When the winning bids were placed on these ponies, there were cheers, jumping around, hugs and tears of joy. These girls’ lifetime dreams have finally come true. 

The only Palomino sold for $5,000 and would find its new home in Clinton, Maryland with 13 year-old Angie Mazzulo and family. A 3-month-old black colt marked with white, heart-shaped patches on its shoulder and hindquarters went to Laurie Walton of Chincoteague who had placed the winning bid of $4,200 for her friend, Peggy Jaegly of Centreville, Maryland. This pony is to be used in Ms. Jaegly’s career as a healing therapist. 

In between selling ponies, other items were sold including a book written by author Jesse Ann Friend and signed by famous author, Marguerite Henry. Several other books, including the famous ‘Misty,’ written by Marguerite Henry herself were also sold during this year’s auction. 

This year’s overall average leveled out to be $1,308 for each pony. The total sale of all 59 ponies brought in $77,225. Last year’s auction brought in $93,900 with the sale of 67 foals. Last year’s highest sale was $11, 700 with the lowest going for $500. 

The money earned goes to the fire company who takes care of these ponies all year and is used for new firefighting equipment, maintenance and the needed vaccinations and veterinary care for their herds.

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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