Spring Round-Up for Chincoteague Ponies Last Weekend

Last Friday and Saturday, the Saltwater Cowboys of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company rounded up the herds of wild ponies on the southern end of the island of Assateague Island.  The ponies have free range over the Virginia part of Assateague Island, which contains the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the southern section of Assateague National Seashore.  The ponies are considered to be "wild" as they receive the least amount of human handling as possible - but they are rounded up and penned three times each year. This is for health care and medical purposes.  The ponies are looked over daily by members of the CVFC Pony Committee, and if any pony is ill, or appears to be injured, the on-call veterinarian is called immediately, while the pony is isolated and cared for.  Since the foals are auctioned off each July, each pony must be up-to-date on their vaccinations and blood-testing - that way new owners can take their foals home without any hold-up for paperwork necessary for the ponies to cross state lines.
  From the 1700s on, livestock was taxed on the island of Chincoteague; therefore, most residents turned their livestock loose on Assateague, the island farther east, after notching or branding their stock.  And, of course, ponies were running already running wild on Assateague Island, when the first settlers arrived on Chincoteague.  Every two or three years, the men of Chincoteague would gather all the loose livestock on Assateague, having a huge "penning" event.  Sheep were gathered, ponies, were gathered, hogs and pigs were gathered, and so were the horses and ponies.  Owners travelled over to Assateague several times each year, and, when checking on their adult stock, they notched or branded the young that had been recently born.  Most of the critters were branded and known to the owners.  Over the years, as the horse and ponies were allowed to breed, there were quite a few "wild" ponies that weren't actually owned by anyone - these ponies were apportioned out to the men who had horses running on the island.
  It was soon realized that these ponies and horses, raised on Assateague, were extremely versatile in use, and were also extremely hardy.  They would eat greenery that cattle, sheep, and goats would ignore, and they had adapted to drinking the brackish water on the islands. They were very intelligent, and, once gentled, were great for usage by women and children.  At that point in time, most of the ponies were solid colors - there were bays, blacks, browns, chestnuts, and sorrels.  Any pony with an unusual coat, a palomino or grey or pinto, was quickly claimed and trained.  With the advent of motion pictures, people became convinced that Native Americans rode only pinto or Appaloosa horses.  Most children wanted a pinto, or painted, pony.  By this time, several men were breeding Chincoteague ponies, and keeping them on Assateague Island.  Pinto ponies were introduced as stallions and mares and the rest is ... history.
  In 1946, Marguerite Henry visited Miss Molly's Inn on Main Street, to observe the now annual Pony Penning.  She met Clarence Beebe, a pony breeder and seller, and his grandchildren, Paul and Maureen.  She bought a pretty little palomino pinto filly, who was still nursing on her dam; Grandpa Beebe shipped the foal to the author in October, and Ms. Henry was convinced that this hugely hairy critter could not actually be her beautiful Misty.  But it was.  Marguerite's book was published in 1947, and won the Newberry Award for Children's Book for that year.  In 1961, 20th Century Fox made Ms Henry's book, Misty of Chincoteague, into a movie.  Grandma and Grandpa Beebe and Paul and Maureen were portrayed by professional actors.  Otherwise, the movie stars are the native Chincoteaguers and some wonderful trained ponies.
  In any event, this year, 2015, is the 90th Annual Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's Pony Penning and Carnival.  I'll be there for the first time in 14 years.  I'm really looking forward to seeing ponies that I know, people that I know, buildings and trails that I know.  A lot of changes have taken place since I was last there.  But, with a family history going back to 1643 on Chincoteague itself - I'll be going home.