Second Misty Descendant Born Wild On Assateague; Misty's Stable Burns To Ground

WH Wildfire delivered a foal on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR) on Assateague Island this morning.  The foal (number 58) was sired by Surfer's Riptide, and appears to be a minimally marked chestnut tobiano, like her dam.  They were spotted across a marsh and behind tall grass and bushes.  This is the best of the five photos taken:

Misty of Chincoteague was bred and born on Chincoteague Island by Clarence Beebe.  Her sire was called the Pied Piper, as in the book with her name, and her dam was a black tobiano named The Phantom.  Marguerite Henry was visiting Chincoteague during Pony Penning 1946, and was interviewing the Beebe family for her book.  She fell in love with the foal, purchased her, and Mr Beebe shipped Misty to Fort Wayne, Indiana when she was weaned.  Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 and won the Newbery Award for Children's Literature that year.  The rest is history.
    Misty returned to Chincoteague in 1958, and lived the rest of her life there.  When Clarence Beebe died, she was moved to Ralph Beebe's Ranch, a little further north on Ridge Road, where she lived in a large stall with pasturage, until her death in 1972.  But she never ran free on Assateague Island during her life.
    In the past several years, the Chincoteague pony herds on the CNWR have lost quite a few ponies, both mares and weanlings, due to equine pythiosis (also known as "swamp cancer").  Several people who owned descendants of the real Misty decided over the past three years to donate two colts, two fillies, and seven adult mares to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, who are the legal owners of the ponies that run free on Assateague in Virginia.  One colt, named Winter, a cremello, with blue eyes, did not do well in the wild, and is now owned privately again.
   The first donation was a black tobiano colt, and it was announced he was named "Saltwater Renegade."  - I loved that name. - Once his registration papers were opened to the public, it was revealed his name was WH Rainy's Beach Boy; so Beach Boy he is.  there is a possibility that he is the sire of two foals born so far this year - but there is no certainty.  The two possible foals are numbers 31 and 46, those whose mothers' are Little Miss Sunshine and Milly Sue.
   Then the CVFC was presented with seven ponies - one was the colt named Winter, who is now living in Pennsylvania.  The others were all females: the youngest were Calendar Girl and Surfette, along with WH Summer Shandy, WH Sundance, WH Wildfire (see photo above), and WH Winter Moon.  This past year, the CVFC were gifted with WH Bailey's Star, WH Tidewater Treasure, and WH Millenium Moon (aka Oreo).  All of the Misty ponies are now on Assateague, except Star, who is still at the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague.

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And a last note -  My Mom was a close relation of Mrs Ida Beebe, Clarence's wife; she grew up calling them Uncle Clare and Aunt Ida.  As a relative, when I was a child, I rode Misty and her daughters, Wisp o' Mist and Stormy, around Misty Meadows, at Ralph Beebe's house, ranch, and stable on Ridge Road.  I knew the stalls of Misty and Stormy very well.  The barn on Ralph's land started out as a chicken house, and was converted for the ponies to use as a barn. It's been there since the mid-1940s.

  On the night of 25 June 2019, there was a huge fire on Chincoteague Island, on Ridge Road, at Misty's old barn.  A few posts still stand, but that is all.  Ralph Beebe's son, Billy, and his wife were away on vacation.  The ponies, goat, and other animal residents were saved from the flames by neighbors and the CVFC, as was the house.  Two homes that were close to the barn and belonged to neighbors suffered some fire damage.

   But Misty's home is no more....   Another bit of island heritage and history is gone.  The house that Clarence and Ida Beebe lived in, and raised six kids plus two grandchildren in, burned to the ground in 1996....