I look like a cockatoo today - it's only 63 degrees, but the humidity is 100% here in Boulder, which is an extreme rarity. So I have my hair gathered into a ponytail, then twisted and turned up on the back of my head and clipped in place. My hair is finally long enough that I have a small up-standing brush at the crown of my head. It's quite funny looking! My kits have been behaving well - they leave Rodney's critters alone (Rodney and I share the north wall of my apartment), which makes both of us humans happy. At various times during the day, one can see a Belgium Giant rabbit playing on his patio, or ducklings, or a wide variety of birds on perches. My kits watch all of Rodney's pets, but they don't touch. Of course, in the last two days, the two of them have captured and brought five English sparrows inside the apartment and then turned them loose - so I've been chasing small, frightened birds, catching them. checking them for injuries, and then releasing them. I hope the kits slow down and the birds are faster on the wing!
Two weeks from today, the Saltwater Cowboys of Chincoteague will begin their seven days of work for Pony Penning. The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company actually "works" - looking after the ponies - every single day of the year. There are about 15 members of the nuclear Pony Committee, whose main task is caring for the ponies' welfare - but just about any resident can get temporarily wrangled into helping out in a pinch. Since the ponies live on Assateague Island, which is owned by the U S government, and is run by three governmental agencies (the National Park Service, the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Natural Resources), the CVFC has a strict contract with the government regarding the care and treatment of the ponies. Each pony receives every vaccination a normal riding horse gets each year - rabies, tetanus, vaccines against influenza - and they have their blood collected and tested each and every year. A veterinarian is on call for the entire herd collection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - and Charlie Cameron, DVM, is one of the best. The ponies are actually herded together three times a year, including the Pony Penning round-up. General health and hooves are checked, and needed shots are given. And 5 of the Pony Committee members go over to Assateague every day to look over each pony.
Two weeks from today, the Saltwater Cowboys will assemble on Assateague Island, starting off at the northern end of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, along the fence-line that separates Maryland from Virginia. They will round-up all the ponies of the northern herds and place them in the north holding pen. Sunday, they will round-up the ponies on the south end of the island and take them to the south holding pen near Tom's Cove. Monday, at sunrise, the northern herds will be walked down the beach from the north to the south holding pen. As the two groups, and ten-plus herds combine, there will be some fireworks, as stallions challenge each other for space and protect their mares and foals. Tuesday is pretty much a rest day for the cowboys - but mares and foals are being matched, as well as which mare is in which stallion's herd. On Wednesday, the ponies will be walked down the paved road on Assateague to Black Duck Drain, where they will turn off and ford a creek, to approach Old Dominion Point. At slack tide, the US Coast Guard will fire a flare, and the cowboys will urge the ponies into the Assateague Channel to begin the one-eighth mile swim to Chincoteague. The cowboys and their horses are transported via a barge, following the ponies. After rest and visual health check, the ponies are herded down Pony Swim Lane, around Beebe Road and then north on Main Street to the Carnival Grounds. On Thursday, the foals and a few yearlings are auctioned, with all proceeds benefiting the CVFC and the EMT units. Friday, the adult ponies and unsold youngsters make the return swim back to Assateague, again at slack tide.
The veterinarian and the firemen check each and every pony - those considered too weak, too old, too young, or too pregnant, do not participate in the swim. They are loaded onto a trailer and taken in style to the holding pens at the Carnival Grounds, until their friends and relatives join them after the swim on Wednesday. The other thing that the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company works hard at is the annual Carnival. The Carnival is in it's 89th year in 2014 - Pony Penning has been occurring for more than a hundred years prior to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company taking over the running of the event. That happened when there were two huge fires, one year and the next, that burned down almost every structure on the island. The Fire Company was formed, and the proceeds of the Carnival and the pony sales have gone directly for fire-fighting equipment and training ever since.
Pony Penning on Chincoteague and Assateague is definitely a unique experience.
