Almost Time For the Spring Round-Up & Three New Foals!

My apologies for my disappearance (again) from blogging.  The current political administration in the White House causes me great mental and physical stress because my parents brought me up to be a caring person who truly loves my country.  I suffer from recurring Shingles flare-ups due to stress - on my face and inside my nose (of all places!  My MD was so excited because he was writing a paper about my case...) - and these are excruciatingly painful.  I don't get much done when the rash decides to appear.  - Yes, I know about the vaccine, but one must be clear from an outbreak for 6 months before the vaccine can be administered.  I never last that long, unfortunately.   -  Anyway.... That's why I have been absent.   
    Now.   Down to the meat of the matter.
  The annual Chincoteague Pony Spring Round-Up will be held this Friday and Saturday, the 12th and 13th of April.  Riptide and his mares are already in the South, main corral; so the only herd for the Saltwater Cowboys to chase on Friday afternoon will be the Don Leonard Stud II's.  Riptide has been taking his ladies through, over, and around the fencing for the last six weeks.  They have been appearing on the roadways on Assateague, as well as many of the trails, and on and near the beach.  The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company cowboys have been rounding the escapees up and putting them back behind the fences almost every other day.  At the end of March, however, Riptide and his ladies were "imprisoned" in the corral due to their interactions with some very foolish tourists.  This group of people were on foot and on bicycles and had a child in a baby stroller.  They approached Riptide and his mares.  They petted and fed the ponies.  They posted video and photos on most of the social media sites.  So now, the ponies are in lock-up because the tourists were STUPID.
  **These ponies are used to being near people.  But they are feral animals.  They are "wild."  They bite and kick without apparent warning.  Equines are prey animals.  They eat vegetation.  They have a choice when they feel threatened - fight or flight.  They will try to protect themselves and then run.  There are signs and warnings posted about the ponies on Chincoteague and Assateague.  Do not feed the ponies.  Stay at least 40 feet away from the ponies.  Stallions will do anything to protect their mares and babies.  People have been severely injured by ignoring these common warnings.**
   Early on Saturday, while the veterinarians will check out the penned southern herds, while the Saltwater Cowboys round up the northern herds, who are many, and are spread over a much larger area.  After the herds are gathered, they, too will be checked by the vets.  And, while the northern herds are being checked, the 2018 buy back fillies will be returned to run wild on Assateague, along with the three donated mares.  I don't know if Ajax and Heidi's Sky, who are at the Carnival Grounds being treated for injuries, will be released on the 13th or not.  That decision is, of course, up to our veterinarians and the Pony Committee.

   It's after 10 p.m. where I live, on Sunday, April 7th.  So far, three new foals have been born this year to the CVFC herd.  In 2018, we had five foals on the ground, on this date; and in 2017, there were six babies bounding about.
   The first two foals born are pintos, and their dams have been keeping them pretty far away from people.  So the parents and colors of the foals are known, but whether the babies are boys or girls is a mystery.  The third foal is a solid palomino, and he looks like a "Mini-Me" edition of his sire, Chief Golden Eagle.  The photos of the first foal, a chestnut pinto born on 22 March, are copyrighted by DSC Photography.  The dam is Catwalk Chaos, and the sire is Tornado's Prince of Tides.  Using a huge telephoto lens, these are the closest of the photos.

The second foal is a bay pinto,sired by Hoppy (aka Effie's Papa Bear), and out of the mare Danny's Girl Splash.  The foal was first spotted by Captain Dan Davis, and he took the first photos as well, on 1 April.

Captain Dan, he of "The Foal Patrol" and owner and operator of Captain Dan's Around the Island Tours, also spotted and took the first photos of our third arrival on 4 April.  This colt is out of the mare JABATAA, and sired by Chief Golden Eagle.  The photos used here are copyrighted by Darcy and Steve Cole of DSC Photography, and were taken today, when the foal was 3 days old.

Chincoteague Pony Round-Up Begins Today

At the time that Marguerite Henry wrote and published Misty of Chincoteague, the Pony Penning round-up happened the morning of the Pony Swim - these days, with all of the checks by the veterinarians and farriers, the actual round-up begins on the Saturday before the Swim.  Most people will tell you that "Pony Penning" encompasses two, or possibly three, days.  The two "main days" of Pony Penning are on the last Wednesday and Thursday in July - this year, those are 30 and 31 July - if Thursday is 1 August, then Pony Penning happens the week before...  The folks who say Pony Penning is three days long are counting the following Friday (1 August, this year), when the ponies will swim back to Assateague.  I think we should refer to Pony Penning Week, just because the Saltwater Cowboys start working on the Saturday before the Swim, and work through the following Friday.
   I did give wrong, or inaccurate, information in an earlier blog.  I wrote that the ponies on the northern side of the Virginia section of Assateague would be rounded-up today, Saturday.  That is wrong.  The ponies on the southern end of Assateague will be brought in to the Holding Pens by Tom's Cove today; the northern herds will be gathered tomorrow, Sunday.  I apologize for the mistake.
  Currently, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company owns the wild ponies that wander over the Virginia section of Assateague Island.  Assateague is owned by the United States government, and the Virginia part of the island is run by three US agencies - the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Natural Resources.  The CVFC has a contract, negotiated with all three agencies, to keep the ponies on the Virginia end of Assateague.  This contract limits the number of ponies on the island, and calls for strict guidelines regarding the ponies' care - including veterinarian care, vaccinations, hoof care, emergency care, extra feed in times of grazing hardship, and a routine daily visual check of the herd members.
   All of the ponies have had standard blood tests run - including the foals. Most of the foals have already been "matched" with their mothers - notes are taken when they appear, and which mare had what foal.  This information will be carefully checked, and double-checked, so that dam and sire are recorded by the CVFC; their vaccination and blood records are available, and then - most importantly - the blood test results for the new foals are logged and recorded. If you visit Chincoteague for the express purpose of buying a pony and taking it home with you, having the foal's blood test records and vaccination records are extremely important.  You must produce these records at every state line that you cross, or your foal will be impounded.  If you don't bring a horse trailer of your own, you will either (a) need to rent one, or (b) be prepared to pay others to transport your foal to it's new home (the amount is usually charged per mile).
  If you buy a foal, please realize that it has not been handled daily, as a domesticated farm-raised foal would have been.  You will have to gentle the foal - gain it's trust, and make it want to be near you.  You will need to spend a lot of hours with the foal each day, to begin with. You will need to teach it it's name, to happily place it's head in the halter, to stand still and steady, to allow you to groom every inch of it, and to handle it's feet.
   And, I can happily assure you that ponies that are purchased and removed form the salt marsh diet of Assateague do not become ponies with sagging backs and huge bellies.  With a proper diet of grass, grain, and hay, these ponies will turn out to be one of the best-looking equines you've ever seen.  Feed them well, groom them well, and exercise them well, and you will have an outstanding pony to ride or drive!

Updates: Chincoteague Island, CNWR, and CVFC

From Brett Schoeberl, who is in charge of the Chincoteague Facebook page:

Finished up with the Navy a little bit ago. They came and cut down a big pine that was laying on a cemetary and headstones. They called and asked to do it and said they had a small gorup who were coming, WELL I would hate to see a large group. WOW, there were like near 20 Active and Reserve duty sailors who came with chainsaw rakes and man power , I supplied 7 tarps another 6 rakes and extra gloves and besides taking down the tree they also cleaned the whole cemetery of all the debris. They also went around and repaired or put back up any flags on the graves. Besides thank you so much all I can say is GO NAVY !!

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From the CNWR:

Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Reopens with Limited Access 

 The refuge will open on Saturday, November 3, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with access to the Visitor Center ONLY. Beach Road beyond the Visitor Center will remain closed to all access due to storm damage.

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From the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company regarding the Ponies:

FYI: After looking at the south impoundments on Assateague, a decision was made by the fire company pony committee to move some of the southern herd ponies up north. The northern area will give them better feeding grounds at this time. I know some people will be upset over this because they aren't readily viewable BUT, we will not risk the health of ponies just for viewing sake. A few, not many, are still on the south end because they are pretty sneaky lil ponies and couldn't be rounded up today. Both herds really look good and all seems to be well.