Pony Penning Week 2019 - Updated Activities Schedule

Pony Penning Week is fast approaching, and a lot of people are getting excited.  The week (actually 9 nights and 7 days) of activities, can actually start being counted on Friday night, July 19th, with the evening opening of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's Carnival, and ends with the closing of the Carnival on Saturday night/Sunday morning of July 27th.
   On Saturday, the 20th of July, there is a slight change this year:  the round-up of the herds in the Southern compartment used to begin in the afternoon; this year it is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. (This has already brought some complaints from people who will be in transit that morning - but there is plenty to see and do the entire week.)  There are currently three groups in the south - Riptide's herd, the Don Leonard Stud II's herd, and the group of yearlings that are the 2018 Buy Back ponies.  Once the ponies are rounded up, they can be viewed at the main corrals on Beach Road on Assateague Island in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.  The Carnival is open Saturday night.

(2013)

   Sunday morning, the herds in the Northern compartment will be rounded up and gathered together.  I believe that the bus seats have all been sold out, so if you wish to see the herds in the northern holding corral, you will need to hike 2.5 miles north up the Service Road off  of the Wildlife Loop.  This is not a road open to personal vehicles.  You will have to walk there, and walk back.  Take lots of water for hydration and lots of insect repellent, if you choose to walk.
   Monday morning, 22 July, at dawn, the Saltwater Cowboys will move the northern herds east across Assateague to the Atlantic surf.  There, the ponies will be herded south along the beach to the CNWR/Assateague National Seashore parking lot, and then west along Beach Road to the main corrals, where the southern herds are gathered.

(2011)

   Monday afternoon and Tuesday, the herds will be in the main corrals.  The veterinarians on call, with their vet technicians, will check each and every pony for fitness.  The foals' blood will be drawn for Coggins' testing (so new owners can transport the babies across state lines later in the week).  The vets will decided which ponies are too young, too old, or in such condition as to warrant a trailer ride to the Chincoteague  Carnival Grounds instead of swimming.  (Unci, an older mare with a swayback due to a genetic condition, is usually trailered over, along with very pregnant mares, or those with cuts, scrapes, or other things indicating transport versus swimming.)  This is a great time and place to take photos - however, the board fencing can make photography difficult.  If you have a step-stool or a short ladder, you might wish to take it along for good photos with fencing in the view.

(Riptide & Ajax)

   Wednesday morning, 24 July, is the actual Pony Swim Day.  I have heard that it will occur between 8:30 and 10:30 that morning - but the time is always subject to change.  The ponies swim when the US Coast Guard declares the tide running between the islands is "slack" - when it is not moving north or south, when it can carry the ponies away.  The time of slack tide can be influenced by local storms. Some people are at the swim area by 5 a.m., others arrive later.  It is very hot and humid beside the Assateague Channel, and there are quite a few cases of heat exhaustion each year in the crowds along the Channel.  Please take plenty of water to hydrate everyone in your party... 
   The Swim itself takes about 3 minutes from the time a pony enters the water from Assateague until it stands on solid ground on Chincoteague.  The first foal to reach Chincoteague is declared King or Queen Neptune (depending on gender) and is raffled off in a drawing.  Tickets are being sold now, and will be sold up until an hour before the actual drawing.
   Once all ponies are ashore on Chincoteague, and King or Queen Neptune has been marked, the ponies are given a 45 to 60 minute rest period.  Then the Saltwater Cowboys herd them along Beebe Road and the north on Main Street to the Carnival Grounds - the Pony Penning Parade on Main Street.  The Pony Committee of the CVFC will decide the choices of sexes for replacement breeding stock needed on the island due to deaths and illnesses. The Pony Committee members, along with the vets, will have been looking at the foals and evaluating bloodlines, conformation and coloring, and they will choose the foals to be designated as Buy Backs on those criteria.  The Carnival will open about 90 minutes after the ponies are in the pens on Main Street, and will stay open until 11.

   The Pony Auction begins at 8 o'clock on Thursday, 25 July, with foals being sold to the highest bidder.  Payment to the CVFC in the amount of the winning bid, must be paid in cash, with Travelers' Checks, or through a Visa or Mastercard payment.  No other types of payment are accepted.  Most foals will travel to new (hopefully, "forever") homes, but the designated Buy Backs stay on the islands.  If you purchase a designated Buy Back pony, you receive a tax write-off for the amount of purchase, as you are essentially giving your money to the CVFC for the naming of the foal.  The CVFC will maintain the foal throughout it's life and will be able to sell any foals that pony produces as it grows older.
   If you purchase a pony to take home with you, you will receive a sales receipt,  a veterinary report, and a care booklet, plus other donated "goodies" (these change from year to year).  You are expected to provide approved transportation from the Carnival Grounds by noon on Saturday, 27 July.  If the foal you purchase is too young to separate from it's mother, you must return in October for the Fall Round-Up and have transportation for your foal at that time.   The Carnival will be open Thursday afternoon and evening.

   On Friday, 26 July, the ponies living in the southern compartment will make the return swim from Chincoteague back to Assateague on the morning's slack tide.  The expected swim time for Friday is announced Thursday night at the Carnival.   Ponies from the north end will be trailered back to Assateague during the day.  The Carnival is open Friday night.

   The Carnival will be open the evening of Saturday the 27th of July, and drawings for all of the raffles will occur just before closing.   
   And Chincoteague can settle back into it's usual summertime routine once again.
 

Pony Penning Week Activities Through 28 July 2018

This is actually the third day of Pony Penny Week activities on Chincoteague and Assateague Islands in Virginia.  And today, the fun and sun and sand stuff will begin by 6 o'clock this morning...  The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge will open its gates at 5, so folks can be in place along the North Beach to see the annual Dawn Beach Walk.  The Saltwater Cowboys will have their mounts trailered over to the North Holding Pens, and will drive the combined northern herds down Assateague Beach to the CNWR beach parking lot, and then west along Beach Road to the Southern Holding Pens.  There will be fights between the stallions as the northern herds are combined with the southern herds inside the corrals...
  On Saturday evening, sometimes in a driving rain, the Saltwater Cowboys rounded up the five distinct southern groups - Surfer's Riptide and his mares and foals; Maverick with his harem and progeny; Don Leonard Stud II and his ladies; "the '17's," the group of Buy-Back fillies and colts from last year; and "the Misty's," a small cadre of donated mares that are related to Misty of Chincoteague.  All ponies known to be in the southern compound were brought in.
  Sunday, the Saltwater Cowboys had to cover a much larger territory and gather up the herds on the northern end.  These included the herds of:  Chief Golden Eagle, Prince of Tides, Neptune (aka Little Dolphin), Rainbow Warrior, Hoppy (aka Effie's Poppa Bear), Ajax, Puzzle (aka Archer's Gambit), Ace (Ace's Black Tie Affair), Wild Thing, Ken and Tornado's Legacy.
   Already at the Carnival Grounds pens are:  Bay Girl with her adopted mystery colt; Lyra's Vega, who is recovering from a badly cut fetlock; and Saltwater Renegade (aka Beach Boy), who is there to keep the ladies company.  We have lost three of sixty-three foals born this year - for ponies that run wild, that's a very low mortality rate. One was seen soon after birth and was never seen again; Bay Girl's foal did not thrive and passed away, while both were under veterinary care; and Poco's Starry Night's black filly disappeared after 1 July.   The mystery foal was spotted trying to nurse and attach himself to a mare who was still pregnant; he was brought to the Carnival Grounds and was bottle-fed until Bay Girl's colt died.  Then the little pinto colt was adopted by the bay mare who still had lots of milk and love to give...
   Once all the ponies are in the Holding pens on Beach Road and settled in, the Saltwater Cowboys, the Pony Committee of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, and the CFVC veterinarian, Dr. Charles Cameron (and his associate veterinarians and vet technicians) will check every equine entity in the corrals.  This will occur Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.  All foals will have their blood drawn and tested for communicable diseases, so their traveling papers and health certificates will be available on Thursday after the Pony Auction for the new owners.   Dr. Cameron will decide which ponies should not swim across Assateague Channel at slack tide Wednesday morning - this usually includes Unci, whose genetic sway back makes swimming long distances difficult for her - and those ponies and/or foals will be trailered to the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague.
  Wednesday morning, between 8 and 10 o'clock, the US Coast Guard will send up a red flare to indicate slack tide - an interval when the tide is running neither north or south, which can sweep the ponies away from their swim arrival spot.  Earlier, the Salwater Cowboys will have rounded up all of the ponies from the holding pens and driven them west on Beach Road until they reach Black Duck Marsh, where they will cross over to Old Dominion Point.  There, they will rest the ponies and allow them to graze until the flare goes up.  Then the ponies will be herded into the Assateague Channel to swim over to Chincoteague Island.  ** The Pony Swim will have live streaming footage on Facebook via WBOC-TV, Channel 16, from Salisbury, Maryland. **  Once the ponies have made the crossing, they will be allowed to rest for 45 to 60 minutes and then once again will be on the move - going along Beebe Road to Main Street and then north to the pens at the Carnival Grounds.
   Thursday morning, the Pony Auction will begin at 8 o'clock.  The price for a pony can be as low as $400, or as high as $25,000.  The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company accepts cash, traveler's checks, Visa and MasterCard.  Personal checks or other types of credit cards are NOT accepted.  -  And, if you purchase a pony (other than a Buy Back), it must be removed from the Carnival Grounds by 5 pm Friday.  If you plan to purchase a pony, make sure you have your travel arrangements for it made ahead of time.  You CANNOT take it a foal home inside your van, SUV, or station wagon.
   Friday morning is the swim back to freedom, from Chincoteague to Assateague.  The viewing crowd is greatly diminished.  The ponies living on the southern end of the island make the swim back.  The herds from the northern end are trailered back, so they do not have to cross Beach Road on Assateague, impeding traffic and possibly being struck by a car.
   23 July through 28 July, Monday through Saturday evenings, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's Carnival is open from 7 until 11 o'clock.  Sandwiches, pizza, fries, funnel cakes, drinks, music, bingo, and rides are available.  Go and enjoy a small town event!

Dawn Beach Walk Photos

The Dawn Beach Walk took place yesterday, with a riderless buckskin horse with reversed boots in the stirrups being led before every one else.  This was a tribute to Drizzle Wilgus, a life-long member of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, and a frequent member of the Pony Committee.  I remember Drizzle from many years ago - it seems impossible that  he's gone....
  Today is a day of rest for the Saltwater Cowboys, and a day of paperwork for the Pony Committee.  The Pony Swim will take place tomorrow, during slack tide in the Assateague Channel.  That is currently expected to occur between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; after a rest, the ponies will parade along Beebe Road and up Main Street to the Carnival grounds, where they will stay in the pens through Thursday's Auction, until they swim back to Assateague on Friday.
   The Feather Fund is a great organization that you might hear about during the next few days on the islands - for more information about this tremendous group, please visit:  http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/virginia/2014/07/26/feather-fund-pony-penning/13205537/

Here are photos, taken by Jay Diem, of yesterday's Dawn Beach Walk: