The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company has lost a second foal this season. Yesterday was Mother's Day, and we were all excited that the mare Sweet Jane (aka Duckie) gave birth to a chestnut pinto foal, sired by Archer's Gambit (aka Puzzle). The down side was that over on the Carnival Grounds on Main Street on Chincoteague, Bay Girl's bay colt, born on Friday, 4 May, passed away. The colt was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, according to observers. The foal just did
not thrive. He had difficulty in standing to nurse, and while he did nurse, he never gained much coordination, and never seemed to gain weight or grow like normal foals. Apparently his brain was oxygen-starved in the womb, and did not develop properly. Poor little guy is now gone.
Bay Girl and colt , 10 minutes after birth
On Friday, 11 May, Misty Mills had a bay pinto foal and things seemed fine - at first. But then the mare was seen to be avoiding the foal, and running from the baby when it wanted to nurse. This was reported to the Pony Committee, who rescued the foal and began bottle feeding it. With the death of Bay Girl's foal, we are hoping that she will accept Misty Mills' rejected baby. If not, the bottle feeding will continue. Please keep the baby in your thoughts....
Misty Mills and foal
And PETA is once again sticking its' nose into the Chincoteague ponies and Pony Penning. PETA is once again trumpeting loudly that horses and ponies do not, naturally, swim. With the death of Wild Island Orchid and Surf Queen at the end of April, they are once again declaring that the annual Pony Swim from Assateague to Chincoteague is mistreatment and mismanagement of the ponies. They cite the fact that Orchid and the Queen (and Randy, who survived) were trying to cross a stream (actually, what folks on the islands call a gut - a finger of brackish water) when they were caught in quicksand. Orchid was already dead when the CVFC appeared, 15 minutes after being notified, and both the Queen and Randy were trailered back to Chincoteague and placed under care of the veterinarian on call. Randy is recovering nicely, although she miscarried her foal.
PETA has tried to shut down - stop - the Pony Swim since their second year of existence. I remember one year when they came with a bunch of small motored rowboats and tried to take their boats into the swim lane. Didn't the fools realize that the blades of the outboard motors would do tremendous damage to the ponies legs? I have NEVER forgotten how angry I was with those idiots; and how happy I was that the Coast Guard caught everyone of them and made them pay fines.
The Chincoteague ponies have lived on the island for over 350 years; they go into the channels and guts to escape the flies and mosquitoes when they swarm. They foals are wading and swimming when they are a few hours old. The salt water helps clean and heal cuts and scratches. Sometimes the ponies swim around the fences that are supposed to keep them in their separate states - Dewey, a Maryland stallion, was visiting in Virginia a few days ago. Horses and ponies swim naturally. And the vet and his technicians thoroughly check every mare, stallion, and foal before the swim. Any pony that anyone says is questionable - due to age, cuts, pregnancy, or any other cause - is taken by trailer and is nor allowed to join in the swim.
The swim, just for clarity's sake, is less than 1/8 of a mile; most of the swim route is walkable for the adult ponies; only about 100 feet is deep enough to make the ponies swim; the Coast Guard uses marine equipment to notify the round-up men when the tide is not running in either direction, so the ponies will not get pushed or pulled by tides; and there are several boats manned by firemen and the Pony Committee that move alongside the swimming ponies to be certain none of them has any trouble during the swim. The vet follows the ponies swimming in the CVFC barge, with the round-up men and horses.
