Three New Chincoteague Foals - Two Wild, One Tame

After a few days with scattered intense thunderstorms, foal watchers were expecting babies - and there were three.  First, the Leonard family are celebrating the fourth generation birth of Honeymoon. She and her dam, Martha, are located in the pasture between the McDonald's and the Refuge Inn on Maddox Boulevard, just before the bridge to Assateague.  The Leonard family has been breeding Chincoteague ponies for generations, and Don Leonard was the man chosen to drive Misty back to the island from Fort Wayne, Indiana back in 1957...

Honeymoon and Mom Martha

 Yes, she's a blue-eyed baby...

Over on Assateague this morning, Captain Dan Davis spotted Leah's Bayside Angel in the last throes of giving birth to a large bay baby...  She's looked as if she was expecting twins for quite a while...  This is foal number 51, and the sire is Wild Thing:

Thanks to Captain Dan's Around the Island Tours for the photos!

Foal number 52 is a dark child, and was spotted by Darcy and Steve Cole about an hour after Captain Dan saw Leah's bay.  This foal is the baby of Black Pearl and Maverick and was born this morning.  The photo was taken looking into the light, so the color is difficult to ascertain - might be black, bay, or dark brown....  Time and a closer viewing will give us the answer.  The only photo so far is below, and was taken by DSC Photography:

A New Foal - And Other Foals

First, foal 49 has joined us - Kachina and Hoppy have produced what looks to be a buckskin baby.  Seen from a distance, and not seen clearly, so sex is definitely unknown.  Baby spotted this morning, 30 May...

Foal 48 is a filly, the daughter of A Splash of Freckles and Legacy:

And, today's "bonus" is a series of photos of two foals sired by Wild, playing together...  They are both bay pintos. -  The colt (# 9) is a darker base color, out of Summer's Gentle Sea Breeze, and was born on 20 April.  The filly (#13) is lighter in color and has a splash of white on her neck; she is out of Tuleta Star, and was born on 27 April.  -  She's leading in the first photo; he's leading in the second...

** All photos shared today were taken by, and are the property of

DSC Photography **

Surfer's Riptide Returned to Assateague - Two of His Mares Foal

Riptide was removed for Pony Jail at the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague yesterday morning and placed inside the corral on Assateague's southern end.  By late afternoon, all of his mares had converged to the corral, so the men from the CVFC Pony Committee opened the gates, and let the ladies  rejoin their man.  (Summer was the only mare who didn't appear, and it's possible that the two lead mares have driven her away during Riptide's absence.)  Early morning visitors to the corral today found a brand new foal with Got Milk - a handsome bay colt with four socks, a large blaze (like Riptide's) and a blue eye on the right.  Not long after, Loveland's Secret Feather gave birth to a filly - a bay pinto with two blue eyes.  She is minimally marked with color - her right side is white and the outer side of her right ear is brown; she has a black forelock and a teeny strip of black mane between her ears, and a brown left ear, and a tiny brown spot near her left flank.  There is a break in the color between her ears, so she is not a Medicine Hat....
The following photos of the foals were taken by DSC Photography, and are copyrighted by them.

Foal #26 - 8 May    colt, out of Got Milk, sired by Riptide

Foal #27  -  8 May    filly, out of Loveland's Secret Feather, sired by Riptide

These photos were taken by Captain Dan Davis of Captain Dan's Around the Island Tours.

Foal # 16 -  filly out of Doc Amrien, by Hoppy

Foals 9 and 13, sired by Wild Thing; colt out of Summer's Gentle Sea Breeze on left;

filly out of Tuleta Star on right

Medicine Hat Markings and War Bonnet Markings in Pinto/Paint Horses

On Assateague Island, the Chincoteague ponies on the Virginia end of the island have produced ten foals since Pony Penning at the end of July.  Lately, we had three foals born - Thetis and Wild Thing  had a minimally marked chestnut pinto colt on 30 October; Jessica's Sea Star Sandy and Maverick had a bay filly on 31 October, and on 4 November Cody 2 Socks and Wild things had a foal (sex as yet unknown) that is a bay pinto.  From the first few photos taken, people thought it was marked almost exactly like Thetis' colt - but the new foal is not marked like the colt.
   Thetis and Wild Thing produced a rare "Medicine Hat" colt - a Medicine Hat is "an uncommon pattern where the poll and ears are dark, surrounded completely by white; a true 'medicine hat' pinto or paint usually has a predominantly white body, sometimes with dark coloration by the flanks, chest, and/or above the eyes." They usually have one or two blue eyes - this boy has two blue eyes.  If the color of the ears is broken on the poll - just having ears of color, it has no specific name for the coloration, though some people claim it's a Medicine Hat.  Here's a look at Thetis and Wild Thing's medicine hat colt (photos were taken and are copyrighted by DSC Photography of Greenbackville, Virginia):

Note that he has a small chest shield, a spot on his right flank, a strip of color in his tail, and the small spot on his back behind his shoulder and withers on the left side.  In the Old West he would have been considered a powerful medicine horse in raids and fighting, protecting his rider/owner from wounds, and would have been highly protected at home, as he would be a superior prize to steal.

  Cody 2 Socks and Wild Thing's foal has a War Bonnet marking - it has more color on it's body, and the color over it's ears and poll wraps down onto the side of the face and cheek without a break.  War Bonnets are also rare, and were also looked upon as a good war, or raiding, horse, but they are not the same as a Medicine Hat.  If the color over the ears and poll runs down onto the neck, or onto the face, it is a War Bonnet.  Here are photos taken of Cody 2 Socks' foal (they were taken by Captain Dan Wilson of Captain Dan's Around the Island Tours):

Various Photos

First century roof tile with cat paw print, found in Lincolnshire, England

Milky Way over Assateague Life Saving Boathouse

Chincoteague Channel sunset

Black Pearl

Checkers

Wild Thing

New Chincoteague Pony Foals

Tuleta Star bay filly by Hoppy

Calceti'n bay colt by Maverick

Suzy's Sweetheart chestnut colt by Riptide

Marguerite of Assateague's foal with one blue eye by Maverick

Black Star's bay pinto colt by Wild Thing  *

Thetis' pinto colt by Wild Thing  *

White Saddle's buckskin pinto colt by Legacy  *

* The three photos marked with the asterisk are copyrighted by

DSC Photography of Greenbackville, VA.  *

2017 Spring Chincoteague Pony Round-Up Photos

Surfer Princess, a soon-to-be 2-year old filly

Riptide, a 9-year-old full brother of the top filly

Sonny's Legacy - that's mud on her tummy and front legs

Wild Thing shows his teeth (and height) to Hoppy

(aka Little Dolphin), another stallion

The newest arrival for the roundup was Lady's new foal, sired

by Chief Golden Eagle (sex unknown, as yet)

This little girl was the first 2017 foal - by Tornado's Legacy, out of Anne Bonny

This shot, by DSC Photography, shows three generations - 

Tunie (at left), her foal, and Seaside, Tunie's dam at right.

Seaside passed away from natural causes the last day of March.