Pony Penning 2010 – Day 2

Posted at August 3, 2010 // Chincoteague

On Tuesday, July 27th I headed over to the Pony Centre to feed Minnow, and swap him around to a different paddock. The paddocks at the pony centre are mostly dirt – as the hungry little Chincoteagues have eaten all the grass. This is PERFECT for Minnow, because goodness knows he doesn’t need to gain anymore weight, not to mention it means he gets to spend the week without wearing a muzzle to limit his grass intake. I’m sure Minnow wasn’t entirely happy being without the grass he as accustomed to, but I was sure to take him grazing for any small little bites he could find.

After taking care of Minnow’s needs for the morning my mom and I sat in on a foal handling demonstration given by Kendy Allen at the Pony Centre. Not that we were planning to bring home a foal (as much as I would have liked) – but it was more we were curious about it. My mom has had experience with foals when she bred and trained her Thoroughbred Cross, Pippin, at the age of 16. I, aside from my visits to Chincoteague, haven’t really been in contact with foals. As a kid any pony/horse my mom brought home for us was always older and experienced – which is ideal for young kids anyway.

Teaguer, the pony centre mascot, wait to perform in the show

The foal handling demonstration was interesting, I had never thought about the fact that if you buy a wild Chincoteague pony from the auction – the first handling experience they get from humans is when they are taken from their mothers, herded into a pen and then auctioned off and sent away on a trailer to a strange place. So naturally they are going to be fearful, not to mention they don’t know what fences or boundaries are, and are likely to try to escape from any enclosure you put them in in the beginning.

a goofy Minnow

I think a lot of people get caught up in the magic of the island and the mystique of a wild foal – making impulse purchases. Not that there is anything wrong with that (I admit I wanted to do the same), but it’s easier to buy a foal at the auction than it is to adopt a dog. That being said – are you ready for a foal? Do you have somewhere to keep it, do you have a trainer to help you, are you going to want it after it’s not a cute fuzzy foal anymore? Those are all questions I think you should think long and hard about before raising your hand and handing over your credit card at the auction.

an all black foal in the pens on Assateauge Island

I see/hear of a lot of people on the island that are getting a foal for their young child, so that they can grow up together. I think its a nice thought, but I’m glad for the fact that when I was a kid, my mom didn’t buy me a foal. She bought me a seasoned pony, who was safe and reliable, and I could do pretty much anything on. A foal would have limited my experiences, and more than likely I would have lost interest in him once I discovered I had to wait 3-4 years to ride him. I’m grateful for my my first pony Oreo Cookie who taught me the ways of the world and took care of me. And if I was REALLY set on buying my kid a foal – I wouldn’t buy a wild pony foal – instead I’d get one of the foals from the Pony Centre that had been handled from birth and was already primed to make a great children’s pony.

a foal with heart markings in the pens on Assateague

Needless to say I know that one day I WILL buy a foal from the auction. Maybe I too have been sucked into the magical desire to own a wild Chincoteague Pony foal – but I think I secretly just long to have another pony just like my wild-born Minnow. No pony could ever take the place of Minnow, but I wouldn’t complain if there were lots of little Minnow wannabes running around. 🙂 My mom on the other hand thinks its a little crazy to buy a foal from the auction. Her reasoning being you can’t look at both sets of parents (usually the sire is just a guess) and determine that they were bred with complimentary traits, gauging how tall they will be is much harder, not to mention a wild foal is a lot more dangerous, and I think she just thinks the breeding stock to choose from on Assateague is just not that amazing. I know all this, but its not going to change my desire to own a wild foal someday. I guess its just one of those things I feel that I have to do in my life. Now it’s just a matter of when.

Anyway, all that aside – its really really really hard not to want to take a foal home with you! I should know….how tempting is it when your horse trailer is on the island with you! Talk about torture!

After the foal training demo my mom and I headed over the bridge to Assateague Island. First we stopped at the pens that held all of the wild horses from the island. Early Monday morning the ponies had been rounded up into the pens to rest before they made the big swim across the Chincoteague Channel on Wednesday morning. And let me tell you those foals were sooooo cute! There was even a black and white pinto foal with 3 white heart markings on him – he was the talk of the island. I searched around for the horses I knew by name, Surfer Dude, Riptide, Southern Belle to name a few – and noted that some of the horses looked a little extra thin this year. Although as I should know – the Eastern Shore had a VERY hard winter with record amounts of snow – its no wonder the herd was a little malnourished looking – I heard some of last years foals didn’t even make it through the winter either.

I watched around the pen as potential pony buyers were scribbling in notebooks and marking down which foals caught their eye. I realized that this is the only way to remember which foal you might want to bid on. See the foals aren’t tagged with numbers until after they make the swim on Wednesday – so you can’t simply write down a number and then plan to bid on that one at Thursday’s Auction. You instead have to take photos, draw pictures and write descriptions in order to remember which foals you like best. It’s also important to take note of the foals mother, how tall is she, what is her build like, does she have good confirmation? Looking at a foals parents are the best way to tell more about what your foal will look like when it grows up. I also learned that a horse’s cannon bones (sort of like their shin) is the only bone that does not grow much more after birth – it will be about the same length when its a day old as it is when its 20 years old – so this is a good way to estimate how tall your foal will be by trying to find an adult with a similar length in cannon bone to estimate size. Here is also a link that describes some other ways to estimate how tall your foal will be when it matures.

After drooling over the foals for a while we headed over to the beach. The weather was wonderful and I fell asleep for a little while before it was time to head back to the Pony Centre for the 4pm show.

Me with Rainy's Boy

Before the show I brushed Minnow up on his tricks, after a good nights rest he was much more ready for perform. He practically dragged me into the arena. In between shows I rushed over to Pony Penning Enterprises to meet the Misty family pony, Rainy’s Boy, who was making a special appearance on the island. I got my photo taken with him, and subsequently purchased the book, The Forgotten Pony by Jessie-Ann Friend, which I had signed by Jessie-Ann Friend, Rebecca Stevens who owns Rainy’s Boy, Helen Merritt a character in the book, and Rainy’s Boy himself. I haven’t read the book yet, but am very much looking forward to reading this “mostly true” story about Rainy’s Boy. Jessie-Ann was actually mentored by Marguerite Henry herself, when she later moved to California and subsequently met Jessie. Jessie told us that Marguerite told her to always sign her name with a small horse shoe after it – I’ll have to remember that if I ever write a book!

"Wild Spirits" by Chincoteague Minnow

Minnow performed again at the 8pm show at the Pony Centre. This year Minnow’s painting sales seemed to be down, I’m assuming it was effects of the economy, but they just weren’t auctioning for as high as they normally do. I guess that much could have been expected, as everyone is tight with money right now. I had hoped to raise a lot more money to donate to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company as well as the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team, but Minnow did the best that he could. I love watching him interact with the children after the show, his eyes half close as they stroke his face, and every so often he reaches over and gives me a big sloppy pony kiss – as if to say thanks for bringing me here.

Look for the continuation to our journey to Chincoteague Island tomorrow!

"Sea Foam" by Chincoteague Minnow

**I called home at the end of the night to check on the little Dachshund. Ammo was easily adapting to spending 11 hours at home (and it should be noted that we do not crate him at all) – in fact I think he was sleeping all day long burrowed under the covers in our bed! When my husband returned each night he happily greeted him at the door, then proceeded to peer outside in the hopes that I was following closely behind.