Posts Tagged ‘2013
The Super Painting Ponies
Halloween is one of my favorite “Holidays”, mostly in part because I have always loved creating costumes. None of my animals are safe during Halloween time, and even the ponies got in on the fun the other day as they so kindly allowed me to dress them up as Super Ponies!
Our adorable trio make for some pretty striking Super Heroes!
Our two brothers, Blitz and Boomer, made for a particularly adorable pair. And I’m pretty sure Blitz was convinced that younger brother Boomer was dressed as his sidekick.
Of course somehow Boomer always manages to steal the show…..
But Blitz was determined to be top Super Pony, and he showed us just how fast he can fly!
I’m pretty sure if I was in need of rescuing I’d want these Super Heroes to save me!
Meanwhile on the sidelines, adorable Ammo was in charge of all costume changes….
If you want to check out what Ammo dressed up as for Halloween, be sure to check out his blog post!
Pony Penning 2013: Chincoteague Pony Auction
The Pony Auction was held on Thursday, and kicked off with a great performance by the Chincoteague Pony Drill Team.
I stayed throughout the whole auction and was able to photograph all the foals that came through.
Prices ranged from about $600 – $2,500 for the foals that you were able to take home, but the buybacks always seem to go the highest.
The foals that are marked as buybacks can be purchased at the auction but they get to go back to Assateague to live out the rest of their days as a wild pony. So essentially you are making a donation to the fire company and you get the right to name your foal.
This year the highest priced foal was a cute little black and white filly that was designated as a buyback.
This foal sold for $12,000 and was purchased by a woman for her 80th Birthday. The auction crowd promptly sang her Happy Birthday as she entered the ring to meet her foal.
Later in the auction there was another foal purchased by a 100 year old woman – who’s dream was to own a pony. Her’s was a buyback foal as well for $10,000.
Someday I would love to purchase a foal from the auction, but that day was not this year. Regardless it’s always fun to watch the auction as people’s dreams come true!
Incase you missed it you can read our other posts on the 2013 Pony Penning:
Beach Walk HERE
Painting Ponies HERE
Pony Swim HERE
You can check out all the photos from the beach walk, pony swim and auction HERE. They are also available for purchase!
Pony Penning 2013: Chincoteague Pony Swim
The highlight for many who attend Chincoteague Pony Penning is the annual Pony Swim. I love watching the swim and taking photos and with this being my 6th year attending – I pretty much have a system down for getting a great spot for photos.
So on Wednesday morning my mom and I hiked down to Pony Swim Lane and into the swamp to find a spot to stand in the bay. As we were waiting for slack tide for the ponies to swim across a dark storm cloud began to approach behind us.
Just as the dark cloud was upon us the coast guard set off the flare to let us know that it was slack tide and the ponies were ready to swim.
Within minutes it was POURING rain, I was drenched and I was worried my camera would be damaged. Most people ran to hide under a nearby dock, while others left the pony swim site with crying children all together. But the diehards rode out the storm and cheered as the ponies dove into the water. I was among those diehards.
Once the ponies were safely ashore they evacuated the area pretty quickly. So I didn’t get to stick around too long to take photos of them.
Eventually we made the soggy wet walk back to the fairgrounds to see the saltwater cowboys herd the ponies into the pen.
I watched the ponies in the pens for a while, it’s always fascinating to see the stallions round-up their mares and try to keep the other stallions away.
This year’s swim was definitely one for the record books and I’m sure I will always remember it!
Tomorrow I’ll be back with photos from the auction. You can read our other posts on the beach walk HERE, and our painting ponies HERE.
You can check out all the photos from the beach walk, pony swim and auction HERE. They are also available for purchase!
Pony Penning 2013: Beach Walk
With our trip to the 88th Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim & Auction over I thought it would be fun to go back and recap all of our adventures on the island during the week.
This year we decided to head down on Sunday morning with the ponies (instead of our usual monday morning departure) so that we could see the Annual Beach Walk – something I had never seen before.
On the way onto Chincoteague we stopped at the fairgrounds to set-up our chairs for the auction on Thursday. Last year someone moved our chairs – so I wasn’t going to let that happen this year…
I may have gone a little crazy with the rope! But after having knee surgery earlier this year I knew I couldn’t last standing all day.
We then dropped off Minnow and Boomer at the Pony Centre and readied ourselves to attend the beach walk the next day.
Based on what I had read on the Pony Swim Guide, we had to be at the Assateague Island Beach by 6am on Monday morning in order to see the ponies walk the beach. Driving over the bridge to Assateague, it’s $8 for a day pass, which allows you to park your car in the beach lot and walk up towards the ocean.
Tip for next year: Bring a beach chair with you! You can stake out a spot to watch the walk along the beach as the saltwater cowboys bring the northern herd down the beach to join the ponies in the southern corral. We ended up waiting over an hour for the walk to take place, with the ponies arriving at our spot on the beach around 7:30am. But the nice part is that this event is not hot or buggy and you don’t have to stand in swamp water to enjoy it. My suggestion is to pack some breakfast, bring a chair, and be prepared to wait a little – but it was totally worth it!
This year the beach walk came along with lots of fog due to a rainstorm from the night before.
Afterwards you can follow the herd back to the southern corral and view all of the ponies in one place – we opted to head out though because we had to be back at the Pony Centre to feed our hungry ponies.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to share how the ponies did with their first performances of the week at the Pony Centre!
You can check out all the photos from the beach walk, pony swim and auction HERE. They are also available for purchase!
Painting Before Pony Penning
With our Pony Penning Trip just around the corner (next week!) Minnow has been doing a little painting to get ready.
With Paintbrush in mouth, he’s been creating some special masterpieces to take with us on the trip to the island.
Minnow is all smiles, as one of his favorite things to do is to paint!
Around here we like to think the mark of a true artist is the mess he leaves behind – and Minnow certainly knows how to make a mess!
See you all at Pony Penning 2013!
