Posts Tagged ‘purchase
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!
Paintings of the Painting Ponies
If you follow along on Ammo the Dachshund’s blog, then you may have heard that I had ordered a custom painting of him from Yellow Brick Home.
After receiving Ammo’s painting in the mail I just knew I had to commission some paintings of the rest of my boys. I was so excited when they were waiting for me at home when I got back from Chincoteague!
Aren’t they so cute? I just love them!
You can get your own custom pet portraits from Yellow Brick Home (we were not paid or perked to write this post – just wanted to share our happy little paintings).
Chincoteague Pony Penning 2012 – Recap
We’re back from the 87th Annual Chincoteague Pony Penning, and boy did we have fun!
Minnow spent all week painting and performing at the Chincoteague Pony Centre – something that we have done for the past 5 years in a row.
Minnow did not disappoint this year yet again – as he painted and sold 9 new canvases during our week long stay.
I say this every year, but Minnow really does do his best work while we are down on the island!
Not only did Minnow paint during the nightly shows at the Pony Centre, but he also performed our new skit – Super Hero Bootcamp.
Arguably one of our best performances to date, Minnow really showed his stuff!
Minnow was on fire all week – and practically drug me into the arena each night to perform. He truly loves it, and really kept the performance alive with his energy.
I was very proud of him, especially since I came down with a nasty cold the day we left for Chincoteague. I struggled to keep my energy up (something needed for this type of performance) – but Minnow proved he had more than enough for the both of us and really helped me keep going all week.
Even though I was fighting my cold all week, I still managed to attend the main festivities! The pony swim and auction!
Yes, I have seen it 5 years in a row now….but it never gets old.
It’s just so fascinating, and I love seeing the new foals that are born each year.
This year I timed the swim perfectly. I woke up at my normal time, headed to pony swim lane, hiked through the swamp, and only had to wait about 1/2 hour before the swim started.
The weather this year was perfect too – not too hot, with just the right amount of breeze….probably why a lot of the stallions were extra feisty this year.
On Thursday I watched the auction – but this year I didn’t get up early enough to make the very start of it (mostly because a few days of not enough rest and a bad cold had caught up with me – so I decided to sleep in a bit).
With cute babies like these I have no idea how I come back without one every year!
Sadly our time on Chincoteague had to come to an end – and now I’ll have to wait another whole year before we can return to see the swim and auction. Sigh, it’s going to be a long year….
If you would like to see all of the photos from the pony swim and auction click HERE. You can also purchase prints here as well.
Check out our online SHOP to see more original paintings by Minnow and his brothers.
