Posts Tagged ‘saltwater cowboys
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!
2011 Pony Penning Recap: July 27
July 27th was Pony Swim Day! The swim was set for between 12 and 1pm (whenever slack tide was) – this was the latest the swim time that had ever been set since I have been attending for the past 4 years. This gave us plenty of time to go out to breakfast before we had to make our way over to Pony Swim Lane.
If you have never been to Pony Penning – there are a few things you must know – if you want to see something…..like really see something….then you have to be willing to get a little dirty.
This is my mom, trekking through the swamp near Pony Swim Lane in order to get to a good spot for viewing the swim. Most people that have never been to the island ride shuttles in to watch the swim over at Memorial Park – but if you want to see more than just a few dots of swimming ponies off in the distance, you really need to go to Pony Swim Lane. It is here that the ponies come ashore after their swim, and where you can get up close and personal. Some people head to Pony Swim Lane and take one look at the mucky marsh and opt to wait on the road (where the horses will later be led down the street to the carnival grounds). But if you have come this far, you might as well take off your shoes (or pull on your rubber boots) and brave the swamp. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Its mushy, smells like dead stuff, and there are crabs everywhere – but it will wash off, and you will get to say you saw the ponies swim across the channel!
Usually I opt to stand under the foot bridge where the ponies come ashore to take pictures. But being that I’m 5’10” – crouching under a bridge for several hours is not so much fun. So this year I decided to wade into the bay and hoped that I could sneak my camera lens through the crowd. I lucked out, because being tall came at an advantage as I could stand about 6 feet behind the crowd and I had a clear view of the swim. We only ended up waiting about an hour for the swim to start, signified by a red flare set off by the fire department.
My telephoto lens on my camera gave me the ability clearly see over to Assateague, where the horses first hit the water.
The swim doesn’t last very long, but every year I see it I still find it enthralling. I like to picture a tiny little Minnow making that swim back in 1993, I bet he was the cutest foal that year!
Interestingly after the swim we had one rogue foal that decided she would much rather be back on Assateague.
She managed to slip through the cracks of the watchful Saltwater Cowboys and started to make her way back to Assateague before anyone noticed.
I believe she was the Neptune foal (signified by the baling twine around her neck) – which means she was the first foal to reach the shore, and would be the foal the person with the winning lottery ticket would get to take home.
After the swim we headed back to the Pony Centre to get Minnow ready for the pony show.
"Marsh Grass Stampede" by Minnow - pony penning 2011
Minnow always does his very best paintings during pony penning – and I’m not just saying that. And I find it so interesting that each year he seems to paint with a different technique. Last year he painted most of his paintings in a more diagonal stroke technique like this:
"Assateague Saltwater Ponies" by Minnow - 2010 Pony Penning
But, this year most of his paintings were done in a more up and down motion:
"Slack Tide Swimmers" by Minnow - pony penning 2011
I’m not sure how or why he decides to paint different ways on any given day. I don’t give him any sort of direction when we are painting, I simply hand him a brush with paint and let him do his thing. When people want to know how I taught Minnow to paint I always sort of struggle to come up with an answer. I just handed him a brush one day and waited to see what would happen. When he ultimately decided to strike it against the canvas he was rewarded – and almost immediately he began to create strokes and marks with it. His “style” as it is today developed over time, and by his own accord. To some extend when I reward him randomly for painting I think he believes he is getting rewarded for different strokes. But when he decides to paint for a week on end in the same style (instead of varying it up like he normally does to earn rewards) it makes me question what makes him decide to paint any certain way? I may never know. Perhaps he truly is inspired to paint the rolling ocean, or a herd of wild horses! Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure, his paintings are truly amazing and I’m so glad that he gets to share them with the World.
Check out all of our Pony Swim Pictures at Green Horse Studios!
And check back tomorrow for a recap on the Chincoteague Pony Auction!
