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 If you’ve read any of the Marguerite Henry books, you should be familiar with the name, Chincoteague.
There are two herds of ponies that live on Assateague Island. According to legend they are descendants of horses from a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast. The Maryland herd is managed by the National Park Service. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company and grazes in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
The Virginia herd is rounded up each year for the Pony Penning and Auction. The swimming of the ponies across the channel from Assateague to Chincoteague began in 1925. The sale of the foals and the proceeds of the carnival are used to benefit the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company.
“Misty of Chincoteague” by Marguerite Henry, was published in 1947 making Pony Penning Day nationally famous.
This is a fun, family vacation. If you want to see the ponies in the wild, you need to go at some time other than Pony Penning Week (the last week of July). Here’s a journal of a vacation my three daughters (ages 10, 14, & 17) and I took to Chincoteague Island in 2003.
July 29 Tuesday Arrival
We arrived on Chincoteague Island at 2:30 p.m. After settling into our motel room, we drove around trying to locate the beach and the area where the ponies would swim the following morning. We quickly learned that it was easier and faster to walk or ride bikes to get around on the island rather than driving.
The permanent population of the island is about 3,000, but 40,000 to 50,000 tourists swarm in during Pony Penning Week. The traffic congestion was unbelievable and even when you could drive somewhere there were very limited parking areas.
We went to Main St. and looked through some of the shops, then went to the carnival grounds and saw where the ponies would be penned for the auction. We rented bikes at a shop near the motel.
The ponies were supposed to swim at about 10:00 or 11:00 the following morning, so we thought we would be able to get there plenty early enough if we got up at 6:30 a.m. We talked about either riding the bikes or taking one of the shuttle buses over to the swim area.
7-30-2003 Wednesday Pony Swim to Chincoteague
So much for sleeping until 6:30! The motel’s version of a wake-up call was to send someone along the balcony to bang on the motel room doors. That started at about 5:00. It was a very effective technique. I think it probably woke up everyone in the entire motel. As we began to get ready, I looked out the window and saw that the skies were very overcast. The temperature was in the 60’s. Of course it could never rain on the day of the pony swim! We put on our long-sleeved shirts and set out, without even an umbrella. Actually we had an umbrella, but we forgot to get it out of the van. We had given up on the idea of riding the bikes, so we set out with the intention of walking to the pony swim area.
Before we had walked too far a shuttle bus drove up to us and stopped, so we hopped in. The shuttle was an old school bus with a manual transmission. The older woman driving the bus zoomed around the small island roads like she was driving a little sports car. The shuttle dropped us off at Memorial Park where we had been told the ponies would swim. It was about 7:15 and to my dismay I saw that there were already thousands of people there.
As we were standing there trying to decide what in the world to do, we heard a man announce over the loudspeaker that if you were at Memorial Park you would not be able to see the ponies at all. The swim would be taking place south of the park in an area that’s called Pony Swim Lane. Why did they tell everyone to go to Memorial Park then?
I hadn’t come all this way and gotten up this early for nothing so I was determined to get as close as we possibly could. We started walking south along the shoreline to the area where the swim channel was. The area was very marshy and muddy. The tourist information said to wear your old shoes to this event and now we understood why! There were private cottages along the way with boardwalks leading to docks out in the bay. Most of the owners were kind enough to let the crowds climb up and over their walkways, but one woman was vigilantly patrolling her walkway and refused to let anyone cross over it. There was no way to go but under, so we had to crouch way down and creep underneath it.
 We reached the temporary pen where the ponies rest after their swim. The only way to the other side of the pen was through water. Since it was cool we didn’t want to go through there and get all wet, so we looked for a spot along the shore with a good view. We found an area with only a few kids in front of us. It was now about 7:30 a.m. We decided that was about as good a place as we were going to get and decided to wait there.
There were narrow docks in front of and to the right of us, but we had a good view of Assateague Island and most of the swim channel. Now they were estimating the swim to begin between 9:30 and 10:30, so we had 2 to 3 hours of standing and waiting. A coast guard boat was out in the channel. When they determined that there was a “slack tide” they would set off an orange flare which was the signal for the saltwater cowboys on Assateague to drive the herd forward. Apparently a slack tide can occur at either low or high tide and means that there is no undercurrent present which would make it difficult for the ponies to swim.
During our long wait it was rather breezy and cool. Then it began to rain. We had no raincoats, no umbrella, not much protection of any sort from the weather except our long-sleeved shirts. I was beginning to wonder who in their right mind would stand for hours out in this kind of weather just to watch a bunch of scraggly ponies swim. Fortunately a woman standing next to us felt sorry for us. She offered us an extra umbrella that her family wasn’t using. All four of us huddled together under the small umbrella as best we could and were able to stay reasonably dry. If it were not for her kindness we would have been pretty miserable.
Her 8 year-old son and his two cousins kept us entertained as we waited. They were right at the water’s edge catching crabs and playing in the mud. It was all their mothers could do to keep them from falling into the water. The boys were particularly intrigued by a dead jellyfish that floated up right in front of us. Another entertaining site was the people standing in the water on the other side of the swim channel. There were both adults and kids out there, some up to their waists, some in swimming suits, others in regular clothes. They definitely had a great view, but it made me cold just looking at them.
 Around 9:30 we could see the herd appear off in the distance out of the wooded area and onto the marshland of Assateague. Everyone got all excited that they would be coming across right away, but we ended up waiting another hour after that. When the flare finally went off you could feel the excitement in the air as the herd galloped closer and closer. As they approached the channel the ponies began stepping out into the water. (Why didn’t we bring our binoculars?) As the water became too deep for them to walk any longer you could see them begin to swim. Once they started swimming all you could see was their heads bobbing up and down in the water. Since it was rainy I hadn’t brought the video camera along, but I did have my digital camera with a zoom lens.
 Everything was going normally for a while. Then when they were about halfway across the channel 5 horses split off from the herd and started swimming in our direction, toward the docks. There were 2 foals and three adults. They were heading straight for the dock right in front of us. There were some small boats tied to the dock and the ponies were swimming right into the rope lines. I was worried that they were going to get tangled up in the ropes and drown, but somehow they made it through and underneath the dock. I was amazed. There were 3 mares and a foal standing in the water right in front of us.
 I started taking pictures. It never occurred to me until later that we might have been in a very dangerous spot if the ponies had tried to come up on the shore. Two of the Chincoteague volunteers jumped into the water and tried to shoo the ponies to our right where they could go under the other dock and rejoin the rest of the herd. The woman volunteer seemed a little panicky and kept yelling at everyone to get back. A man behind us kept saying that we should watch out because they were wild horses and they would bite us. I was just concerned with getting a good picture.
 They were able to get the 4 ponies that swam under the dock to the correct area. But there had been 5 ponies that swam away from the others. There was a small bay filly stranded on the other side of the dock. Someone in one of the boats spotted the foal and pulled up alongside her. One of the men in the boat leaned out and grabbed her around the neck. Someone grabbed him by the legs so he wouldn’t fall into the water also. The boat gently guided the little filly to shore.
Now all the ponies were on land and grazing in the holding area where they would rest for about an hour. We watched them for a while. It was a little more crowded than they were used to so some of them were a bit grumpy with each other kicking and squealing, but overall they were pretty calm. The most striking foal I saw was one that was nearly all white except for a brown area right around the top of his head and ears. That type of marking is called a medicine hat and is pretty rare.
 We walked back out to the street and found a place away from the crowds where we could watch them bring the herd to the carnival grounds. The area where we stopped didn’t have too many people and I wondered what would keep the ponies from wandering off the street and right into people’s yards. After the ponies had rested sufficiently we saw the procession heading down the street toward us. The saltwater cowboys on their horses were pretty well lining the ponies on both sides which helped keep them from straying off. But guess what?
When they came to our area one pony did sneak off – to our side! In fact it was heading right for Julie. She ran behind me and I tried to hide behind a mailbox. We weren’t really in any danger, but it was a little exciting for a moment. Someone came over quickly and got the pony back onto the street. It was neat seeing all the horses and ponies marching right through town.
07-31-2003 Thursday The Auction
We got up at 6:30 and rode our bikes to the carnival grounds. We hoped to get a good spot to watch the foal auction. The pony herd on Assateague must be kept at about 150 ponies, so each year most of the foals are sold at this auction. The auction was scheduled to begin at 8:00. We arrived at about 7:15. People had set lawn chairs out around the auction area to reserve their places days ahead of time. We had to stand (once again) behind all the chairs. We could see pretty well, but it would have been much more comfortable to be able to sit since we ended up watching for over 3 hours.
 During the auction two volunteers would bring out the foal that was being sold. They tried to maneuver it around the ring so prospective buyers could get a good view of it. That usually wasn’t too easy. The foals had just been taken away from their mothers the day before and they were very rambunctious and uncooperative. A few of the larger foals required three people to control them. Some of the foals, when they realized that they couldn’t break free from their handlers, tried to sit down and refused to move at all.
Bidding usually started at around $1,000. The medicine hat colt that we had seen the day before sold for $5,600. There were a lot of brown and white pintos, bays, chestnuts, a few duns, and one black and white foal. Some of the youngest ones were too young to leave their mothers. They were auctioned, but then returned to their mothers. They go back to live with the herd a while longer and are rounded up again in October on Assateague. The owners have to return and pick them up then.
There were two turnback foals auctioned this year. These are foals, usually fillies, that have been selected to become permanent members of the herd. Whoever purchases them is listed as the owner on their registration certificate, but the horse will always live on Assateague Island. The turnback foals brought higher prices than any of the other foals we saw sold, I think around $6,000 each. The lowest price we saw was $1,000. Average was probably about $1800. People kept crowding in behind and beside us until I had so little space that I had to stand sideways to fit. A woman squeezed in on my right with a lawn chair and then glared at me like I was obstructing her view. I would have liked to have seen more of the auction but was beginning to feel so claustrophobic I had to get out of there.
 The Beebe Ranch is run by Billy Beebe, the cousin of Paul and Maureen Beebe (from the Misty book), the brother and sister who originally owned Misty. We watched a video about Misty, saw the barn in which she lived, and the house Misty stayed in during the hurricane of 1962. They also have the stuffed Misty and her daughter, Stormy, on display in the house. Billy Beebe was 6 when the movie, “Misty of Chincoteague” was filmed. He played the small boy who rode the pony, Patches.
8-01-2003 Friday Swim Back to Assateague
The ponies were supposed to leave the carnival grounds at 11:00 for their swim back to Assateague Island. After several days of pretty strenuous exercise I was determined to have an easy day, so we drove the van over to the carnival grounds at about 9:30 to look at the ponies one last time. We saw that they were loading some of the foals that had been sold the day before into trailers and went over to watch them.
I wanted to videotape the swim back so we got into the van and headed over to the swim area. Much to my surprise there was a huge crowd already there and there was absolutely nowhere to park. I realized we might miss the whole thing just trying to find a place to park, so I gave Lisa the video camera and dropped the three of them off at the swim lane. I hoped to park the van and join them again before the ponies swam back. I figured if I couldn’t get back in time, Lisa could at least capture it on video.
The only place I could find to park was back at the carnival grounds on the other side of the island. The ponies were running behind schedule, so fortunately they hadn’t even left yet. I started the walk back to join my daughters, following the route the ponies would take. I walked at least 2 ½ miles, but made it back to the swim area ahead of the ponies. When I saw the thousands of people there I realized that I might not be able to find the kids in that crowd. I went to the area where I had dropped them off and followed the path toward the seashore. It was incredibly mucky and wet. I tried to pick the most solid way, but quickly sank in black muck over the top of my shoes. Fortunately I spotted the kids pretty quickly.
I took the video camera and gave Lisa the digital camera. Kristy, Julie, and I wanted to get a little closer so we waded out into an area where the water was about halfway up to our knees. We stood there waiting a while when Julie noticed something crawling up the back of Kristy’s pant leg. It was a pretty good-sized crab. It was a good thing we had seen those boys playing with them on Tuesday, otherwise I probably would have thought it was a tarantula or something. None of us wanted to touch it, so Julie took off her sandal and flicked it off. Unfortunately she didn’t flick it too far away, so we were worried that it would find its way back and crawl up one of our legs again. This thought was so unpleasant to Julie that she decided to go back and join Lisa on drier ground.
Kristy and I were happy that we didn’t see any more crabs after that. I didn’t think we had the greatest view where we were so I decided we should move out into a little deeper water where I could see another group of people standing. We had to cross through a little channel of deep water to get over there. The water was about mid-thigh, so it was a little treacherous getting through it. I envisioned myself falling and dropping the video camera into the water, but we both made it safely.
We chatted with some of our new neighbors as we waited. We saw a jellyfish float by and hoped it would scare away the people who were in even deeper water in front of us. If they left we would have a better view. One man came at nearly the last moment and stood practically right in front of us. Our little group asked him (politely?) to please get out of our way, and he did - a little.
 Finally we heard the crowd along the pony lane stirring and knew that the ponies were coming. They splashed through the marsh, ventured out into the water, and started swimming. Everyone cheered when they reached the shore on the other side. I thought this was one of the most interesting parts of our week because we could see so much better than when they swam to Chincoteague on Tuesday.
We watched them until we couldn’t see the ponies any longer, then we joined the crowd heading back to land. We had to go back through the same little channel we had crossed before. There was a line waiting to cross at the shallowest area. We joined Lisa and Julie and slopped back through the mud to the street. After trudging about 1 ½ miles back to the van we drove back to the motel and changed out of our soggy, muddy clothes. My formerly white tennis shoes and socks were so black and disgusting looking that I just threw them out.
 We went to the Chincoteague Pony Centre to watch the show they perform with Chincoteague Ponies. They have a small indoor arena where they demonstrate different ways the ponies are used. They also own some ponies that are descendants of Misty. My favorite part of the show was a contest that was kind of like musical chairs on horses. Several kids were riding in the ring. When the music was turned off the kids had to jump off their pony, run around the front to the opposite side and get back on from the wrong side. The last person to get on and get both feet back into the stirrups was out. They continued until there was only one person left in the ring. After the show we returned to the motel, had pizza and packed up everything for our trip home the next day.
Additional info on Assateague/Chincoteague
www.assateagueisland.com
www.chincoteague.com
Chincoteague Pony Breed Registries
www.chincoteague.com
www.pony-chincoteague.com
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