Chincoteague Island Pony Penning
by Sam Serio
"A wild, ringing neigh shrilled up from the hold of the Spanish galleon. It was not the cry of an animal in hunger. It was a terrifying bugle. An alarm call."
"The captain of the Santo Cristo strode the poop deck. 'Cursed be that stallion!' he muttered under his breath as he stamped forward and back, forward and back."
Thus begins the tale of Misty of Chincoteague, a fictional pony beloved of countless schoolchildren since Marguerite Henry's classic was published in 1947. Although the real story of how Chincoteague ponies came to inhabit the marshes of Assateague Island has never been established, These though, intelligent, and independent little horses have been entwined in the culture of Chincoteague Island for at least three hundred years.
A trip to the tiny island during the final week of July will find you as one of tens of thousands of visitors from around the world eagerly anticipating the annual Chincoteague Pony Penning and Auction. The practice of pony penning began with the early settlers of Virginia's Eastern Shore, who used both Chincoteague and Assateague Islands as grazing grounds. When a few families settled permanently on Chincoteague in the early 18th century, they continued penning in order to collect, brand, and break their loose ponies.
Penning soon became a social highlight on the 18th century Chincoteague calendar, with feasting and revelry enjoyed by all the island families. Dr. Thompson Holmes, a Chincoteague resident, was the first to publish a decription of the Assateague penning in 1835, referring to seafood and "exhilarating liquor" as part of the celebration.
Although pony penning on Chincoteague Island has been occurring since the 1850s, the Pony Penning of today didn't start until 1925. Following a series of nearly disastrous fires, the people of Chincoteague Island realized they needed both updated fire fighting equipment and the means to pay for it.They began holding a carnival managed by the volunteer fire deparment during Pony Penning. During the first carnival, fifteen young ponies were auctioned to raise funds for the new fire equipment.
Word of the pony swim and auction soon reached the Virginia shore, and within 12 years the crowd for Chincoteague's carnival and Pony Penning exceeded 25,000. In 1947, the year Misty of Chincoteague was published, the Chioncoteague Fire Department began breeding and grazing their own herd of ponies at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island.
When attending the Pony Penning, you'll be kept busy watching the Saltwater Cowboys herd their equine charges out of the Wildlife Refuge at low tide and swim them across the Assateague Channel to be penned, examined, and auctioned off. But in your spare time, you can enjoy all the live entertainment, raffle drawings, and summertime fare that any seashore carnival can offer. If you're lucky, you may even win the first colt or filly to make it out of the water and be crowned King or Queen of Neptune.
If you're coming to buy a Chincoteague foal, however, be prepared for some stiff competition. The average price for the 78 foals sold in 2006 was over $2100 dollars.
But for all the former schoolchildren who remember Misty through the mists of time, that price isn't nearly high enough!