The ponies swim across the channel in about five minutes. The crowd cheers again as the animals reach shore. Back on dry land, the ponies shake the water from their manes. Then they start to graze calmly. Some wander right up to the fence that separates them from the onlookers.
Soon cowboys herd the ponies through town to the carnival grounds. The next day most of the young ponies, called foals, will be auctioned, or sold to the highest bidder. The pony auction does three things:
And most important, it keeps the pony population at the proper size. Resources such as food will only support about 150 ponies on the southern end of Assateague Island. A larger number would hurt the island's ecology, or balance of life.
HISTORY AND MYSTERY
Assateague is a long, narrow island. It stretches between southern Maryland and northern Virginia. On one side is the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side is a quiet bay.
The ponies have been roaming free on the island for hundreds of years. They are feral animals. This means that their ancestors once were tame.
No one knows exactly how the ponies got to the island. Some people believe that long ago the first ponies were being transported by ship from Spain. They think the ship wrecked near the island in a storm, and the ponies swam ashore.
Most experts, though, think the first settlers of mainland Maryland and Virginia brought the ponies with them from England. Later they turned the animals loose to graze on Assateague Island.
HARSH HABITAT
Today's ponies lead a hard life. In the summer they face hot weather and biting insects. In the winter they must grow thick coats to protect themselves from bitter winds.
Spring and fall are the best seasons. The weather on the island is mild, and there is plenty of grass for the ponies to eat. The ponies also eat leaves and twigs. They even munch on poison ivy, which doesn't seem to bother them.
These island grazers may be the size of ponies (less than 58 inches tall), but they are actually horses. Experts think that the harsh habitat, or place where they live, accounts for their small size. In fact, when some of the auctioned foals leave Assateague and receive better food and shelter, they grow to horse size. But people have been calling them ponies for years, and the name has stuck.
PONY BANDS
The ponies live together in small groups called bands. Some bands may have as few as two ponies. Others may have a dozen. In most bands there are usually several mares, or adult females, some foals, and one adult male pony.
The adult male pony is called a stallion. It is his job to protect the band. Sometimes stallions try to steal ponies from other bands. This can lead to fights between stallions. They bite and kick with their heavy hooves until one stallion backs away.
In the spring, mares give birth. Within minutes, their foals begin to walk on wobbly legs. Soon they are running and playing. At first they drink their mother's milk to help them grow. Then they begin to eat grass as the older ponies do.
MANAGING THE HERDS
There are two main groups, or herds, of wild ponies on Assateague Island. Each herd has 100 to 150 ponies and includes many pony bands. One herd lives on the Maryland side of the island. The other lives on the Virginia side. A fence at the state line keeps the herds apart.
National Park Service rangers manage the herd on the Maryland side of the island. They control the number of ponies there by using a special vaccine, or medicine. Each year they inject the vaccine into some of the mares. The vaccine keeps the mares from having babies that year.
The Chincoteague Fire Department manages the herd on the Virginia side of the island. It controls the number of ponies there through the annual pony auction.
RETURN TO THE WILD
At the auction, some people bid on ponies to take home. Others just come to watch. In 2001, 85 ponies were sold. One foal sold for $10,500. That set a new record price for the auction. In all, that auction raised $167,000.
The day after the auction, Chincoteague cowboys herd the ponies back to the water's edge. Crowds cheer again as the ponies swim home to Assateague Island. There they will be free to roam again for another year.
Text by John Micklos, Jr.
This article appears on pages 4-9 of our April-May 2002 issue.
LINKS
GAME: Pony Auction
Gallop through brainbusters about Assateague ponies.
PonyCam
Trot over here for pictures from the July 2001 pony auction.
The Assateague Naturalist
Learn about the ponies and their neighbors—elk, rabbits, egrets, wildflowers, and much more.
