July/August 2025 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN July/August 2025 Page 29 – ponies of many colors. On Tuesday, in the pens on Assateague, the pony committee tags the foals and selects their “buyback” foals. Buybacks are those foals chosen to remain on the island forever. Young foals, older mares and ponies with minor injuries are marked with spray paint. These ponies will not swim but will ride a trailer to Chincoteague. On Wednesday morning, crowds pour in to watch the ponies swim across the bay. Bowden asks that folks bring their patience. “There will be a lot of people and things may slow up because of the security checks, but we want people to come and have a good time and make the most awesome memories they can,” she said. Swim time is announced at the carnival the night before and is based on the time of slack tide. This is that time when the water is still – that pause between the tide moving in and the tide moving out. Even though the ponies regularly swim on their own, the fire company still chooses slack tide as the safest time for the 200-yard swim across the channel. Boats form a path for the ponies to swim through. Tour boat companies sell seats to watch from a boat, or you can watch from the shore. Others bring their kayaks, or rent kayaks from a local rental company. Each year, the Coast Guard shoots an orange plume of smoke into sky when the ponies enter the water and a cheer goes up. The first foal to hit the shore is named King or Queen Neptune. This is the raffle foal. Tickets are sold at the swim and at the carnival’s information stand. Last year the fire company sold out of 12,000 raffle tickets. This is your chance to get a foal without having to bid at auction! After a short rest, the ponies are herded down the streets and into the fairgrounds pens. Lawn chairs line the roads. Everyone wants to see the ponies pass by! Every now and then, a foal will dart into a yard and a cowboy will have to loop around and chase him back. Down Main Street they go, and into the pens behind the carnival grounds where more crowds are waiting to celebrate their arrival. Because traffic on the island is often at a standstill on swim day, visitors might consider bringing bikes or visiting a bicycle rental shop. Most years, people set up lawn chairs days in advance of Thursday’s foal auction, but this year will be different. “We a r e no t t ak i ng any chances,” Bowden said. “Because of security and safety issues, people will not be able to set up chairs for the pony auction on Thursday until the morning of the auction.” Thursday’s auction opens around 8 a.m. and begins with a performance by the Chincoteague Ponies Come Into South Pens On Beach Walk Day Stallion Named Puzzle At 2024 Pony Swim A Century in the Making: 100th Anniversary of Pony Penning Even though these wild ponies are strong swimmers – swimming to neighboring islands on their own regularly – the pony care team still takes extra precautions to ensure safety. Every pony is vetted in the two days before the swim. The very young, the old, and those with signs of injury do not swim. They are transported to the fairgrounds on Chincoteague by trailer. The saltwater cowboys hold the ponies on the shoreline until the exact moment of slack tide. This is the time between the tide coming in and going out when the water is perfectly still, making it the safest time to swim. The ponies swim a direct line of only about 200 yards, between boats that monitor their progress. The ponies are given a half hour or more to graze on the shoreline and rest after the swim before they walk down the streets to the fairgrounds. From the cover (Continued from page 28) (Continued on page 33)