Crockett's Photography - History and schedule for the Annual Chincoteague Volunteer Firemen's Carnival and Pony Penning.

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The 77^thAnnual Chincoteague
Volunteer Firemen's Carnival and Poney Penning

Wild Chincoteague Ponies July 24, 2002, marks the start of the 77^th Annual Chincoteague Volunteer Firemen's Carnival and Pony Penning.
The pony swim is whitnessed by thousands of visitors every year and is always a crowd-pleasing event.

Coverage is provided by local TV stations and Good Morning America, usually broadcasts the swim live throughout the United States.

The swim: Takes place on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, from Assateague Island to Chincoteague Island at Memorial Park. The ponies (150-175 of them) will swim on the slack tide (7a.m. - 1 p.m.) on the last Wednesday in July.

The Auction: The foals will be auctioned to the public on Thursday (from 8 a.m. until noon) at the carnival grounds on South Main Street. Foals will be sold to the highest bidders and winning bids can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The return swim: is from Chincoteague Island at Memorial Park to Assateague Island. The remaining ponies will make their return swim to Assateague Island at slack tide on Friday.

A Brief History
The Origin of the ponies:
There are a few theories about how the ponies came to live on Assateague Island. A more romantic one is that they swam to shore from a Spanish galleon wrecked on a nearby shoal. This theory is supported today by the discovery in 1997 of the wreck of the La Galga, a Spanish 50-gun frigate carrying soldiers, horses, and treasure that ran aground during a hurricane in 1750. The wreck occurred close enough to the shore where there could've been survivors (including horses).
Over the years, the horses’ growth likely have been stunted due to brackish water and a poor diet. The cold winters and summer insects forced adaptations such as thick coats and a stocky build. Thus evolved today’s Chincoteague ponies.
By nature, the ponies separate into different herds called bands, each with up to 20 ponies and a stallion leader. The bands tend to remain in the same general area each day, roaming in search of forage and water. The size of the band depends on the stallion’s dominance and ability to defend his mares against other stallions. Occasionally, a young stallion is successful in stealing one or more mares from a more established stallion, and thereby forms a new band.
The Origin of Poney Penning:
The Pony Penning of today evolved from animal pennings that were held on Assateague Island back in the 1800’s. Once a year, the Chincoteague and Assateague villagers who kept livestock on Assateague Island would round up their animals so they could be separated for branding and sale.
In 1925, a large downtown area of the island was destroyed by fire. The residents devised a plan to raise revenue for the purchase of firefighting equipment to protect the town from any future fires. So the Annual Chincoteague Volunteer Firemens' Carnival and Pony Penning was born.
Three-quarters of a century later and the Chincoteague firemen, better known as the "saltwater cowboys" are still rounding up the wild Chincoteague ponies and herding them across the Assateague Channel to the carnival grounds for auction. This way the herd is kept to a manageable size of about 150 ponies which lessens their impact on Assateague's ecological system and the all volunteer Chincoteague Fire Department gets its much needed revenue to provide care for the ponies and help buy new equipment for the fire station.
Pony Tails and Pony Tales:
Wild Assateague Pony
Bernie Pleasants was the auctioneer at this event for thirty-two years. Who else could better tell the stories about the people and ponies and memorable events that have taken place there over the years. Enjoy reading "Chincoteague Pony Tales".