Are you missing the daily walk? Please join me over at Flickr where I am putting together a series called
Highlights 2017 . I will post one or two (sometimes more) photos each day from my daily walks, bike rides, or just something in general, along with any thoughts that come to mind about the walks or the photos that seem worth sharing.
Glad to see you’re having a nice holiday, Robin! I’d love to see that pony swim sometime. 🙂
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Thank you, Cathy. 🙂 It was a mini-holiday. An afternoon and evening at the beach yesterday. I’d love to see the pony swim, too, but I’ve heard it’s hot, humid, buggy, and crowded, and everyone keeps telling me it’s not worth it. That’s probably the main reason I want to see for myself.
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And I just noticed that I managed to get the date wrong when I typed up the back of the postcard. Too late to fix it now. It should have been yesterday’s date.
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HAVE FUN!!!!!
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I did, Dawn. Thank you. 🙂
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I assume the ponies are rounded up for the swim – are they released again afterwards? I hope.
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Some are released, and some are sold, Carol. If interested, you can read about it here:
http://www.chincoteague.com/pony_swim_guide.html
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A postcard, how great, I love getting mail!….lol. Sounds like a fun time. 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed it, Joanne. 🙂
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Brilliant idea for a post – a post-card! 😉 Lovely day for the beach. I love the term Saltwater Cowboys. 🙂 Do they cull the herd or do medical care? Why do they round them up?
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Thank you, Eliza. 🙂 There are two herds of wild (of feral) horses on Assateague Island. The herd on the Maryland side is wild and gets no medical care or help in order to keep them wild. On the Virginia side of the island, the “wild” horses are owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. They keep approximately 150 horses on the island, and to control the population, they hold an auction every July (the last Thursday). The weekend before the auction, the Saltwater Cowboys round up the horses and pen them. Today at sunrise was the Beach Walk when the cowboys move the ponies from one corral to another. Tomorrow the vet will check them out, and on Wednesday they will swim the horses from Assateague Island to Chincoteague Island. They do it during “slack” tide when there is no current. (As a side note: The horses look almost terrified in most of the close-ups I’ve seen, but I don’t know how to judge the facial expression of a horse. The videos show them trying to turn back, but the Saltwater Cowboys keep them moving forward.) The ponies are allowed to rest for about 45 minutes after the swim, and then they are paraded through town to the carnival grounds. Thursday they auction off the foals. The auction not only helps keep the population down, but raises money for the fire department. On Friday the adult horses swim back to Assateague Island.
They have been doing this for 90 years. There is a book called “Misty of Chincoteague,” written in 1947, that tells a story about the pony round-up, swim, and auction. The author, Marguerite Henry, wrote a whole series, but I’ve only read the Misty book.
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Now that you mention the book, I remember it from my childhood. Even though it is likely traumatic for the horses, it is probably best to trim the herd for overall health. Thanks for explaining the round-up. I expect it attracts a fair amount of tourists. The horses are of tough stock, so would make a rugged choice for horse owners. The foals are best for training while young, I expect.
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“A fair amount” is an understatement, Eliza. lol! M and I had forgotten all about the round-up, and we were stuck in traffic for quite a while trying to leave Chincoteague. Ah well, it’s all part of the summer experience around here. 🙂
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Boosts the local economy! 😉
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That’s for sure!! 🙂
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Received your postcard. Enjoy a little of that for me please! 🙂
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Will do, CM. 🙂
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Receiving your card from the beach brought a good smile to my face. Cheers to your weekend.
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Thank you, Frank. I hope you had a good weekend, too. 🙂
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Yep … easy going as I have a slight strain of the lower back. .. .still taking it easy. See you Tuesday-Wednesday with the post.
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What a creative idea for a blog post! I love it!
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Thank you, Karma. 🙂
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