Swimming
Ponies!
From 7 to 9 am this Wednesday, July 30th wild ponies
will be herded into a sea channel in Chincoteague, Virginia.
Every year these Chincoteague ponies swim for shore
on the other side. There they will rest, then be herded to a fair
grounds where foals will be auctioned off to benefit a local volunteer
fire department.
This week marks the 83rd annual Chincoteague pony roundup.
This is the only herd of wild horses east of the Rocky Mountains,
and they live on Assateague Island, a National Wildlife Refuge.
Each year they are rounded up and driven into the water,
where the ponies swim across a channel from Assateague to Chincoteague,
which only takes about five minutes.
The baby ponies are sold to benefit the local Chincoteague
Volunteer Fire Company. They are left with their mothers for a few
more months, buyers pick up the ponies in fall. All the ponies and
foals swim back to their home on Assateague Island the next day.
In 1924 two fires burned down the town of Chincoteague,
Virginia. Local residents formed a volunteer fire company and held
carnival to raise money for firefighting equipment, including a pony
roundup.
The event has been held every year since that time, and attracts thousands
of visitors every year.
This year's schedule of events is:
Pony Swim Day July 30, 2008 The pony swim is expected
to take place between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Auction Day July 31, 2008 - 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon - Auction
of Ponies (yearlings or younger) owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer
Fire Co.
Ponies swim back to Assateague August 1st, 2008. Time to
be announced.
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The Feather Fund is a non-profit organization whose
mission is to continue the work begun by Carollynn Suplee to assist
deserving children with the purchase and attendant costs associated
with the acquisition of Chincoteague ponies, with the goal of helping
each child learn about responsibility, care, love, work ethic, as
well as the concept of "giving back to others" through the
care and training of his or her animal.
For more information take a look at the Featherfund
website at http://www.featherfund.org/
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