![]() ![]() In 1927, the crowd of spectators was estimated to be approximately 25,000. The permit allows the fire department to maintain a herd of up to 150 horses. Fish and Wildlife Service which allows the fire department to let the horses graze on the Virginia side of Assateague Island. The fire department owns the herd, and holds a grazing permit from the U.S. In 1924, the first official Pony Penning Day was held, where the foals were auctioned at $25–50 each to raise money for fire equipment. The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company was established in the same year, after a pair of fires ravaged the island. ![]() In 1922, a causeway was completed that connected the Chincoteague Island to the Virginia mainland. The ponies were transported by truck for the first two years after the move, before the annual swim was begun in 1925. ![]() This necessitated a change in the pony penning format, and by 1923, all parts of pony penning except for the actual roundup had moved to Chincoteague Island. The penning took place on both islands, until a wealthy farmer purchased a significant portion of Assateague Island, which forced many settlers to move to Chincoteague Island. In 1909, the last Wednesday and Thursday of July were designated as the annual days for pony penning. Over time, the sheep population diminished and the pony population grew and eventually sheep penning was halted. The event consisted of two days of horse and sheep roundups on Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. The first written description of the pony penning appeared in 1835, and by 1885, the event had become a festival day. Prior to 1924 īy the 1700s, the pony penning was an annual event and unclaimed animals were branded or marked for ownership by groups of settlers. At some point after the ponies arrived on the island in the 16th or 17th century, pony penning began as a way for locals to claim, brand, and harness the wild herds. The National Park Service, which controls the ponies on the Maryland side of Assateague, claims that the horses were brought to the island in the 17th century however, leaders of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which owns the ponies on the Virginia side of Assateague, claim that the horses are descended from Spanish horses who swam to the island from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon off the Virginia coast on their way to Peru in the 16th century. There are several theories about how the Chincoteague ponies came to exist on Assateague Island. Once on Chincoteague Island, the Saltwater Cowboys herd the ponies to pens on the Chincoteague Carnival Grounds where some of the foals are auctioned off on Thursday. The ponies swim across the channel during slack tide, when the water has minimal tidal movement. For the pony swim, the Saltwater Cowboys round up feral Chincoteague ponies from Assateague Island and drive them across the Assateague Channel to Veteran's Memorial Park on Chincoteague Island. ![]() The Chincoteague Fire Department conducts the event, which consists of a pony swim on Wednesday and a pony auction on Thursday. Pony Penning, sometimes known as Pony Penning Days or Pony Swim, is an annual event held in Chincoteague, Virginia on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July. Chincoteague ponies arriving on Chincoteague after swimming the channelĪnnually, on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |