Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-10-29
PONY PENNING.
A Favorite Sport of the People OF
Chtncote ague Island.
How Hundreds Of the Little Animals Are
Rounded Up and Captured by the
Men and Boys-i Gala
Occasion.

Chincoteague and Assateague have
had their hundredth annual pony pen
ming. Chincoteague is a small island
in the Atlantic close to the shore of Ac-
comack county, Va. Assateague is
long, narrow peninsula lying outside of
Chincoteague and protecting it from
the assaults of the Atlantic. Chin
colleague is glittering little island,
brilliant with sand and salt water,
deusely peopled, well wooded and
haunted by mocking birds. There is
neither poverty nor crime there, drunk
enness is almost unknown, and doors
are always unlocked. 1t is the boast
of Chincoteague that no slave ever lived
upon its soil, and that the island re-
NAMED true to the union throughout
the war, There are no better sailors
anywhere than the people of Chin
colleague, and there are no stancher
little boats than the Chincoteague ca
noe with double leg-of-mutton sails.
Nobody knows positively the origin Of
the Chincoteague ponies. 1t is only
known that they have roamed the
marshy pastures of the islands for at
least a century, and there is a tradition
that the ancestors of the ponies came
ashore from wrecked ship in the
eighteenth century. These, doubtless,
were full grown horses, and the Chin
colleague pony of to-day is degener-
ate, through droughts in summer and
exposure in the open pastures through
long winters. But degenerate as
he is, the Chincoteague pony is
fine, hardy, and often beauti-
full animal, with strength out OF
proportion to his size, and, when well
broken, has strength, agility and
speed. He is from ten to twelve hands
high and from six to eight hundred
pounds in weight. From two hundred
and fifty to four hundred OF these little
creatures roam the island pastures
There are, perhaps, half as many on the
lower end of Assateague.
stallion leads upon the pastures
group of from ten to twenty-five mares
and colts. The leader is on the con
slant lookout for danger, and at hi!
snort his whole polygamous family TAKE
to their heels. The ponies are really
far from wild, and one may easily ap
proach within fifty or twenty yards o
group at pasture. The older stallion
become fierce and quarrelsome. AM
have to be removed from the pasture
from time to time, lest they should de
stroy one another or the younger stal
lions. They are all excellent swimmers
and when the pastures become bare OF
Chincoteague they frequently swim t
the neighboring islets, where the sal
grass is still green. 1t is not uncom
mon to see from the top of Assateagu
light group of horses bathing in tn
surf. The colts are born and nurture
in the open pastures, and the annua
pony penning is for the double purpos
of branding these colts end sellin
some of the older horses.
Pony-penning day is still fete da
on Chincoteague. The pen for tn
horses is built near the center OF tn
village, and on the morning OF tn
pony penning men and boys mounte
on swift and well-brolsen ponies RIO
out to the pastures to drive IN the WI
creatures. The groups of ponies al
slowly driven together on the pastul
and then started downward. AS u
pen is neared the guards thicken,
that the whole band is easily drive
into the inclosure. Branding irons al
heated; men with rope nooses on u
end Of long poles leap into the pen
The colts are thrown to the ground al
held there while the iron is applie'
The branding done, the auction &c
lows. Unbrokcn horses fetch fro
twenty-five to forty dollars each. "
ers, broken TO harness, fetch as ing
as sixty dollars. Well-matched pai
sometimes fetch one hundred and III
dollars. The ponies have long oe'
the pets of children Of well-to-do fai
lies on the mainland, and OF late yea
have been sold over a large part OF u
United States. They are larger I'M
Shetland ponies and more beautiful
N. Y. Press.