The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-08-06
PONY PENNING.
a rAvorito Sport Of the People OF
ChinCoteaguoI Island


-
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,
dcnsely peopled, well wooded and
haunted by mocking birds. There 10
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-
mained true to the union throughout
tho war. There are no better sailors
anywhere than the people Of Chin
coteaRue, and there are no stancher
little beats than the Chincoteague CO.
noe with double leg-of-mutton sails.
Nobody knows positively the origin Of
the Chincoteague ponies. It Ia only
known that they have roemed the
marshy pastures OF the islands for 1t
least century, and there Is tradition
that the ancestors of the ponies came
ashore from q 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-
tul animal, with strength out OF
proportion to his size, aud, 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.
A stallion leads upon the pastures a
group of from ten to twenty-five mares
and colts The leader is on the con-
slant lookout for danger, and at his
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 OF
a group at pasture. The older stations
become fierce and quarrclsomc, and
have to be removed from the pastures
from time to time, lest they should de-
stroy one another or the younger stall
lions. They are all excellent swimmers,
and when the pastures become bare on
Chincoteague they frequently swim to
the neighboring islets, where the salt
grass is still green. It Is not uncom-
mon to see from the top OF Assateague
light group Of horses bathing in the
surf. The colts are born and nurtured
In the open pastures, and the annual
pony penning il for the double purpose
OF branding these colts and selling
some Of the older horses.
Pony-pcnning day is still fete day
on Chincoteague. The pen for the
horses is built near the center OF the
village, and on the morning OF the
pony penning men and boys mounted
on swift and well-broken ponies ride
out to the pastures to drive In the Wild
creatures. The groups Of ponies are
slowly driven together on the pasture
and then started downward. AS the
pen is neared the guards thicken, "a
that the whole band is easily driven
into the inclosure. Branding irons arc
heated; men with rope nooses on the
end of long poles leap into the pens.
The colts are thrown to the ground and
held there while the iron Is applied.
The branding done, the auction FOL
lows. Unbroken horses fetch from
twenty-five to forty dollars each. 9th
ers. broken to harness, fetch as high
as sixty dollars. Well-matched pairs
sometimes fetch one hundred and fifty
dollars. The ponies have long been
the pets Of children Of well-to-do fam
lies on the mainland, and OF late year,
have been sold over large part OF the
United States. They are larger than
shetland ponies and more beautiful
n. Y. Press.