Chincoteague Spring Pony Round Up!

Last week I travelled down to Chincoteague, Virginia to attend the spring pony round up. This photo is of two stallions in the pens and while there is some challenging going on, the ponies seem to know the drill and keep to their own family groups. As you can see by my photos the older stallion Surfer Dude (chocolate chestnut, flaxen mane) did a lot of snaking and posturing to keep things in order!
In the northern end two foals came in with the herd and some mares are very pregnant but after a very rough winter it looks like some of the mares are not carrying foals and the green grass is needed to fatten them up!
Enjoy all my photos from this trip here, or in my facebook album!

CHINCOTEAGUE PONY FANS: I am offering 4x6 photos in the Chincoteague album at $5 each, $8 for 4x6 plus web file of the same image, minimum order of four, other sizes and quantity discounts available. email me for further info and thank you for respecting my copyright!

The start of my road trip!

Today I started a road trip I have been planning all winter. I will be gone for about three weeks and will cover many miles. The plan is to travel down the easternmost route of the outerbanks of the east coast in the hopes of seeing some wild ponies, then on to Ocala to run two workshops featuring my friend and photographer extroardinaire Gabriele Boiselle, then on to New Orleans to visit my daughter Shelby.

I left home about 10 am in rain and temps of about 35 degrees. I travelled down along the Delaware Water Gap and saw some spectacular scenery, as well as bald eagles and hawks. Somewhere in Pennsylvania the rain gave way to sun and blue sky and the temperature steadily climbed into the 60's. Traffic was light and I made good time.

I stopped on the northern Maryland end of Assategue Island and saw some ponies. As you can see these ponies are tame and spend a lot of time grazing in the camp sites. One pony stuck its head in the car looking for handouts! One young pony is still quite furry in his winter coat!

I arrived in Chincoteague at sunset and was disappointed that the gate into the refuge was down, so no tour around the wild life loop for me. I will be up early so I can spend some time in the refuge before I head further south.

I have a room at the Assateague Inn for the night and have my window open to enjoy the island breezes and listen to the geese.

I will try to update the blog every day but I'm not making any promises!