Chincoteague 2007.The dream begins.
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Our love of the Chincoteague Pony began as a normal beach vacation in 2007 during Penning Week. My parents, my 9-year old daughter, Eden, and I traveled in luxury in their RV and stayed bayside at Tom Cove's Campground for a front-row seat to the swim. It was our first visit to the island, and would be the beginning of a lifelong love affair. We just didn't know it at the time.
From our RV roof, we watched the ponies swim across the channel. It was a beautiful day and even as newcomers, we could feel the energy in the crowd lining the water. We later wandered in to town and experienced oyster sandwiches, carnival rides, and the ponies. We hung out at the corral in town for hours, picking "our" horses. We weren't planning on attending the auction because we were there to just dream, yet we couldn't help but wiggle in to watch the bidding for a few minutes. The air was charged with excitement and I kept a tight grip on Eden's little hand to prevent us from becoming new pony owners. She looked up at me with big blue pleading eyes, and I replied back a firm "No." Not wanting to torment the child, we left and headed to the beach. Our last adventure of the week was thrilling as we rented kayaks to be close to the ponies for the swim back to Assateague. It had been a perfect vacation for horse-crazy girls. Eden has had a fascination with horses since watching Spirit of the Cimarron at age 4. It was torture for her to have to wait until age 5 when she could join the U.S. Pony Club. Her first mount was her Coach Ellen Fisher's dun mare, Bee, which closely resembled Spirit. The addiction was born. From that point on, it was horse lessons, horse shows, horse birthday parties, horse clothes, horse magazines, horse trading cards, horse Halloween costume, horsegirl galloping through the house making horse sounds, getting in trouble at school for doodling horses instead of work, broken shoulder falling off a horse, horse artwork, horse bedroom, horse vacations, horse, horse, horse..... sigh..... it was a beautiful obsession for a little girl to have. |
The Feather Fund 2009.Eden's dream is born.
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Surprisingly, I actually remember when 10-year old Eden asked if she could try to win a pony, a Chincoteague Pony.
Although she'd been a member of the Peace Point Pony Club for five years, she'd ridden her coach's horses. There was no reason to own one. It was a wonderful convenience as a parent to not have to own a horse as Eden went through this 'phase' of her life. Then one day everything changed. Eden had been reading an article in one of her horse magazines about Chincoteague Ponies, and the Feather Fund. She said there was a contest to win a pony, and she thought she met all of the requirements to enter. Before I could say no, she began reading the story of Sea Feather. Now if you've never read it, please treat yourself to it, but grab some tissues first [http://www.featherfund.net/carollynns-story.html]. Not wanting to squash her hopes to reach for the stars, and quite honestly thinking she wouldn't have any chance to win being so young and with so many other entries, I wiped tears (I was a sniffling mess after Carollynn's story) and told her she could apply. There are defining moments in life that you just know are game changers, One of ours came in the form of a phone call one evening in May 2009, from a lady that we would later come to love, Lois Szymanski. She told us that Eden had been chosen as one of the 2009 Feather Fund pony winners, and was the youngest winner to date. I just sat there in stunned silence. Eden's face almost broke smiling. Well, we could board at the horse farm next door or spend the next few months building a barn, fencing a pasture, installing water and electric lines, and restoring the horse trailer. No biggee, we built. My husband, Eden's stepdad, Keith, is a saint, and made it all happen. (Yes, we laid on the beach most of Penning week completely exhausted but our daughters were happy). The last week of July, we traveled to Chincoteague for a second time, but this time we would be returning with a pony. The Feather Fund family is a gift and I'm not sure what was better, winning a pony or winning this awesome new family. With Lois and her daughter, Shannon's, guidance, Eden selected a cute, brown filly before the auction. However, things changed quickly during the auction, and before anyone knew what was happening, Eden's feather was high in the air .... for the gorgeous Whisper & Cortney's Boy painted colt! Few challenge a determined little girl with a feather. "#45, SOLD!" Then he was hers. And just like that, she was a pony mama. She named him Bobby, after Phar Lap, the Australian wonder horse, and he just adored her. He was our first experience with horse ownership at home and we learned so much. He grew to be a very big, beautiful colt, but unfortunately, fate was cruel and he died of colic at almost two years old. That broke Eden's heart. Time passed and Shannon graciously offered to lease her beloved, big Surfer Dude chestnut gelding, Second "Chance", to Eden for 5 years. At first, Eden didn't think she could love another pony after Bobby, but time has a way of healing and so do soft fuzzy muzzles. An inseparable bond formed between the two and after a year seeing how much Eden loved Chance, Shannon decided that he needed to be Eden's. On her 14th birthday, Chance was presented to Eden with a big bow around his neck. I made the down payment for her present but she had to work hard to pay the remainder. It took her over a year but she did it. Then he was hers. And just like that, she was a pony mama again. |
Chincoteague 2015.My dream is born.
photos by Dana Dutton Dunne
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It began like any other vacation planning chat over dinner. Inevitably the girls won (3-1) and we decided we needed an island fix. Lois and Shannon had been asking for years when we would be coming back and we decided 2015 was long overdue. This was just to be a relaxing vacation, not a pony-buying spree, so we rented a minivan and left the horse trailer at home. That would also ensure that temptation to bid would be kept at bay. Thanks to Lois and a few other Chinco addicts, we had a full color spread of all of the foals, and their parents. The week was full of the usual, the Monday beach walk, the Tuesday corrals dreaming and viewing the last of the Surfer Dude foals, the Wednesday swim close up in a kayak, and then came Thursday's auction.
There are defining moments in life that you just know are game changers. That morning, mine was in the form of a decision: fishing or pony auction. My stomach fluttered at the thought of going to the auction, to just dream of course, and watch others' dreams come true. My daughters and I decided we would go to the auction to support the Feather Fund girls and also to watch the Legacy group bid, which we were also a part of. The guys scoffed at that and opted for fishing instead. We had been talking to Summer Barrick that morning who told us that if we hear of anyone that buys a foal and needs in temporarily boarded at her farm, she would haul it there also. Since there were no more seats near the FF crew, we settled in to an area where we could see them. As the auctioneer announced each foal number entering the ring, we scribbled notes of each of the foal sales, especially noting Chance's siblings, as this would be the last foal crop since the Dude passed that Spring. I knew I could never afford one of those foals after watching his buyback sell for $25,000! Nonetheless, I still fantasized about owning my own pony. Eden already owned two Chincoteague's that were waiting for us back home in West Virginia (she bought another in 2014), but I'd never owned MY own horse. How I'd fallen in love with Chance and his laid-back personality. IF I ever owned one, I'd want one just like him. Most of the Dude's foals had sold for a pretty penny that morning, so my fantasy was dimming. I remember getting excited when the announcer said that #45 was entering the ring. #45 had been my daughter's Feather Fund pony number at the 2009 auction. I couldn't wait to see what #45 looked like this year. The announcer bellowed out "#45 is in the ring and isn't she a big, beautiful chestnut filly?!" We knew her well. This was Diamond's Jewel's filly but the announcer hadn't mentioned that she was a Surfer Dude foal. Unless one studies the foals, it is very difficult to distinguish between the plain brown and chestnut foals. Even then it is challenging at best. But this little lady had a star that I recognized. There were only two fillies with stars like that: Surf Queens and Diamond's Jewels, and SQ's filly was a buy back so this one had to be DJ's filly. She was a beautiful, huge Surfer Dude filly and she was going cheap! Actually the bidding was in a lull. Didn't anyone recognize that she was a SD filly out of Diamond's Jewel who throws big babies?! This was my last chance to get Chance's sister. Summer did say she could haul and board, right? I just "happened" to bring my credit card too. Game-changer moment. Shaking, I whispered to Eden and Cassie that if they wanted to bid on her, they could. Both of their hands shot up instantly and the bidding was on. They never wavered on their attack and went back and forth with a gentleman to the far left. He relented at $1050. My heart was racing! She was mine. And just like that, I was a first-time pony mama. I named her Surfer's Last "Jewel". |