My Ponies

You have never lived until you sleep in the parking lot of a hospital. Why do you ask did I do that? Well we had taken Daddy to bring a ship from Yorktown to Norfolk in the middle of the night, heading to Norfolk to wait for him Moma figured Norfolk General Hospital parking lot was the safest place to wait. So we slept in the car while we waited to pick Daddy up at the dock. But we were there for a special reason...when Daddy got in we were heading to Chincoteague Island on the Eastern Shore. It was July and Daddy had promised me a trip there for the pony pinning for years, so this was the trip.

After we picked Daddy up we headed to Little Creek to catch the ferry to travel across the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore. The trip seemed long but as I remember going across was better than the return. It was early morning so the water glistened in the suns new light.

Upon arriving on the shore, we headed North toward Chincoteague. Along the roads all you could see was field after field of produce. Small huts that housed the migrant workers, dotted the sides of the roads. The road leading to the island looked so much like the roads at home leading to Newpoint. Marsh land as far as the eye could see. So much like the areas near other barrier islands along the East coast of Virginia and North Carolina.

Upon arrival on the Island everything was bustling. Banners waving, people everywhere, a parade had just finished. We watched as everyone headed toward the fair ground and followed.

There we saw rides, stands with local favorites, and people, lots and lots of people. In the 60's the Island was not as built up as now, and hotels and motels were scarce. So did we have a room, heaven forbid Daddy think that far ahead. So he headed to the information booth who announced the need for a room, a room.............we had Moma, Daddy, my friend Nancy and myself, a room! After a while a small frame lady who undoubtedly had lived on the Island all her life appeared with one room. Well we took it. Soon the lady joined us in our car and away we went.

Heading to her home she had to give directions. Of course this was complicated by Daddy asking which way left or right, she did not know of such things and pointed the way to go. When we arrived is was a modest home, without paint, sans shrubs, set in a marsh area. We were guided to a room on the second floor with one light and two beds, one twin, one double. The mattresses were feather filled, and were not easy at all to keep from rolling. So Moma and Daddy took the big bed, Nancy and I took the small. Head to toe we tried to sleep. In the morning we woke up and headed out to find the ponies. We had missed the rounding up and swim the day before so now to find the pin.

Near the fair ground, was an area of beautiful trees fenced in for the ponies. They had swam over the day before from their home on Assateague Island. These ponies were descendants from ones abandoned by a ship that wrecked near the island hundreds of years ago. They survived and now thrived with the help of the local Fire Department. The monies earned from their auction helped defray the cost of keeping them and the Fire Department.

So we walked around the pin. Ponies everywhere. Mothers with their babies nestled together. All colors black white, white black, brown, paint, you name it they were there. These ponies were sometimes short in stature. Having made the trip several times most of them were used to people being around and would let you pet them and nuzzled you to get affection. It was a horse lovers dream. Nancy and I could have stayed there for hours.

Soon came time for the auction. I wasn't as interested in the sale as I was just being with the animals. Why would I want to go to a dumb sale, I wasn't going to get a pony. We didn't have a place to keep a pony. But after a while, we headed off the see what was happening.

Ponies were brought to the stand, babies ready to be weaned from their mothers. Beautiful. Soon the bidding began and I didn't understand a thing that was going on. People were nodding their heads, touching their nose and ear, holding up their hands what in the world was going on. Then the gavel was hit and sold rang out among the crowd. It was a frenzy. As I watched it seemed Daddy was getting more and more interested. On a few occasions I thought he was coming down with a cold, oh but no he was bidding, touching his nose and bidding..........what a pony. I couldn't have a kitten but he was buying a pony???????? Moma looked at him in amazement but only said "David"! Next thing I knew I had a PONY!!!!! A beautiful chestnut and white girl, a pony. Now what to do with a PONY. Our 61 Old's wouldn't take a pony home.

So off to the U-Haul dealer, yes there was one there wonder why??? We returned to the auction just in time to see Daddy buy another pony, a male, black and white to be named Duke, a name fitting to go with the Dutches. Oh my, Daddy was in for it now, where are we going to keep them was Moma's first question. He just grinned and said I'll take care of it. So after paying $91 a piece and loading our ponies, we saw some friends from Newport News, yes leave it to us to see people we knew and they had bought a pony also. Daddy offered to carry theirs home. Three ponies in tow, my smile so wide I could hardly get into the car, off we went back to the ferry and home to Mathews.

Now the ferry ride back was not quite as much fun as coming over. We spent too much time below with the ponies where it was hot and the fumes were awful. This along with looking over the stern of the boat watching the churning water, made my stomach churn even more. I had never been seasick but boy was I that day. It was a horrible end to a wonderful day.

Back at home on Gwynn's Island, we were living there full time then, we had fields around us, but nothing to keep them in. No barn, stable, not even a lean to. That did not stop Daddy and Uncle Coleman. He had been enlisted by Daddy to help as he always was when Daddy needed help. We boarded the ponies in Gloucester for a few months while they built the stable and fenced in the fields. The front field was fenced in with wood the back electric fence. And guess who was made to try out the electric fence...........me!

The day we brought them home you would have thought Moma had had a new baby all the people who showed up to see them. Wild ponies on Gwynn's Island. And they were wild. On to taming them, teaching them to like a saddle and then a person on top. No Texas bronc ever bucked as hard as they did while we trained them. I fell so many times it's a wonder I can even walk now. No wonder my joints are so bad in my hands. But it was fun then.

Summers were spent ridding Duke and Dutches all around Gwynn's Island especially to the beach where they would swim out and let us dive off their backs. Of course before we left the beach they would have to roll in the sand which meant a itchy ride home and a bath for us all when we got there! Nancy was there in the summer and would join us riding her pony Trigger. Winters we would have to dig paths in the snow to get to them, then we'd ride them in the snow stopping often to fall in a drift. Soon Dutches blessed us with another pony, Prince. A beautiful son who looked a lot like his father and was so playful.

Ponies gave way to cars, daydreams gave way to boys and soon I out grew them. We sold them one to a family in Gloucester one to a couple that lived on Queen's Creek. When Dutches was sick and ready to die, she swam out in Queen's Creek, we think trying to get home, back to her Island surrounded by water, her playground, her life.