Pony Penning 2013: Beach Walk
With our trip to the 88th Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim & Auction over I thought it would be fun to go back and recap all of our adventures on the island during the week.
This year we decided to head down on Sunday morning with the ponies (instead of our usual monday morning departure) so that we could see the Annual Beach Walk – something I had never seen before.
On the way onto Chincoteague we stopped at the fairgrounds to set-up our chairs for the auction on Thursday. Last year someone moved our chairs – so I wasn’t going to let that happen this year…
I may have gone a little crazy with the rope! But after having knee surgery earlier this year I knew I couldn’t last standing all day.
We then dropped off Minnow and Boomer at the Pony Centre and readied ourselves to attend the beach walk the next day.
Based on what I had read on the Pony Swim Guide, we had to be at the Assateague Island Beach by 6am on Monday morning in order to see the ponies walk the beach. Driving over the bridge to Assateague, it’s $8 for a day pass, which allows you to park your car in the beach lot and walk up towards the ocean.
Tip for next year: Bring a beach chair with you! You can stake out a spot to watch the walk along the beach as the saltwater cowboys bring the northern herd down the beach to join the ponies in the southern corral. We ended up waiting over an hour for the walk to take place, with the ponies arriving at our spot on the beach around 7:30am. But the nice part is that this event is not hot or buggy and you don’t have to stand in swamp water to enjoy it. My suggestion is to pack some breakfast, bring a chair, and be prepared to wait a little – but it was totally worth it!
This year the beach walk came along with lots of fog due to a rainstorm from the night before.
Afterwards you can follow the herd back to the southern corral and view all of the ponies in one place – we opted to head out though because we had to be back at the Pony Centre to feed our hungry ponies.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to share how the ponies did with their first performances of the week at the Pony Centre!
You can check out all the photos from the beach walk, pony swim and auction HERE. They are also available for purchase!
Painting Before Pony Penning
With our Pony Penning Trip just around the corner (next week!) Minnow has been doing a little painting to get ready.
With Paintbrush in mouth, he’s been creating some special masterpieces to take with us on the trip to the island.
Minnow is all smiles, as one of his favorite things to do is to paint!
Around here we like to think the mark of a true artist is the mess he leaves behind – and Minnow certainly knows how to make a mess!
See you all at Pony Penning 2013!
Boomer tries Team Penning
Lately we have been doing a lot of cattle work. We’ve gone to a couple ranch sorting clinics and we’ve even tried some team penning. Boomer has really started to enjoy chasing cows, and I think my favorite of them all is the team penning!
Here’s a short video of Boomer trying some team penning, this is only his 4th time on cattle.
On this particular trip we even brought along my sister’s mare for her first time on cattle. She was a natural and jumped right in to chasing cows.
Perhaps someday we’ll get our own cattle on the farm, because it seems all the ponies really enjoy moving them around!
Maintaining Ringbone: Minnow gets Injected with Ethyl Alcohol
Minnow was diagnosed with high ringbone back in 2008, and he’s been retired from all riding and competition since then. He’s lived pretty comfortably for many years, but this year he has been noticeably more sore. So in an effort to make him more comfortable for years to come I’ve been trying lots of options to help him be more pain free.
Our previous attempts to help Minnow can be read about here:
Maintaining Ringbone: Minnow’s Trip to New Bolton
Maintaining Ringbone: Minnow tries Ground Control Shoes
Since then we also began giving Minnow Pentosan injections because we had heard great things about this drug from some of our friends, in helping horses with arthritis. There really wasn’t any noticeable difference when Minnow was given Pentosan, so it wasn’t going to be a long term benefit to him.
We also tried giving Minnow Equioxx, which did help with his pain some, but the most helpful by far was giving Minnow bute along with a Fast track supplement to help protect the lining in his stomach.
While bute did help make Minnow more comfortable I still wanted to do all that I could to help him be more pain free, and bute is never a great long-term pain medication just because of the harm it can do to the intestines. So with the help of our vet we made another appointment for Minnow at New Bolton to have him injected with Ethyl Alcohol into his pastern joint with one of the renowned vet’s there.
The goal with the injection was to destroy the remaining cartilage in the joint allowing the joint to fuse as it has been trying to do naturally for the past several years. With this injection there is no guarantee it will work, and likely no results would even been seen for many months as it takes time for the joint to fuse. But there really is no down side to this procedure other than the risk of infection due to inserting the needle. Minnow should not be any more painful than he already is. So with fingers crossed we took Minnow back to New Bolton to have him injected.
Using X-rays, the vet was able to put the needle into the right space in Minnow’s joint to inject the alcohol (which was a bit difficult because his joint is already pretty deteriorated).
After one day we miraculously already saw improvement in Minnow. For the past 2 weeks he’s been “resting” in his stall and the small turnout paddock attached to his stall.
Here’s a video of Minnow BEFORE the injection:
Minnow a week AFTER the injection:
While Minnow is significantly improved, the hope is that his joint will continue to fuse over time and eventually he could be possibly even be pain free. He is so much more comfortable already that we have taken him off all of the pain meds and this week he gets to go out in the pasture with his buddies again.
While this procedure is never recommended for horses that will be ridden (Minnow will never be ridden again), Minnow met a lot of the criteria to make this procedure successful for him. Time will continue to tell how beneficial it will be to him.
Minnow is very special to me, and I will continue to do everything I can to make him comfortable and happy!
Painting Pony heads to Pony Penning 2013
The date is quickly approaching for our annual homecoming of sorts as we travel back to where it all started, Chincoteague Island, for the annual pony swim and auction. Plans are being made and the training has begun as Painting Pony prepares once again to wow the crowds at the Chincoteague Pony Centre all week long!
Only this year is going to be different! Instead of just bringing the super talented Minnow, head Painting Pony and trick pony extrodinaire, we are brining TWO ponies! This year for the first time ever Chesapeake Boomerang aka Boomer will be performing in the nightly shows as well.
Boomer has been working tirelessly on learning new tricks and preparing to appear in front of a crowd, and we’re just excited as you are to see him perform. He’s also been brushing up on some classic reading in preparation for the big trip, because how could he have gotten this far in life without reading Misty of Chincoteague?
We couldn’t be more excited for this year’s trip, and we hope you’ll come visit us at the Chincoteague Pony Centre!
Painting Pony at the Chincoteague Pony Centre 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013 to Friday, July 26, 2013
4:00pm and 8:00pm
See Chincoteague Minnow paint and Chesapeake Boomerang perform at the Chincoteague Pony Centre during Pony Penning week. Last performance is at 4pm on July 26th.
Find out more about the Chincoteague Pony Penning HERE.
