Spring Brings New Foals To Assateague Island

Spring has a very special meaning on Assateague Island. Along with warmer weather and blooming flowers, Spring means the arrival of new born foals on Assateague Island. Wild Ponies have inhabited Assateague Island for over four hundred years. The earliest foals will arrive in April. Pregnant mares will continue to give birth in the months to follow, with the latest foals being born in early summer. It is not unheard of for a late foal to be born on Chincoteague Island in July during the annual Pony Roundup and Auction.

On average around 70 new foals are born every Spring, on the Virginia side of Assateague Island. Approximately 75 percent of the mature mares have foals each year, a relatively high foaling rate for wild horses. A mare can become pregnant again once her foal has stopped nursing. And with an 11 month gestational cycle many of the mares are pregnant almost year around!

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, who owns and manages the herd, maintains the herd size at about 150 adult ponies. The Fire Company controls the size of the herd by auctioning off most of the foals at the annual Pony Auction in July. Each year just a few select foals are designated as 'buybacks'. A buyback pony is auctioned with the stipulation that it will be donated back to the Fire Company and returned to Assateague Island to replenish the herd. The winner of a buyback pony gets to name the pony before it is returned to Assateague Island to live out its life there. Buyback ponies have actually become some of the highest priced foals sold at the auction.

The wild ponies on Assateague Island congregate in small groups, called "bands". Each band has one dominate stallion and the rest are mares that the stallion breeds with. The number of mares a particular stallion has in his band is dependent upon how dominate the stallion is. The stronger the stallion the more mares he is able to win when fighting other stallions on the Island. The dominate stallion will kick his male offspring out of the band after a couple of years, once the colt has reached sexual maturity. Young bachelor males tend to form their own small band, until they become big and strong enough to begin fighting for and winning mares from other stallions. Likewise, female offspring are eventually chased off by their mother to prevent inbreeding.

And such is the cycle of life that begins anew every spring on Assateague Island. For more information about Chincoteague Ponies please visit the following links:

• About The Chincoteague Ponies
• Chincoteague Pony Swim Guide
• Chincoteague Pony Swim Pictures
• Chincoteague Pony Roundup Pictures
• Learn The Chincoteague Ponies By Name

This article was published by Chincoteague.com on 5/1/2013.
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