The well-known ponies of Chincoteague are about to get a healthcare improve because of a brand new barn being constructed for this specific objective. Every summer time the wild ponies are gathered up and swim throughout the Assateague channel from their house on Assateague Island to Chincoteague Island the place some ponies are auctioned off. Roughly 150 grownup ponies and their foals reside within the islands that bridge Virginia and Maryland.
The annual swim and public sale are massive enterprise for the neighborhood, bringing crowds of tens of hundreds of holiday makers every summer time and tens of millions in vacationer bucks. So there’s a number of native motive to maintain the horses wholesome.
“A few of our vets must work on the market within the wild, which isn’t that simple to do,” Hunter Leonard, a Saltwater Cowboy and member of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fireplace Firm No. 3, which takes the lead in caring for the herd, instructed a member of an area CBS affiliate WBOC. “After which once we deliver them right here to the carnival grounds, it’s nonetheless a considerably open space. We’ve by no means actually had an enormous barn.”
The ponies obtain vaccines and different veterinary care a number of instances all year long, however in keeping with the information merchandise, the brand new barn is a $45,000 (USD) facility that may have six stalls, electrical energy, and fridges for meds. All that is the norm for any steady, however new for this group who look after the wild herd.
The horse public sale raises funds for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fireplace Division which owns the herd and has a grazing settlement with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The horse swim and public sale has been occurring for 100 years and this yr will happen within the early afternoon of July twenty fourth. The pandemic moved the public sale on-line and that turned out to be a boon for the group, bringing in virtually $100,000 greater than when it was purely a reside public sale.
That type of cash is what allowed the brand new barn to be constructed. “I imply my gosh, it’s simply allowed us to have a lot extra free money available to have the ability to do one thing like this and get this finished and have the ability to afford issues like that,” Leonard stated.
The barn can even have a lean-to which is able to present shade to these in attendance for the public sale. The Saltwater Cowboys hope the barn will probably be accomplished by yr’s finish.
Extra from Equine Welfare: