The ponies swam from Assateague to Chincoteague today for the annual auction. The swim was a very far distance from where I could watch but I had a front row seat as the ponies came into their pen. Here are a few photographs of the event. It was interesting to watch the social interaction as the herd settled into their new, confined area. Foals found their mamas and one stallion with a blond mane charged around the pen, apparently rounding up his mares. Even at the hay bales he whinnied and studied the group for possible rivals. The green tag on the blue-eyed foal marks him as a ‘buy back’, a pony that will be bid on but returned to Assateague to live wild with the herd.
