
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993                   TAG: 9307290169
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHINCOTEAGUE                                LENGTH: Short

CHINCOTEAGUE PONIES GO FOR ANNUAL SWIM

The narrow channel between this Eastern Shore town and Assateague Island filled with about 175 wild ponies Wednesday for an annual swim made famous by the 1947 book "Misty of Chincoteague."

Members of the town's volunteer firefighting company, mounted on horseback and calling themselves the Saltwater Cowboys, drove the herd across the quarter-mile channel at slack tide shortly before noon. The wild ponies will be sold at auction today to raise funds for the unit.

Officials hope to raise about $30,000 at this year's auction. The record bid for a single pony - $2,500 - came in 1989.

This year's 10-minute swim was the 68th event that showcases the ponies, believed to be descendants of Spanish mustangs brought to the New World by explorers.

by CNB