THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280510
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHINCOTEAGUE LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Kristen and Stephen Petros pressed against the corral, straining - with thousands of others who had waded though the marsh mud - to see Assateague's wild ponies as they plunged into the water. Carole Berger, their mother, stood on a cooler to catch a glimpse over the wall of heads.
Whips cracked in the morning air. The crowd squealed with excitement. A forest of cameras clicked and whirred as the lead stallion charged into the water. He swam quickly, gaining the shore in just over three minutes.
Then, at the water's edge, the brown stallion stopped. He looked warily at the crowd, as if trying to decide whether to lead his herd into the marshy corral. After a moment's reflection, he ambled onto the mud flat. The 125-pony herd calmly followed.
``Look at the little ones! Look at the brown one with the white socks!'' cried Berger, pointing at a bewildered foal. ``Oh, I want one!''
Kristen and Stephen didn't stop at just looking. They noticed that dozens of adults were hopping the corral fence. In previous years, this would have gotten them tossed out. But this year it was different. The Petros kids, and a handful of others, wiggled into the teaming corral and stayed there unrebuked, petting ponies and taking pictures.
Wednesday's event was the 69th annual Pony Penning. Officials estimate that 40,000 people - the usual official number - crowded the small island to watch the 8:05 a.m. swim. But experienced Chincoteaguers thought there was a much smaller crowd than in other years.
Wednesday's swim was early, and the sun was shielded by a thin layer of clouds. The saltwater cowboys waited until the tide was still to drive the ponies across the 250-yard channel separating Assateague refuge, the barrier island where they were born, to the town of Chincoteague.
Sometimes the drovers must wait until noon or later, which can leave an anxious crowd simmering in the mud for five or six hot July hours.
Each year the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, which owns the Assateague herd, raffles off the first foal to swim to shore. This year Jack A. Frady, a state police trooper from Edinburgh, Va., won the foal in a raffle. He was among those who bought $2,904 worth of $1 tickets.
Today the fire department will auction about 50 more foals.
But Carole Berger, who lives in Manassas, Va., won't be there to get the little brown pony with the white socks.
``Where would I put it?'' she asked on reflection. ``In the pool?'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MOTOYA NAKAMURA, Staff
A baby pony rolls in the grass in Chincoteague after the swim from
Assateague Island Wednesday morning. About 125 ponies participated
in the 69th annual Pony Penning on the Eastern Shore.
Carole Berger, right, of Manassas points to the channel as the
ponies enter the water. Her children, Stephen Petros, 9, and
Kristen Petros, 11, await the animals' arrival. Although they liked
a brown pony with white socks, Berger said the family couldn't buy
it because they had no place to keep it at home.
by CNB