NEWS

New Corral in Time for Pony Penning

Hillary T Chesson
hchesson@dmg.gannett.com

The Chincoteague ponies will be herded by the Saltwater Cowboys into a new southern corral on Beach Access Road for the first time during the 91st annual Pony Penning southern herd roundup on July 23.

A health evaluation given by the USDA Forest Service concluded in December 2015 that an infestation of southern pine beetles on Assateague had significantly impacted the wooded areas along the Woodland Trail. A number of trees were cut down and removed due to damage and this allowed for the new corral to be built without having to cut down living trees.

The old corral was in a state of disrepair and located on a creek bank which created some environmental concerns, said Kevin Sloan, Refuge Manager of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

“We were able to build a new, bigger corral for the ponies as well as alleviate some safety concerns,” said Sloan.

The new corral is located hundreds of yards north of the former corral.

The corral is dedicated to Grover "Drizzle" Wilgus Jr., an equipment operator for the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and a Saltwater Cowboy who passed away in 2014. It was built through a collaboration with the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge maintenance crew and Team Rubicon, a volunteer organization that unites skilled veterans and first responders into deployed teams.

Roe Terry, spokesperson for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, says that while there is always uncertainty about the behavior of the ponies he doesn’t foresee corralling them into a new location to be concerning.

“We’ll just have to take one day at a time and see how it goes and hope everyone is happy, including the ponies,” said Terry.

Assateague ponies immortalized with stamp