Cooperative Living June 2024 - 7

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Ponies & Pontoons
A magical day with Daisey's Island Cruises
by Amanda S. Creasey, Outdoors Writer
A
s my alarm goes off at 6:45 a.m.
on a Saturday, I question why
I thought the morning tour
time was a good idea. I had a 9 a.m.
option, an 11 a.m. option and a 2:30
p.m. option. Why did 9 a.m. seem
like the best choice? But I resist the
temptation to snooze and get up. It's
pony time!
Although they're known as the
Chincoteague ponies, the 150 or so
equines spend most of their time on
Assateague, only visiting Chincoteague
when they're swum over by saltwater
cowboys, like Ayden, a Chincoteague
native, known as a " Teaguer. " Ayden's
family came to the island in the 1680s.
He has been working the pony boat
tours with Daisey's Island Cruises
for nine years, helping out in some
capacity or other since the age of 12.
We see our fi rst herd less than 10
minutes into the tour. It consists of
a stallion named CLG ToMorrow's
Tidewater Twist, his eleven mares and
one foal. Th ey graze in front of the
lighthouse, which still stands on the
same piece of land where it was erected
in 1867.
Th e second group we see consists of
two herds: Henry's Hidalgo's herd on
the right and another on the leſt , three
foals between them. In a typical year,
between 50 and 80 foals are born on
the island. Ayden's brother found a
new foal just this morning, the 25th
of the season.
Twice, we see the two stallions
engage in subtle confl ict, quickly
resolved aſt er briefl y rearing up and
whinnying. Th e mares have names like
Two Teague Taco's Chilibean, Wendy's
Carolina Girl, Good Golly Miss Molly
and Barbara's Tasi, a horse Ayden
himself rescued when she was a foal
separated from her mother.
I can't help but inwardly smile at
the glee my 11-year-old self would have
experienced on a boat ride like this,
wild ponies splashing towards us
through the water, getting close enough
to lick the salt off the front of the
pontoon, just inches from where I sit,
my dogs on my lap. It would have
seemed like pure magic. And then,
I realize that even for adult me, being
this close to wild ponies is still pure
magic.
Before our tour ends, we see
not only dozens upon dozens
of majestic wild ponies but
A pontoon boat with Daisey's Island
Cruises views a herd of wild ponies
in front of the lighthouse.
also three bald eagles; two loons;
countless cormorants, vultures, seagulls
and several small fi shing boats catching
fl ounder. Th e two-hour tour feels like
a fraction of that time, and I am slightly
envious of Teaguers, who live in such
regular and close proximity to the
beautiful ponies and enjoy the privilege
of acting as their stewards.
As we part ways with Ayden,
exchanging the boat slip for our parking
spot, we pass several people and their
dogs arriving for the 11 a.m. tours.
I smile. Th ey, too, are about to experience
the magic.
*
Piper (left), a Mickey Mouse
marking on her right shoulder,
wades through the water as
Smooch (right) grazes.
co-opliving.com
June 2024 * Cooperative Living * 5
PHOTOS BY AMANDA S. CREASEY
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2024

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