The Horses – In 1970 my Mom and her best friend Sandy took myself, my 3 brothers, Sandys 2 girls and our dog Lady, to Chincoteague Virginia towing a Chief Pop-up trailer with our 1964 Chevy Station Wagon. All was wonderful we were walking distance to the fairgrounds and carnival. For those that dont know, Chincoteague is famous for their annual wild horse/pony auction. The island of Assateague has wild ponies which swam there when a Spanish Galleon crashed against some rocks and sank centuries back. Assateague is a National Park. The ponie are rounded up by the Firemen/Cowboys and swum across the channel, then herded through an alley of rope to the fairgrounds corral. Then, are auctioned off to maintain the population on Assateague. My Mom took heart at foal who was being handled with some abuse and bought her for $24. Sandy’s response was to buy one for herself. Now we had the problem of the 9 hour drive home. Mom pulled the back seat out, put it in the ” way back” of the wagon and put plywood down. it was a long, hot and stinky journey with 6 children, 2 adults, a dog, and 2 ponies in an old station wagon pulling a pop up trailer. Yes, we got some funny looks,
40 years later I was speaking to my friend Don who was going to Chincoteague. He told me he went every year as a woman named ZeBe Beebe was his dear friend. Zebe was the daughter of the woman who the book Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry was written about. After telling him this story he said “do you know how many times I have heard that story? Your mother is a legend in Chincoteague and they changed their laws of pony transportation due to her!”