Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Page A-9
The Farrier’s Corner: by Ray and Michelle Smith
Banker Ponies
Most people are familiar with the
mustangs of the American west. Fewer folks
are aware of the ancient ponies inhabiting the
barrier islands of the east coast. Yet, those tiny
islands are home to some of the last remaining
descendants of horses brought to coastal
colonies by 16th century explorers. Today, they
live in small bands from Assateague Island,
Maryland to Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.
Local lore relates that the ponies
swam ashore as survivors of 17th century
shipwrecks. Evidence for this exists in the
ships’ logs of English explorer Sir Richard
Greenville. Records from his 1584 – 1590
voyages to the islands mention taking on,
“Mares and male horses” and “Male horses
and mares with saddles and bridles.” These
were purchased from Spanish settlements in
the Caribbean.
One of Greenville’s ships, the Tyger, ran
aground along a shallow bar near Ocracoke
Island. Unable to be freed, she and her cargo
were lost. It was recorded that livestock on
board either drowned or swam ashore.
Spanish explorers also recorded bringing
Spanish Barb and Arabian horses to the east
coast. Livestock, presumably including these
horses, was abandoned by the failed Spanish
d’Allyon colony near Cape Fear, North
Carolina.
Livestock may also have been hidden on
the islands by 17th and 18th century English
colonists wishing to avoid taxation. Some
livestock, including horses, may have gone
feral.
In the early 1700s, English historian John
Lawson described the island ponies, “The
horses are well-shaped and swift. The best
of them would sell for ten or twelve pounds
in England. They prove excellent drudges,
and will travel incredible journeys. They are
troubled with few distempers, neither do the
cloudy-faced grey horses go blind here as in
Europe. As for sprains, splints and ringbones,
they are here never met withal, as I can
learn…we generally find that the colts exceed
in beauty and strength.”
Today, the ponies of Chincoteague and
Assateague are arguably the best known of
the island ponies. They rose to fame largely
due to Marguerite Henry’s book, “Misty of
Chincoteague.” Technically, these ponies
reside on Assateague Island. Assateague is
owned by Maryland to the North and Virginia
to the South. About 150 head of ponies live
on each end of the island. Those in Maryland
are managed by the National Park Service
overseeing Assateague Island National
Seashore. The Virginia band is officially
owned and managed by the Chincoteague
Volunteer Fire Department.
Ponies have been rounded up and
auctioned on Chincoteague since the 1800s.
However, in 1922 two fires devastated the
island. In order to raise money for much
needed equipment, the firemen held a pony
auction. A tradition was started and now
the annual pony swim and charity auction
is a major local festival attracting visitors
from around the country. There is an official
Chincoteague pony registry and many
Chincoteague foals have become versatile and
accomplished show and trail ponies.
Approximately 400 Banker ponies, also
known as Banker Colonial Spanish Barbs,
live further south along the Outer Banks of
North Carolina.In the 1930s, these ponies were
nearly exterminated due to bounties placed
on the islands’ few remaining feral horses.
The horses, along with other feral livestock,
were being removed under strict new stock
laws designed to protect federal sand fixation
program grass plantings. Small groups of
ponies escaped to remote island areas in the
north and south.
In 1982, members of the Spanish
Mustang registry visited and were able to
observe the last remaining Banker ponies
“living in a natural state as they have for the
last 500 years.” They agreed that the ponies,
particularly those living near Corolla on the
northern end of the islands, “were as lineally
pure to the 16th century Spanish importations
as can be found in North America today.” The
ponies of Corolla and Ocracoke Island also
have fewer ribs and vertebrae than normal.
This particular physical feature is held in
common with modern Arabian horses and
hints at Arabian bloodlines said to have been
introduced by 16th century Spaniards.
As tourism and growth increased on
the Outer Banks during the 1980s, the ponies
came into increasing contact with people. By
1989, 11 had been killed by cars. The Corolla
Wild Horse Fund was created to protect the
remaining ponies near Corolla. Through their
efforts, the ponies were moved northward on
the island to 1,800 acres of combined federal
and donated private lands. Protective fences
and cattle guards were installed. In the spring
of 2017, The Corolla Wild Horses Protection
Act (H.R. 2032) was referred to the House
Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
Farther south is Ocracoke Island, only
accessible via ferry or small plane. During
World War II, the Ocracoke Banker ponies
were used by mounted coastal patrols watching
for German U-boats. In the 1950s, Ocracoke
was home to the only mounted Boy Scout
troop in the United States. The boys captured
and trained the ponies as scout projects. Some
were also owned by island fishermen. In
1959, following construction of a new island
road and increased tourism, the feral ponies
were permanently rounded up and penned.
Legislation required the penning to prevent
overgrazing and reduce the incidence of car
strikes. Today, 17 Ocracoke ponies remain and
are managed by the National Park Service.
Chincoteague Pony mare (left) and foal.
The Archive Zone: by Hillary Mohr from the Illinois Valley News archives
This week, take a casual stroll
back to the fall of 1987, Oct. 15 to
be more exact. The weather was
perfect for the fall harvest, for both
farmers and the JOINT task force.
It will take more than scarecrows to
hold off the ‘87 Team in this week’s
Archive Zone.
Four, indoor marijuana
gardens seized.
Four, indoor marijuana gardens
with more than 600 plants valued
in excess of $600,000 were seized
at four Illinois Valley locations
Monday, Oct. 12. The largest and
most sophisticated garden was
discovered in a 24-by-36-foot
building on Reeves Creek Road,
between Kerby and Selma. Twenty
Joint ‘87 Team members, 10 from
the Josephine County Sheriff’s
Office and Oregon State Police,
also arrested five persons. The five
arrested were taken to Josephine
County Jail. They were arrested
without incident beginning at
approximately 8 a.m., as officers
served search warrants at the
four addresses. Besides growing
marijuana plants, a large quantity
of dried and packaged marijuana
was seized, the sheriff’s office said.
The four sites had similarities in
operations; the Joint Team actively
is checking the similarities to
determine if there was an act of
conspiracy, the sheriff’s office said.
The indoor gardens featured electric
timers for lighting and watering,
exhaust systems and other aspects
for indoor growing.
*A very intoxicated man
entered a woman’s house on West
Stevenson Street and was on the
floor, refusing to leave. She phoned
for a deputy. He left.
*There was an upside-down
car in a ditch at Bridgeview and
Takilma roads. The lights were on,
but nobody was there.
*Three street lights valued at
$75 were reported by the city of
Cave Junction as stolen.
*Possible counterfeit money
in Selma was referred to the Secret
Service.
*After a woman on Thompson
Creek Road reported that someone
knocked her down outside her
residence, it turned out that a skunk
did it.
*Twenty marijuana plants were
uprooted on Takilma Road.
*Forty marijuana plants were
uprooted on Naue Way in O’Brien.
*Explosive booby traps
were thought to be at property on
Thompson Creek Road.