United States Eventing Association

Chincoteague Pony Climbs the Levels of Eventing

Amanda Baker’s 12-year-old Eventer, Southern Storm, is not your normal Event horse. “Hershey’s” breeding makes him stand out because he is a Chincoteague Pony. Chincoteague horses have lived wild on Assateague Island, which stretches across both Maryland and Virginia, for hundreds of years. These ponies are famous for their annual swim across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague island. The swim has become a huge spectator event followed by an auction of some of the ponies and festival style entertainment. The adoption process known as “Pony Penning.” The penning is used to control the herd size, so these wild horses can continue to stay relatively untouched in their current environment.

Amanda Baker and her family were familiar with the Pony Penning, having purchased a Chincoteague pony the previous year. “Hershey was not my first Chincoteague pony and we were not even planning to buy a pony that summer in 2003. We had merely gone to enjoy our yearly vacation on the beautiful island of Chincoteague. When we saw that year’s crop of foals however, Hershey immediately stood out to us. Not only was he a rather flashy pony, even amongst all the pintos and Misty-look-alikes, but his sire and dam were two of the tallest ponies on the island,” Baker explained. Hershey is by Ocean Star and by Periwinkle, both Chincoteague ponies. Many of these ponies are indeed less than 14 hands, so the opportunity to have an island pony that was more size appropriate for riding was impossible to turn down. “I turned to my dad, who gave in surprisingly quickly. I still don’t know what he was thinking, but I am extremely grateful for him allowing us the opportunity,” Baker joked. With her father’s permission and a keen eye set on Hershey, Baker prepared for the auction.

“The day of the auction we were tense. The prices were a bit higher than they had been the year before. We had a great spot for seating, right up against the ring. Time wore on and still we did not see our pony. Towards the end of the auction we finally saw our boy. He walked out as calm as can be, escorted by two strong men. Many of the other foals performed airs above the ground when brought out, but Hershey seemed to look at everything and just think, ‘meh.’” Baker described. She began to get worried as the auctioneer began to talk up Hershey. “I'll always remember him describing Hershey as a ‘big strapping colt that will look great with an English saddle on him!’. There was someone aggressively bidding against us from the other side of the auction ring. We neared the price limit that my father gave us and suddenly the auctioneer pointed in our direction and said that the ‘big strapping colt’ was sold! The feeling at that moment in time was indescribable.”

Once Hershey was officially Baker’s, he relocated to the family farm in Massachusetts. Baker said, “He was allowed to live out the first year of his life in relative peace. He adjusted well to life at a farm and we just let him be a baby for a couple years.” During his time off, Hershey began to show signs of lameness. “No one could figure out [what was wrong]. Some days he seemed fine. Others he was lame as could be. Vets were stumped. We were stumped,” Baker described. Unfortunately, it was finally determined that Hershey had OCD lesions in both hocks and would need arthroscopic surgery.

“On my 18th birthday we took him to Tufts vet school to have the surgery done and hopefully bring home a horse that would be sound. Needless to say, it was not one of my favorite birthdays. Two days later, the vets deemed him ready to come home with four months of instructions for us. I still firmly believe that you haven’t really lived until you’ve had a 2-year-old on four months of stall rest,” Baker joked. After his stall rest the surgery was deemed a success and Hershey was sound.

Baker then began practicing ground work and wanted to play it safe. She planned for Hershey to be a lower-level dressage horse. “He was easy to train and he loved to work. He can be a bit of a pain on the ground, but under saddle he’s always had a great work ethic. ‘Hersh’ and I stuck pretty firmly to dressage,” Baker stated. It was during this time that Baker’s personal life became more demanding. Struggling to make time for her horse, Baker reached out to her friend Anna White, to see if she could keep the gelding. White explained that this began as a short-term plan explaining, “at the time I owned a OTTB who I was taking back and forth to school with me. He had trouble with the long trailer rides alone, so Amanda suggested bring Hershey down with him to keep him company. Originally the plan was to keep him down there for a few years, until the end of school and then return Hershey back to Boston.”

White decided to try Hershey’s skill in Eventing. “Anna is one of the most patient, tactful riders I know, and I knew I could trust her with him. So off to Virginia he went, never having jumped before and with very limited show experience. I think at that point in time we were hoping that we could see him go beginner novice but not really expecting anything amazing,” Baker maintained. At the start of his relationship with White, Hershey decided he would not like to try Eventing. White described his rocky introduction to jumping, “Jumping was a whole new learning curve! At first it was disastrous. Hershey had zero respect for fences. It was almost if he really didn't believe he needed to jump over the poles, running through them would suffice. I was very skeptical with the idea of Eventing Hershey, as I was terrified that he was going to try to run through a cross-country fence.”

After some time off in 2012, Hershey came back into work with a new acceptance of the sport. “I think his time off was the best thing that could've happened to him. When I came back, Hershey was an entirely a different horse. The plunging freight train had transformed into a controllable, ridable mount that was a pleasure to ride. From that point on, the Eventing just clicked for us,” White explained. The pair continued to move up through the levels and are now successful competing at Training. Hershey is slated for the move up to Preliminary next spring. Baker is excited about Hershey’s successes and his bright future ahead. “Anna has been truly amazing to work with. It’s just been the perfect situation. I know she sees him as her own and she always has his best interest at heart. At this point I’m excited to see how far the two of them can go so I’m in no rush to bring him home. I miss him tons, but I know that when he’s ready to come home, we will have a great time running around the lower levels,” Baker concluded warmly. “When I was younger I remember overhearing someone talking about the Chincoteague ponies saying, ‘You can’t train ‘em and you can’t ride ‘em’. I just love that Hershey proves everything about that wrong!”

You can check out Hershey on his Facebook Page.

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