A Mystery on the Marsh & A Miracle on Leonard Lane: The Story of Foal #102

On August 25, 2025, under the quiet buzz of a late-summer night on Assateague Island, a golden palomino filly slipped into the world. She was the 102nd foal born in the CVFC Pony Herds in 2025, and nobody knows how it happened, but by morning, this little one had lost its mother. A series of guardians and miracles ensued, and we're happy to share the story of CVFC's little miracle foal "102."

Somewhere between the night of her birth and early the next morning, the newborn foal foun herself in the care of experienced mom Marsh Mallow—despite the fact that Marsh Mallow had already foaled on May 16 and her colt (#62) had already been weaned when it was sold a month earlier at the 100th Pony Penning. A Cowboy Cruise Company pony tour was the first to spot the foal, and Captain Hunter Leonard immediately recognized that something wasn’t right. Marsh Mallow being mother to this foal was mathematically and biologically impossible.

Hunter (yes-- our Hunter-- of the CVFC Saltwater Cowboys and also a key part of the Refuge Inn family’s Chincoteague Pony Farm)  parked his tour boat, hopped off, and approached cautiously. Marsh Mallow was protective of the foal and aggressive towards the cowboy, but it was clear to him that she hadn't had any milk for quite some time.   This meant the foal was on a clock: more than a few hours without colostrum and milk meant dehydration and infection were real risks.

Hunter quickly got back on the boat, wrapped up his pony tour, called his dad Arthur, and they hopped into CVFC's crowd-funded Polaris to navigate through the wild terrain that the Northern Herd calls home. They went back to where Marsh Mallow and the rest of Ace's band were spotted with the foal an hour or so earlier, and gently retrieved the foal while Marsh Mallow stood guard. She was protective, as seen in this CVFC video, but did not follow them when they left with the foal.

After consulting the herd's veterinarian, who agreed with Arthur and Hunter's plan to quickly try to identify the birth mom and reunite the two in a more controlled environment, the Leonard Boys tried and failed to find Mom. It's always best to keep mom and baby together, and they do so whenever possible-- but in this particular case, the foal was already getting weak from going without milk, so they knew time was critical. The vet confirmed what they already knew: #102 needed a foster mom, and FAST.

Anyone who works with equines can tell you that introducing an orphan foal to a nurse mare is one of the most delicate and uncertain tasks on the farm. These introductions often require hours of patience, experience, and sometimes heartbreak. A mare’s protective instincts can make her wary or even aggressive toward a foal that isn’t her own, and despite every effort, many pairings don’t succeed. Some mares reject the foal outright, others accept it only partially, and a few may injure the newborn if introductions aren’t handled carefully. Arthur and Hunter have decades of experience caring for wild foals, so they knew they were facing an uphill battle-- but they knew that they had to try.

They drove the Polaris home, with a little #102 sleeping in Hunter's arms. As they arrived on the Chincoteague Pony Farm, home to the same herd that rotates into the Refuge Inn pasture and a big part of the Leonard Family legacy, they were praying for a miracle. They had witnessed a life-saving miracle on their farm the previous year, when an orphaned wild foal later named Wildfire's Phoenix was paired with foster mom Esther Jane (EJ) and adopted brother Edgar. [Read Phoenix's story here]

It just so happened that EJ's 2025 foal had been weaned and left for his new home a couple days before 102's discovery. She still had milk, and she'd accepted a foal before-- the boys wondered if it was asking too much to hope for another miracle on Leonard Lane. Hunter brought 102 into the small stable as Arthur attempted to round up EJ to separate her from the rest of the free-roaming herd and bring her to meet the foal. Hunter had the key to EJ's heart, though-- a bucket of grain, which she happily followed all the way to the stable.

The boys were prepared for a long process, including physical restraints so the mare couldn't hurt the foal, and interventions to help her accept the foal as her own. They were absolutely bewildered when EJ followed the grain bucket into the stall, smelled the newcomer, turned around, and within seconds of meeting the foal, nudged her to nurse. It seemed to go against all odds, and it reaffirmed what we know about these ponies: sometimes, mother nature simply defies all expectation.

102 had quite the barrage of testing to be sure she was OK and didn't need further intervention. Part of this testing was immunoglobulin levels, which the veterinarian used to determine that she had received borderline antibodies when she nursed from her birth mom at least a few times. The team suspects that she nursed and then took a nap, while her young, inexperienced maiden mare wandered off without her new foal because she didn't know what to do. One mare in particular, Fancy Free, seems to fit the bill. This would have been her first foal, and she was clearly expecting a few days earlier, with full milk bags; however, she was never spotted with a foal, and her bags dried up.

With these results, the CVFC Pony Committee decided to keep a close eye on her rather than return her to the wild. She was at risk of joint problems, sickness, and social problems with a wild herd, so she and EJ stayed at the Leonard Farm, and and also spent a little while under the close eye of a veterinarian for some specialized care. She is doing well now and living on the farm with her foster mom. CVFC recently announced that she will be for sale in the coming months. While we will be sad to see her go, we know that this little girl will be the perfect addition to a farm somewhere out there, and we're honored to have been a part of her story.

The family-farm raising and rescuing these ponies is intertwined with our history. When stories like this unfold, they echo the same values we carry through everything we do: true, authentic hospitality-- not just for guests, but for the islands an all their inhabitants.

At the Refuge Inn, our pony pasture isn’t just a photo-op for guests—it’s part of a Chincoteague Island Legacy. To us, this is what home is. It’s not just the building, or the rooms, or the view. It’s the work behind the scenes, the late nights and the early mornings, the prayers for miracles that keep the family-owned and family-run hotel AND the wild pony herds thriving. When you stay here, it’s more than a chance to see the ponies. It’s becoming part of a generations-long legacy of knowlege, stewardship, and love, where the stories of every guest and every foal become part of our history. At the Refuge Inn, we are proud to rest on that foundation.