The Chincoteague Pony Swim

Pony Penning is the last week of July, and it is the biggest week of our year. The ponies swim across the Assateague Channel on Wednesday, the foals are auctioned on Thursday, and the herd swims home on Friday.

Two of the Saltwater Cowboys in the water are ours. Hunter and Ayden Leonard, grandsons of our founder Don Leonard, ride in the roundups and the swim, and their father Arthur captains one of the boats that follows the herd across with the veterinarian aboard. So none of the advice below is secondhand.

One thing before you read any further: rooms here often sell out six months ahead for Penning week, and the week carries a four-night minimum. If you are planning to come, reserve before you finish this page.

Always the last week of July. The swim is on Wednesday, the Wild Pony Auction is Thursday, and the herd swims back to Assateague on Friday. The southern roundup begins the Saturday before.

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which owns and manages the herd, confirms each year’s dates and announces the slack-tide window closer to the time.

Watching is free. So is the shuttle. You only pay if you want a seat on a boat, or for the carnival.

The ponies swim at slack tide, when the current stops moving, somewhere between 6am and 1pm depending on the year. Watch for the flare — that’s the signal they’re on their way. They cross the Assateague Channel from Assateague Island and come ashore at Pony Swim Lane on Chincoteague.

Getting there. Take the free shuttle. It usually starts at 5am, though it runs later in years when the swim is late, and our guests catch it at the entrance to Jellystone Campground on the traffic circle on Maddox Boulevard. It drops everyone at Veterans Memorial Park.

You can bike it. You shouldn’t walk it — some people do, but it isn’t a pleasant walk. There’s no parking at Veterans Memorial Park, and day visitors who drive are directed to the Municipal Center on Community Drive for parking and shuttles. Some people sell parking in their yards near the site; bring cash, and expect it to fill early.

Bag restrictions are strict. Clear bags of any size, or non-clear bags smaller than about 4½ by 6½ inches. No coolers, no umbrellas, no glass containers.

What to bring. Water, sunscreen and insect repellent, in that order. Plan for it to be hot and humid. A wide-brimmed hat helps, and cash for more water. A lot of people wear a bathing suit under their clothes.

The clever move is a cheap shower curtain. You can lay it on the marsh mud to sit down or take your shoes off while you wait.

Wear old shoes. The swim site is marshland with sharp oysters in it, so flip-flops are a bad idea. If you go down to the landing site on foot you will get wet and muddy, so keep your phone in a plastic bag.

How early to go is up to you. The earlier you arrive the better your view, but it is a long wait in the heat and children do tucker out. Only you know your family.

If you would rather stay clean, there is a jumbotron with a live feed at the Veterans Memorial Park playground, which is where the shuttle drops you anyway. It is half a mile from there to Pony Swim Lane if you decide to walk down.

By boat. Licensed captains sell seats. Call the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce to find out who has availability. It is not cheap, but the view is excellent and you are sitting down.

Don Leonard, who rode his first roundup at about twelve and later chaired the Fire Company’s pony committee, explained the timing to The Daily Times in 1991: “It has to be slack. Otherwise the tide will carry the horses, and you will not know where they will land.”

He knew what getting it wrong cost. One year in the 1950s the riders lost part of the herd and had to go back and re-pen them, and missed the slack tide doing it. The firefighters held the ponies on Assateague for the next slack water, six hours later, while the crowd waited on the shore.

Afterwards. The ponies rest, then parade half a mile to the carnival grounds, which is worth walking if you want to watch them arrive. Shuttles run back from Veterans Memorial Park immediately after the swim, but once the swim site clears there are no further stops there and buses load behind the carnival grounds on Willow Street instead, for about an hour after the ponies arrive. If you walk down to the landing site and don’t plan to carry on to the carnival, be back at the front of Veterans Memorial Park within thirty minutes of the ponies coming ashore.

From about 1pm the Pony Express trolley runs from Main Street across from the carnival entrance. Every trolley route stops at the Museum of Chincoteague, which is our stop. It is free until 5pm and fifty cents after.

King or Queen Neptune. The first foal ashore at the swim is named King or Queen Neptune and is raffled off that evening at the bandstand on the carnival grounds, usually around 7 or 7:30. Tickets are sold at the information stand at the carnival through the week, and you have to be there holding your ticket to win.

Accessibility. Handicap-tagged vehicles can park in the two front lots at the Municipal Center on Community Drive, though space is very limited. There is no handicap parking at Veterans Memorial Park. One bus on the route is equipped, and there is an accessible shuttle from the swim site to the carnival — ask a volunteer.

Breakfast comes early. If you want it before 8am on swim day, hang your Early Pony Penning Breakfast order form on your doorknob before 3pm on Tuesday. It is a different form from the usual one, and it includes a PB&J option for a cold sandwich.

Bikes are available at the Bike Depot, but rent them the day before if you want them for the Monday beach walk or for swim day.

The trolley brings you home. Every route stops at the Museum of Chincoteague, a short walk from your room.

The front desk is open 8am to 10pm all week, and we have answered most of these questions a few thousand times. Feel free to ask us anything we haven’t covered, and we’ll find you an answer. Booking more than one room? Call us at (757) 336-5511 and we will put your party together.

We hand out a paper guide that week. Ask at the front desk. It has a detailed event schedule with estimated times, maps, how-tos, and answers to the questions we get asked most.

The same cowboys round the herds up twice more a year, in spring and in fall, without the crowds. Spring is when the foals are on the ground and it is the prettiest of the three. Call us at (757) 336-5511 about roundup weekends — there are usually rooms.

Always the last week of July. The swim is Wednesday, the Wild Pony Auction is Thursday, and the herd swims back to Assateague on Friday. The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company confirms the exact dates and the slack-tide window each year.

Yes. Watching is free and so is the shuttle. You only pay if you want a seat on a boat, or for the carnival and the rides.

From the marsh at Pony Swim Lane if you don’t mind getting muddy, from a boat if you would rather be comfortable, or from the jumbotron at the Veterans Memorial Park playground if you have small children who would rather be on the swings.

That depends how much you want to see. The earlier you arrive the better your spot, but it is a long, hot wait and small children wilt in it. Entirely up to you.

Not really. There is no parking at Veterans Memorial Park, and roads around the site close. Day visitors park at the Municipal Center on Community Drive and take the shuttle. Our guests catch the shuttle at the traffic circle on Maddox Boulevard.

Ponies are strong swimmers. Their haunches and hooves move them through water easily, and the crossing is short. Foals too young to swim are trailered over with their mothers. As the old timers put it, if a foal can walk, it can swim. Pony committee members follow the herd in boats the whole way to make sure no foal is in danger of exhaustion. In a century of swims they have never lost one.

Mostly men who started riding with their fathers and grandfathers, and many of them members and supporters of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which owns the herd. Two of them are ours — Hunter and Ayden Leonard ride, and their father Arthur captains one of the boats.

Early. Rooms here often sell out six months ahead for Penning week, which carries a four-night minimum.

Ours are in the pasture across the parking lot all year round. On Assateague, the holding corral is quiet on the Tuesday, and the spring and fall roundups have almost nobody at them.

• Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company — the herd, the auction and online bidding

• Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce — the official week’s schedule and boat captains

• Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge

• Museum of Chincoteague Island