Chincoteague pony dreams will come true for 2 young horse lovers

Two young horse lovers will have their Chincoteague pony dreams come true at the 93rd annual Pony Auction.

John Price, 14, of Danville, Pennsylvania, and 11-year-old Tia Tanner of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, have been chosen by the Feather Fund for a 2018 pony award. 

They will choose and bid on the foal of their dreams at the Pony Auction Thursday, July 26, becoming the 40th and 41st foal the Feather Fund has awarded.

The Feather Fund, a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity, was created in 2004 to honor the memory of Carollynn Suplee, a cancer survivor who came to Chincoteague annually to help children purchase ponies.  

During the eight years she survived cancer, Carollynn and her husband, Ed, purchased ponies for four children and two buyback ponies, as well.  

Suplee always said it was her way of “giving back” for another year of life. After her death in 2003, family, pony recipients and friends joined together to form the Feather Fund. 

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John Price said when he started middle school three years ago, he felt like an outcast. To take his mind elsewhere, he started riding lessons, and there he found a place where he fit in. 

He worked hard to advance his riding skills and during those long evenings, a new desire blossomed. John wanted to ride the most stubborn and wild horse on the farm — a horse named Sam. He had no idea that — under his tutelage — Sam would become a great riding horse and his best friend, or that he would take Sam home to live with him forever.

“Sam and I have been working together to increase our skills,” John wrote in his essay to the Feather Fund. “I learned a lot about horse care and needs while planning my Eagle Scout project. My project is a horse shelter for a local SPCA.”

Now, John has a new dream of becoming a horse trainer one day. He wants to bring a Chincoteague pony friend home to Sam, one that they can love together, and one that Sam can train from the ground up.

Like John, Tia Tanner has an immense love for horses. She has been riding for almost as long as she could walk. Three years ago, when she rode a friend’s event horse, Tia fell in love with speed and has been competing in rodeos and barrel racing ever since. 

“I won my first saddle after running the fastest time at the Josey Barrel Clinic, when I was 9 years old,” she wrote in her essay, noting that she has been saving her barrel racing earnings toward the purchase of a foal. 

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“I’ve also done odd jobs like hauling rocks and selling eggs from our farm,” she added.

Tia, who currently serves as secretary of her local 4H Horse Club, applied to the Feather Fund for a foal in 2017. She came close — but did not win. Still, Tia thought she had saved enough on her own. Then, that very same year, her father’s horse died. 

That’s when Tia gave the money she had saved to her father, so he could replace the horse he’d owned since his own childhood.

Over the past year, Tia has continued to dream of owning a Chincoteague pony, one she can use to start an ongoing literacy program, one meant to excite kids about reading the way the Misty books excited her.

“I have purchased a classroom set of 'Misty of Chincoteague' that I will allow others to check-out,” Tia said. “Also, I have purchased a trailer to transport my pony to and from schools and events in our area to encourage literacy. Now all I need is my very own pony from Chincoteague Island.”

Tia and John will see their dreams come true when they raise feathers high in the air to bid on a dream-come-true foal at the Chincoteague Fire Company’s Annual Pony Auction.

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Feather Fund winners must be between the ages of 10 and 18. They must have some horse experience and they must have some money saved through means of their own. 

At Pony Penning, they donate the money they’ve saved to the Feather Fund to help the next child get a pony, a lesson in paying if forward. If they sell their pony within five years it must come back to the Feather Fund, so it can be passed to another deserving child.

Across the United States, Feather Fund ponies are competing in stadium jumping, cross country, western pleasure, reining and dressage. Some are cart trained. Others are competing in 4-H and United States Pony Club, while some are the family pony, for all to enjoy.

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On Tuesday evening of Pony Penning week, the Feather Fund will hold its annual auction fundraiser beginning at 6 p.m. in the Robert Reed Waterfront Park (on Main Street behind the Misty statue). 

Each year, volunteers paint model horses to look like favorite island ponies, and they are sold at the auction along with photographs, original art, pony jewelry and other donated items.

To learn more about the Feather Fund or to download an application for a 2019 foal, visit www.featherfund.org or www.featherfund.net.  Follow them on Facebook to see what Feather Fund recipients are doing with their ponies.