Comments on: New rules in place to protect ponies and tourists on Assateague Island

By: mary

mary — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:05:55 +0000

I guess that the problem is that people have this idea that wild ponies are like Disney animals.
Sure, you can tame and train a wild mustang, but it takes time, patience, and a sense of when to come into the pen and when to stay out. Taming any animal takes a lot of time, and it isn’t really done by walking into a pen where Mr. Completely Wild Horse lives, holding out an apple in your palm and waiting for the magical connection, (which comes in about two minutes, after a big show of flaring nostrils, dancing around, and snorting, followed by a perfectly tame, ridable (and guidable,) horse which loves you and would lay down its life to save you. That’s just not how it works. People have to realise that and leave taming wild horses to the experts. I think that it is good that those rules have been put up, (even though I admit that I WOULD like to tame a Chincotegue. I’ve read Misty too.

By: Galadriel

Galadriel — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:54:20 +0000

Well, I know that if I were there I wouldn’t be able to resist trying to get one to come up close to me!

By: Jenna

Jenna — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:55:09 +0000

I can see why those rules are set. Some people have no idea how to act around horses, especially feral horses. Now a days younger, more immature people would love to taunt and tease them. That could definitely make the ponies more pushy. I think it’s a good idea. Never the less, I would die to pet one, but getting them accustom to us could lead them to more busy areas and cause an accidnet. The horses are round up every year so the seasoned horses probably aren’t that stressed and they can help the younger horses stay calm. Sometimes rare beauties are best seen from afar.

By: TRAIL RIDER

TRAIL RIDER — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:50:24 +0000

BUT WOULDNT SOME HUMAN INTERACTION BE MORE BENEFICIAL TO THE PONIES, TO WHERE THEY WOULD BE A LITTLE LESS STRESSED AND AFRAID FOR WHEN THEY ARE AUCTIONED?? PLUS WOULDNT IT BE A LITTLE MORE SAFER ON THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TRYING TO BREAK/TRAIN THESE PONIES ONCE THEY ARE BACK HOME WITH THEM? I DONT KNOW, I GUESS THERE IS GOOD AND BAD FROM BOTH POINTS OF VIEW. I KNOW I WOULDNT WANT TO BREAK/TRAIN A FERAL PONY/HORSE. IN MY OPINION ITS ENOUGH OF A CHALLENGE AND TIME CONSUMING TO DO SO WITH ONE THATS DOMESTICATED.