My daughter and I are planning to go down on Tuesday (pony swim is Wed.) and leave Friday - it will be the first time I’ve been since the late '60’s!, and DD has always wanted to go - so why not this year? (I’m not getting any younger, LOL.)
Their website is pretty explanatory re: activities, timetable, etc., but I thought I would post here to see if I could get any personal recommendations or insider tips from those who have gone recently.
TIA!
I have no experience with the pony swim but I have gone to Chincoteague many times. I can say DONT go to the restaurant, Aj’s by the Creek. I’ve never had a local recommend it to me and my friends and I have had some pretty bad (separate) experiences there. The food is incrdibly expensive for not much value and I’ve had food served to me on dirty plates. As in, lipstick on my glass. Gross!! Management was unwilling to do anything about the lipstick either. It looks cute from the outside so it can be deceiving.
The Chincoteague pony center is a pretty cute place.
Pack plenty of bug spray. :). Have fun, I went a few years ago and had a blast.
Out of curiosity I took a look at the website for Pony Penning week. Misty sure inflated the price, lol; in 2015 the high bid was $25,000!!!
We went a few years back the week before the pony swim. There was an art festival, and a blueberry festival going on. They had ZERO medical facilities. As in, no doc in the box, no ambulance, no paramedic present. If there was an emergency, they’d have to come over the bridge from Assategue. Which, as you can imagine, is a long bridge with traffic due to the festivals.
How do I know this? Threw my hip out on the drive down from CT. I think it was a Friday at 2 pm that I started my search for a walk in clinic or doctor of some sort. E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. was “closed for the festival”. As in, they wanted to go have fun. In desperation I went to the local police and asked, who divulged the no ambulance, no local medical service. He did say if I wanted care I could go to the hospital… which IIRC was over an hour away.
Overall, it was a weird, weird experience. The people were friendly enough, but – different. OP, if you’re going for the ponies and spending time out doors with family, you’ll be fine. However if you need any kind of service, forget it. I mean, fried dough and fast food and burgers? you’re all set. Anything beyond that, and you’re on your own.
That is so strange since Assateague is totally unpopulated and a state park! And the pony auction benefits the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. It’s a tiny island so you are probably right that there is not a medical facility, but they absolutely have rescuers.
The Fire Department has ambulances. You can see one on the Google street view of it! https://goo.gl/maps/tWVZAa2FWSo
As I said , this was about six? Years ago… and no. They had zero medical service. I was told they had two ambulances. One was down for repairs Andy the other was at ‘another event’.
I may may have forgotten the name of the destination over the bridge… assayeague might be incorrect.
Trust me on tnos. We cut our vacation short by 4 days, dragging 2 reluctant people back to CT because I was so lame. It wasn’t done lightly
Yikes!
Wow, you poor thing - that sucks. 
Certainly something to think about, it sounds like a throwback to an earlier time (as when businesses closed down so that people could listen to the Seabiscuit/War Admiral match race on the radio.)
I also posted on FB and some of my FB friends have weighed in; they say the best (only!) way to see the ponies swim is from a boat - but it looks like we can pay a fee to be taken out. Otherwise it’s REALLY crowded and it’s hard to see much - not surprising of course.
It sounds like things haven’t changed much since I last went with my parents over 50 years ago!
Thanks for all the input 
We went there the week before the pony swim last year for a few days and had a nice time. We stayed at the Hampton Inn. Food is limited even outside of the pony swim and over priced. Nothing terrible but to me there were not a lot of good options.
My daughter was in heaven and we stopped at the pony center daily to pet ponies who were very friendly. She did a lesson at the center and had a nice time even though it was limited what they let her do. She was happy to get to ride Chincoteague. They had 2 ponies for sale and I think she was measuring our car to see if they would fit for the ride home.
There are also a lot of homeless kittens on the island and we almost took one home with us- we were lucky not end up with a new kitten or pony!
And definately go out on a boat to watch - you wont know until last minute the exact time since they have to do it during the slack tide.
If you chose to drive all the way home to CT, instead of 30 minutes north to the urgent care facility in Pocomoke, or a little over an hour to the ER in Salisbury, I don’t know what to tell you. You had to drive through both those towns to get off the peninsula, why not just go there, get treated and go back?
Dear visitors: if you have a medical emergency on the island, I assure you, all the VFD volunteers at the festival will put down their oyster sandwiches and arrive to help you. The towns are small and far apart, but they cover each other with ambulances as needed and they have managed to deal with that narrow bridge to Chincoteague for decades. Sure, they might call a helicopter instead of an ambulance for a real emergency but that’s probably the only concession they’ll make.
I’m willing to bet you got the locals’ brush off. If you needed an ambulance, you’d have one. You didn’t so they told you where the nearest ER was in case you felt the need to do differently, then they went back about their business. That’s not the same as no medical availability.
Honestly, most of the island is open for Pony Penning. They make a lot of money off the tourists, why would they close? And the festival is limited to the island. The next town over is operating normally. The issue you’re actually running into is that it’s rural, like actually rural and not rural bleeding into suburbs which is what I suspect most people are used to. A 2 hour drive for basic amenities is nothing to these towns, so a 1 hour drive to sit in a waiting room for a hurting hip is less than nothing.
All the local Urgent Cares are the same level of vaguely capable as every other place I’ve ever lived. If you need a hospital and have time to ask, you want PRMC.
A boat is definitely the way to go. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait, a short bit of action, then done. Basically a hunter round! I admittedly have never gone. Born in the area, which creates a hatred of all things tourist. I usually go and visit the pens in the evening when it’s calmed down and you can just watch the horses be horses.
If you look, you might find the vets, as the VFD use Pony Penning to do treating, vaccinating, etc. I believe it’s Dr. Insley and Dr. Yankus still. Dr. Insley’s practice did a lot with helping the Appaloosas recently seized in Wicomico County, MD. I understand his associate, Dr. Yankus did a ton of work to help get the horses taken care of and moved. One of the rescued Appaloosa mares foaled at the clinic this spring. The baby is cute! Say hi and thanks!
It’s not really all that exciting- but if you go, pack enough bug spray for an army.
That is and was totally incorrect. There are emergency medical services available 24/7. Doc in a Box, no. Medical center is open Mon - Sat during tourist season. Your Doc’s In is in Pocomoke, MD, about 10 minutes north of the Rt. 175/ Rt. 13 intersection.
I found Bill’s to be a decent place for dinner - aside from that I’ve never been impressed by any of the restaurants there. I’ve never gone for the pony swim - I hate crowds and think that amount of people on that little island would make me a bit bonkers. I prefer camping on the MD end of Assateague, driving down and spending one day at Chincoteague/VA end of Assateague, and using other days to hike, relax on the beach, and visit other towns (Ocean City, and Salisbury has a nice free zoo, etc).
Some one correct me, but the highest bid is usually by a local volunteer/charity/? group and they purchase a pony for it to stay on the island or something like that. I cant remember the exact details but that is why the price gets so high- its really to support the fire department.
Yes, usually. Those ponies are called “buy-backs.”
Thanks to everyone for their responses, very interesting and enlightening!
Dr. Doolittle, I suggest you research medical facilities before. you depart.
“That is and was totally incorrect. There are emergency medical services available 24/7. Doc in a Box, no. Medical center is open Mon - Sat during tourist season. Your Doc’s In is in Pocomoke, MD, about 10 minutes north of the Rt. 175/ Rt. 13 intersection.”
If only ONE of the dozen or more folks we asked had offered ANY of this information, it would have been immensely helpful. Perhaps every one in my party was speaking Swahili that day…
And for those of you saying my experience “didn’t happen”: Were you with me, hobbling around on a cane- practically in tears, begging pharmacists, hotel proprietors, people on the street and snack stands to tell me where I should go for medical care? When I went to the pharmacy, they didn’t even have ibuprofen. I asked the pharmacist if they could suggest a doctor for some medical care (since they were so poorly stocked)? … Blank stare… crickets Then, “Well the art festival is going on. You could ask there…”
I will never go back. And I will tell everyone who asks about the experience. As will the 2 folks who traveled with me. It was a surreal, odd, Twilight Zone town.
I will say that the highlight of the trip: I had the best steamer clams I’ve had in a decade there, purchased at a little mom & pop grocery/ mercado type stand. Oh, and the sweetest watermelons in memory from a roadside stand on the drive back…
This comment reminded me! Stop at T’s Corner! It’s at the corner where you turn off Route 13 and head for Chincoteague. Hard to miss it. It’s just a weird little store that sells everything from bait and fishing supplies to fire crackers (whatever’s legal) to model horses and toys. Just a weird browse of the local flavor plus your standard convenience store gear like snacks and ibuprofen, should the pharmacy in Chincoteague run out. A chance to stretch your legs before you hit the two-lane bridge that carries you to the island.
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