Posted by Lois Szymanski on Tuesday July 03rd, 2007

2004- How did the Feather Fund choose their first foal recipient? They put it in God's hands.

A Feather for a Foal!

The story she had seen on Anmal Planet:  Alissa Swenson had read the book Sea Feather, the story of two children, Shannon and Ashley Szymanski. The Szymanski sisters had saved five hundred dollars for a Chincoteague Pony. But ponies that year were selling for much more. At the auction, the Szymanski sisters were approached by a woman named Carollynn Suplee, who helped them buy a pony foal. The colt had one white marking on his body; the shape of a jagged feather on his neck. Suplee, a cancer survivor, considered feathers a sign of good luck, so the children named their pony, Sea Feather.

Alissa and her mom went to the Chincoteague Pony Auction in 2002 after reading the book, Sea Feather. Alissa wanted to buy a pony, but her father had died of cancer that year, and her mom was not prepared to spend money on a pony. After the auction, an upset Alissa ran into Carollynn Suplee. Suplee asked her if she had learned about Chincoteague Ponies by reading the famous Marguerite Henry book, Misty of Chincoteague. But Alissa told Suplee that she had read a book called Sea Feather. Suplee’s face lit up. “Do you remember Carollynn in the book?” she asked Alissa. When Alissa nodded, yes, Suplee grinned. “I am the real Carollynn,” she said. “They call me the Pony Fairy!” Alissa and her mom made a plan to meet Suplee he following July for Pony Penning 2003. Alissa would get her own Chincoteague Pony! Animal Planet heard about the event and decided to film Alissa’s Chincoteague Pony story. In March of 2003 Carollynn Suplee’s cancer returned. But cancer couldn’t keep Carollynn from fulfilling her promise. She came to the auction in July in a wheelchair to help Alissa purchase a beautiful black and white colt she named Chincoteague Miracle. She calls him Lucky for short.

In October, Carollynn Suplee lost her battle with cancer. Before she died, her family and friends told her they would keep her dream alive, by buying a pony foal for a child each year at the annual Chincoteague Pony Auction. Together, they formed a nonprofit organization in her memory. They call it The Feather Fund.

Veronica Webb and her sister Madeline knew none of this when they drove from Okalahoma to Virginia to the Chincoteague Pony Auction in 2004. They’d seen the Animal Planet show about Alissa and Carollynn, and they’d ordered and read the book Sea Feather. That’s why Veronica thought it would bring her luck to wear a feather in her hair. Feather Fund volunteers saw someone bidding on the other side of the ring… someone who didn’t seem to have quite enough money, so they walked around the edge of the crowd to find the family. Then, Shannon Szymanski saw the feather in Veronica’s hair! It seemed like a sign from Carollynn herself. When a tiny palomino and white pinto colt came dancing into the ring, Veronica’s face lit up. She knew he was the one. The bidding whirled around her, and quicker than she could say Sea Feather, she and her sister, Madeline had a new foal to take home to Oklahoma! A feather for a foal? Now, that’s a pretty good trade!