Posted by on Monday June 07th, 2010

Welcome to the Feather Fund Family Eden, Carrie, Danielle, Alison and Caroline!

The 2009 Pony Penning auction was another memorable one. We had preselected three recipients, Carrie Olson from Oregon, Eden Rice from West Virginia and Danielle Autieri of Pennsylvania. Thanks to the generosity of the Buyback Babes, we could offer a pony foal to one more child this year!

During the days leading up to Pony Penning each girl picked out her favorite pony foals at the Pony Pens on Assateague Island. The Feather Fund set up a display booth on the carnival grounds on the day of the swim and the day of the auction. The fire company has generously supported our cause since we began in 2004. On the day of the swim, Feather Fund applicant Alison McCarthy approached us at the booth to introduce herself. We remembered her right away. She was one of four or five children we had placed at the top of the stack when the committee met to make our tough selections and she'd saved money toward her pony by petsitting. Alison also came to the booth to make a donation to Carrie for the expense of hauling her foal home to Oregon.

After evening rains the night before, auction day dawned bright and sunny. Danielle was the first to purchase a foal, a beautiful pinto out of the mare, Witchcraft, also known to many as Friendly Girl. The colt was #10 in the sale and is a full sibling to Gideon, a foal the Fund presented to Kasey Enright of MD in 2007. Danielle named her foal Kokomo.

While waiting for Carrie's favorite and one of Eden's favorites to come into the ring, fireman Roe Terry approached us. A woman had approached him wanting to buy a child a foal in memory of her husband and she needed help locating a child who would give a foal a good home. Could he send her to us? he wondered.  We knew just who deserved a foal, Alison McCarthy! We had her paged and introduced them. Alison ended up purchasing a beautiful dark filly with white socks. The filly appears to be dark bay but many believe she will turn black as she ages. Number 24 in the auction, the filly is out of A84, the mare named Dreamcatcher and the sire is Cinnamon Hologram. Alison named the filly Roni, combining the names of the woman who purchased her foal (Vonni) with her husband's name (Richard). This filly is a full sibling to the black and white 2008 pinto buyback foal called Dream Dancer.

Carrie bought the third Feather Fund foal, number 31, another pretty pinto, a filly she's named Chincoteague Sweetie. Sweetie is out of the mare Buffalo Girl, also known as Salt and Pepper and the sire is North Star. Sweetie had a long trip home to Oregon but Carrie tells us they bonded on the trip, stopping every few hours to offer fresh water and kind and loving pats.

Eden had originally picked out a chestnut colt out of the dam, Whisper and sire, Courtney's Boy. The flashy colt had four white stockings and was beautifully marked. We asked her to consider another foal, as this one would not be a super large foal and also because Whisper had lost several foals in the past and only one had thrived. Even though this foal looked wonderful, we worried. So, Eden chose another foal. On the day of the auction we waited and waited for that second foal to come out. Just before he entered the ring they brought out a pinto none of us recognized. Eden said she wanted to bid on this foal and we told her to raise that feather high! She bid and won the pinto. It was only after the auction was over that we realized she had purhased Whisper's foal, her first choice! We believe she was meant to have this foal! Now at home, the foal she's named Wild Wings, (Winger for short) is doing great.

 All three girls have reported from home that their foals are doing wonderful. Each is kind and loving and already leading and learning. We have some super Feather Fund foals, but even better Feather Fund kids. It's a great family!

Speaking of Family, we have a new member! Last year we sent a yearling colt home with Casey Ziegler of Pennsylvania. Casey went off to college and found she had little time for the foal and her family was having trouble supporting the foal, so we bought it back and placed it with another of our favoirtes from this year's applicants. The foal, once called Indian Feather, is now in his new home with Caroline Butler. Caroline has fallen in love with him and is now calling him Chester. Since he is a small pony she is hoping to train him to cart or use him as a games pony in United States Pony Club.

Welcome to the Feather Fund Family Eden, Carrie, Danielle, Alison and Caroline!