Chincoteague's Oldest Pony Dies at 25

"Wild Thing" stands proud over the wetlands near Chincoteague.

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. - With the rising of the sun over Chincoteague on Thursday morning came a big announcement.

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company announced that at age 25, the oldest pony in the pony herd had passed away.

"It's the end of an era. He's the last of the old stallions," noted Darcy Cole, of Chincoteague.

The pony, named "Wild Thing" was born in 1997, and rarely has a pony been named more appropriately.

"Always at roundups, when you saw him around other stallions, he always seemed to be the biggest, baddest guy in town, said Hunter Leonard of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which takes a leading role in caring for the pony herd.

"Wild Thing" was a standout among his peers, and seemed to delight in causing trouble to the Saltwater Cowboys during one pony round up several years ago.

"He decided that he wasn't going to be rounded up," said Scott Landolt, a Chincoteague resident and tour boat operator. "So he just kept circling the island, and those cowboys just kept having to chase him in circles over and over."

Leonard remembered "Wild Thing" as being a bit of a ladies' man.

"[He was] very big and somewhat, for lack of a better word, studly," Leonard said. "He always had a big following of mares."

And with those mares, "Wild Thing" sired more than 200 foals, many of which still live in the Chincoteague area.

"Wild Thing" seemed to settle down in his senior years, though. He developed a close relationship with the last of his mates, a mare named "Summer Breeze." She was with "Wild Thing" when he passed.

While "Wild Thing" may be gone, his spirit lives on. Leonard, who has adopted two of his foals, reports that "Secret Feather" shares her father's dislike of the veterinarian, and "Maverick" seems to have the same success his father had with the ladies - siring his first foals at only two years old.

"Wild Thing" was the Chincoteague Pony Herd's last stallion born in the 20th Century.