Friday Night Soother
by digby
How much would you pay to help secure the future of something you love?
For Zoe Newman and her mother, Sam Newman, the answer is more than $3,000 and counting.
The two are dedicated visitors and donors to the Assateague Island National Seashore, home to the Maryland herd of wild ponies. This month, with help from her mother, Zoe became the first person ever to foster every horse in the herd.
The Newmans take advantage of days Zoe, 14, has off from school to make the 3.5-hour drive to Assateague from their home in Lexington Park, Md. as often as possible.
During their visits, Sam and Zoe enjoy camping under the stars, watching sunrises and sunsets and climbing their favorite tree, along with catching glimpses of their favorite ponies. The two have made around 30 trips out to Assateague in the last couple of years, but wish they could go even more.
“We love it there,” Sam said. “We get up at 4 o’clock in the morning when we’re there, just so we can catch the sunrise. Beautiful doesn’t even describe it.”
Zoe first fell in love with Assateague and its ponies when, at age 10, she used her savings to adopt her first foster, a chestnut pinto named Annie Laurie, via the Assateague Island Alliance’s fostering program.
Funds raised from the symbolic adoptions are used for educational purposes and for herd management. The mares receive birth control, which helps keep the herd to a manageable size and helps the mares avoid giving birth when they are too young, which lengthens their lives, said Ashlie Kozlowski, outreach coordinator for the Alliance.
“After I fostered Annie Laurie, I just couldn’t stop,” Zoe said.
Zoe Newman, 14, displays her collection of “diplomas” depicting all 75 ponies from the Maryland herd on Assateague. On Oct. 14, 2019, Zoe became the first person to have fostered the entire herd via the Assateague Island Alliance program, which goes to fund horse management programs on the island. (Photo: Courtesy of Samantha Newman)She spent her summers working for a family friend, and every cent she earned was used to add to her collection of foster horses, her mom said.
Each time the pair visited the island, Zoe would stop by the office to foster between one and three horses per trip. They came so often that the woman working at the desk began calling them “the horse people.”
The foster fee, now $40 in person and $50 online, was only the beginning of Zoe’s donations. She would always give $50 — even when the foster fee in person used to be only $35, her mother said.
“And I was always so amazed that this little lady just gave all of her money into this horse fostering program, and she just made me so proud and I knew they mean a lot to her,” Sam said. “And they mean a lot to me, too.”
On her own, over the course of four years, Zoe fostered 22 ponies and donated her remaining savings to the Assategaue Island Alliance. Some of her favorites have been Yankee, a 5-year old stallion with a band of several females; Chestnut, another successful harem stallion; and Precious, one of the older horses on the island who often gets left out of the fostering process due to her age.
“And then (it became) a running thing between my mom’s friends and my friends that one day I would end up with all the horses on the island,” Zoe said.
That prediction came true Oct. 14, during the mother and daughter duo’s most recent trip out to the island. Sam surprised Zoe with $2,120, enough to foster the remaining 53 horses in the Foster Horse Program, completing her collection.
“At the rate she was going, she was going to be in her adulthood (before she had them all), so I decided to do that for her,” Sam said. “She was in shock.”
Zoe Newman, left, and her mother Sam stand with the bay stallion “Delegate’s Pride,” also known as “Chip,” during a recent trip to Assateague Island. The 10-year-old pony received the nickname because people feel he takes after his father and is a “chip off the old block.” (Photo: Courtesy of Sam Newman)
Zoe’s interest in the National Seashore and its wildlife may propel her to a career as a park ranger, she said. She is considering going to college with the goal of becoming a ranger at Assateague.
During her visits, Zoe already looks after the horses’ well-being by picking up litter, especially balloons, and speaking up when she sees other visitors acting dangerously, such as attempting to pet the horses.
“She just makes me so proud, because she definitely has the love for this place, and she definitely has the love and respect for these animals on the island,” Zoe’s mother said.
With all 75 horses now under her wing, Zoe plans to continue working to renew her adoptions, which expire annually.
In the meantime, she and her mother will continue to visit the island as often as possible.
“I wanted to give something back to the island because the island gives me so much more.” Zoe told Kozlowski after the mass adoption. “I love to see the horses run free and watch them grow.”
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