(Dec. 15, 2016) With only two days left in the current and final auction of the naming rights for the remaining foal from this year’s new additions, the winning bid will only increase the nearly $5,200 already raised in support of the park and its programs.
This total will, in all likelihood, fall short of the $7,900 raised last year on a single foal, but that number was an aberration, according to Assateague Island Alliance spokeswoman Ashlie Kozlowski.
“Before that, in 2014, we raised $3,100 — also on a single foal,” she said.
This year’s bumper crop of baby horses is because of a relaxation in the techniques the park uses to control population, with one exception. The mare Carol’s Girl is immune to PZP, Porcine Zona Pellucida vaccine, which controls birth rates by causing the mare’s immune system to deactivate sperm receptors in egg cells.
More foals can be expected next year, as the park plans to skip the PZP injections and allow the herd to grow.
Which it has also done on its own. A surprise foal, born in November, will miss this round of auctions, but whose name will likely be raffled off next year.
“We haven’t had a board meeting, so it hasn’t officially been decided, but I think it’s very likely we will hold another raffle,” Kozlowski said. Raffles have been held for naming foals in the past. “We limit the amount of tickets to 500, and sell them for $20 each. We’ll let it run from spring until about October, or until all the tickets are sold.”
With the potential for an Assateague Island horse baby boom on the horizon, Kozlowski said the Alliance would be exploring other options for naming rights in the future.
“We’re trying to think of new ways for people to get to name a new foal — not just those who have a lot of money,” she said.
Only one of the new names, from the already complete auctions, has been made public.
Leigh Shuck of Frederica, Delaware placed the highest bid in the first auction. Shuck chose to name N2BHS-O, also a sorrel colt, “Sarah’s SweetTea” to honor her late daughter.
“I lost my daughter, Sarah, to cancer in 2009. She loved to ride horses and had one of her own. I have chosen the name “Sarah’s SweetTea” for this colt in honor of my Sarah. She loved drinking sweet tea and was my sweetie,” Shuck said in a release.
The results of the second and third auctions will be announced in January, as the opportunity to name the horses N2BHS-AO and N2BHS-AIO will be presented as a holiday surprise.
Park Administrator Debbie Darden must approve names after the auction.
The raised funds, Kozlowski said, would go towards genetic testing for the herd, which would help determine how best to manage the horse population in the future.
This total will, in all likelihood, fall short of the $7,900 raised last year on a single foal, but that number was an aberration, according to Assateague Island Alliance spokeswoman Ashlie Kozlowski.
“Before that, in 2014, we raised $3,100 — also on a single foal,” she said.
This year’s bumper crop of baby horses is because of a relaxation in the techniques the park uses to control population, with one exception. The mare Carol’s Girl is immune to PZP, Porcine Zona Pellucida vaccine, which controls birth rates by causing the mare’s immune system to deactivate sperm receptors in egg cells.
More foals can be expected next year, as the park plans to skip the PZP injections and allow the herd to grow.
Which it has also done on its own. A surprise foal, born in November, will miss this round of auctions, but whose name will likely be raffled off next year.
“We haven’t had a board meeting, so it hasn’t officially been decided, but I think it’s very likely we will hold another raffle,” Kozlowski said. Raffles have been held for naming foals in the past. “We limit the amount of tickets to 500, and sell them for $20 each. We’ll let it run from spring until about October, or until all the tickets are sold.”
With the potential for an Assateague Island horse baby boom on the horizon, Kozlowski said the Alliance would be exploring other options for naming rights in the future.
“We’re trying to think of new ways for people to get to name a new foal — not just those who have a lot of money,” she said.
Only one of the new names, from the already complete auctions, has been made public.
Leigh Shuck of Frederica, Delaware placed the highest bid in the first auction. Shuck chose to name N2BHS-O, also a sorrel colt, “Sarah’s SweetTea” to honor her late daughter.
“I lost my daughter, Sarah, to cancer in 2009. She loved to ride horses and had one of her own. I have chosen the name “Sarah’s SweetTea” for this colt in honor of my Sarah. She loved drinking sweet tea and was my sweetie,” Shuck said in a release.
The results of the second and third auctions will be announced in January, as the opportunity to name the horses N2BHS-AO and N2BHS-AIO will be presented as a holiday surprise.
Park Administrator Debbie Darden must approve names after the auction.
The raised funds, Kozlowski said, would go towards genetic testing for the herd, which would help determine how best to manage the horse population in the future.