A small colt with a wide white blaze brought together a community of Chincoteague Pony lovers for a good cause, and he wasn’t even a Chincoteague Pony.
In early December 2024, a post on the Lebanon Valley Market Facebook page shared an auction listing with the photo of a colt. “Will be at Lebanon Valley Horse Sale on Saturday, December 14,” the ad read. “All horses must go through the sale ring. No selling before. Franklin is a Chincoteague Pony weanling. He is a silver buckskin colt with a bald face who has just started being handled. He is going to mature to about 12.2 hands. It will be a great opportunity to have a great piece of tradition. These ponies are known to be hardy, athletic and intelligent.”
School teacher, Karen Fisher saw the post on December 9. Although she lives hours away in St. Thomas, PA, Karen was drawn in by the adorable but lonely face. She’d been a long-time volunteer for the Adams County ASPCA. She’d seen that look before. Her heart melted. The only way to erase her worry would be to bring the foal home to join her small herd.
Karen messaged her husband Matt with the ad attached. “I want him. Can I bid on him for a Christmas present? It’s the only present I need.”
Matt had already purchased Karen’s present, but he agreed she should try to get the colt.
Seeing the ad, the Chincoteague Pony community began to buzz. These breed lovers know their ponies. They knew this could not be a Chincoteague Pony. No foal that looked like him was sold at the annual Pony Penning auction, but also… there are no silver buckskins in the Chincoteague breed.
The ad moved throughout the Chincoteague Pony community, traveling to every Pony Facebook group. Fans began digging and learned the colt had been through at least one other auction. He was Hip #722 at the Hamilton County Horse sale in Indiana a few weeks prior, now hip #327 at the Lebanon Valley horse sale.
Like the old telephone game, fabrications of the truth grow when horses travel from auction to auction. Maybe that’s what happened. Still, Chincoteague Pony followers were enamored. This colt needed a soft landing.
When news outlets caught wind of the hullabaloo WBOC’s Delmarva’s TV News ran a story on Franklin, interviewing Chincoteague fire company publicity officer Hunter Leonard on December 12. Hunter explained that Franklin was likely not a Chincoteague Pony foal since Chincoteague Ponies don’t produce this color, and he was on the small side for a Chincoteague Pony weanling.
By now, Karen had discovered Penny Parker, a rescuer and proxy bidder at the Lebanon Valley auction. Karen and Matt connected with Penny, who agreed to do the bidding for them. When asked what she thought the foal would sell for, Penny estimated around $800.
Matt and Karen set a limit of $1,000. But then, on the day of the auction, Penny messaged Karen with bad news. The news broadcast had increased the inquiries. Franklin would likely now go for a higher price. Karen grew anxious.
“That’s when we decided to drive to the auction,” she said. “We hooked up the trailer and found our way, arriving at 4 p.m. The auction had not yet begun.”
Karen and Matt watched the auction’s livestream on her phone inside the truck. She couldn’t bear to go inside and see so many needy animals.
“I was crying as baby donkeys were going through,” she said. “They were too young to leave their dams!”
Watching the livestream, she worried.
“At that point, we decided to go up to $1800,” Karen shared.
Penny didn’t know they were there, so Matt decided to go inside. Alone in the truck, Karen watched Franklin nervously come into the ring. The bidding began and then rose quickly, until he sold for $2,100. That fast, everything she’d hoped for was gone. Karen fought back tears.
“‘I guess we didn’t get him,” she texted Matt.
“We got him!” he replied. He’d asked Penny to keep bidding.
On the way home, Karen saw a Facebook post from Chincoteague Pony aficionado Darcy Cole, who seemed to be genuinely worried about the colt. She messaged her to let her know Franklin was safe. Darcy asked if she could share the news.
“Right away I noticed he was coughing and had mucous coming out his nose,” Karen shared. That Monday the vet came to see him in quarantine in her barn.
The vet believed Franklin was 6-8 months old or younger and most likely had strangles, a sometimes deadly, respiratory disease, highly contagious by touch. A nasal swab and respiratory panel confirmed strangles and equine influenza, too.
Karen messaged Darcy again to let her know. Then something unexpected happened. Karen was inundated with messages of positivity and love from the Chincoteague Pony Community.
“I had no idea how deeply connected this pony community is,” Karen exclaimed.
To keep her newfound friends informed, she started a Facebook page - “Franklin, the honorary Chincoteague Pony.” Suddenly, Franklin was being offered help. Chincoteague Pony owner, Christine Goldbeck had solicited donations. Karen hesitated to accept help, but Christine pushed her, telling her, this is what this community does. In a group message, she was asked about feed, bleach and supplies, which soon began to arrive, along with cash donations.
Slowly, Karen was earning Franklin’s trust. Warily, he learned to approach. He sniffed her hair and touched her head when she knelt beside him. On December 16, Karen posted an update. The vet had run a full metabolic panel and a fecal count. They were developing a path to wellness.
Karen disinfected and scrubbed nonstop. She shared her routine. “I take temperatures of all the horses daily, just to be sure. I’m up at 4:30 when I’m working. I do my three bigger horses first and turn them out, then I tackle Franklin. We have a boot wash station outside his stall. If you step into his stall you have to wash your boots when you come out. You have to clean off with Clorox and then bleach everything you have touched.”
The weather didn’t help. Temperatures fluctuated from the teens to 60s. Then Karen found rupturing abscesses the size of golf balls under Franklin’s jawline. She said having a community of support helped her stay positive.
By mid-January, Franklin was coming when called from the field. She was able to lift each leg, preparing him for future visits from the farrier. On February 27, he was scoped to check his guttural pouches for chondroids and flushed to confirm he had completely cleared the strangles bacteria.
Finally good news came and in early March he was turned out with the herd. Karen said “Mr. Sassy Pants Dragon” was perky enough to pick on her daughter’s small pony, Provolone.
As the herd settled in, the vet returned for re-checks. On March 20, a scan of Franklin’s lungs showed mild caudoventral bronchopneumonia, so he went back on antibiotics, but he is now on a path to wellness. Franklin is a great example of why horse owners should always quarantine new horses, and that you never know what you will get in an auction barn. But his story also shares the power within a community of love.
“I really cannot express the appropriate amount of gratitude to all who have taken an interest in Franklin,” Karen shared. When her daughter outgrows her pony in a few years she hopes Franklin will be the next step up in riding for her. But no matter what happens, she said, he will always have a home with them.