Ocracoke Kids Are First to Meet Jobelle
Park Service biotechnician Jocelyn Wright and Laura Michaels, who is the caretaker for Ocracoke's wild pony herd, welcomed the Pre-K through middle school students on May 17th for a special visit with Jobelle and her mama, Jitterbug.
Jobelle was born May 7th, and is living with Jitterbug in their own "baby-proof" enclosure, where they'll remain for at least six months until they join the rest of the herd. At just ten days old, Jobelle was running short distances from her mama and back again. She is nursing for her nourishment, but is already curious about the water and hay her mother consumes. The kids got to see Jobelle nurse, cuddle with her mother, lie down, get back up, and run. Shy at first, she seemed to warm up to the attention.
Jobelle is the Ocracoke name for gallardia flowers that grow wild along the Outer Banks. Ocracoke's second grade class chose the name Jobelle and it was voted best by the entire school.
"I wanted the kids to get to see her first," said Laura. "They named her, and it's important to me that they get to come out here. Besides a few [volunteer] feeders, she hasn't met anyone else yet."
Laura works fulltime for the Park Service, doing maintenance at the Pony Pens, coordinating the volunteers who feed the ponies, and taking care of all the ponies' needs from ordering hay to calling in the vet as needed. Both Jocelyn and Laura spoke highly of Dr. Stephen Sampson of Coastal Animal Hospital in Kitty Hawk, NC, who is the ponies' healthcare provider. "He's always available to us by phone," Laura said.
The next youngest pony in the herd is Hazelnut, born in 2015, to Sacajawea and Rayo. Both Sacajawea and Jitterbug are Shackleford Banks ponies brought here by the Park Service to add new blood to the breeding program. Rayo is a direct descendant of the original Ocracoke wild ponies; at only 5 years old, he's already a father twice over.
Jobelle and Jitterbug will stay out of the public eye in their own enclosure off to the left of the main area. You might catch a glimpse of them from the viewing stand, depending on where they hang out. Your best bet to see little Jobelle is to come to the Pony Pens on the morning of July 4th. Jobelle will be on display from 8–10am to celebrate Independence Day and meet all her fans. It will be fun for Ocracoke kids to see how much she's grown!
Claire Ross, Ocracoke School's 3rd grade teacher, sent me these essays by four of her students. The kids can tell you in their own words how much they enjoyed their visit.
"The day I saw a baby pony" by Sawyer DeVan.
Our class field trip was today. We were leaving at 1:15pm. I was so excited I could not wait.
It was finally 1:15pm. We got on the bus with the second graders. On the way there, I sat by myself.
We finally got there. The baby pony was so cute. She was drinking milk. After that, she started to run around.
Then we left. I sat with Angela on the way back. We finally got back to school.
Seeing the baby pony was so much fun!
"My pony pen trip was exciting!" by Juliette Jordan
I went with my class. It was fun because we went to see the new pony! Its name is Jobelle.
Jobelle was only 10 days old! She was a foal! Her mother’s name was Jitterbug. The father, [Rayo], was not in the pen. We didn’t know where he was. But, we saw a photo of him. We didn’t know which, but he was in a different pen.
We rode there on the bus. When we got there, we were met by a guide. She opened the gate and led us through the pen. We walked until we came to a private pen when the foal was with the mother.
Jobelle was the cutest pony I’ve ever saw! She was a very light beige. Her legs were skinny and her knees were the size of a tennis ball!
As you can see, I had a great pony pen trip. It was amazing. It was a great experience. It was fun to see the new pony.
"The Pony Pens" by Angela Flores
When we got to the pony pens, I was excited to see the 10 day old baby pony. Her name was Jobelle. The second graders chose that name for her. But first they had to count us because they have to know that we are all there. Ms. Claudia, the second grade teacher, said that she had 18 children and Ms. Claire, our 3rd grade teacher, said she had 12 children. The one who takes care of them and the baby pony gave us some ground rules before we went to see Jobelle.
She told us not to make sudden noises or make sudden movements because she is just a 10 day old pony and it was her first time being with 30 kids.
Finally, we all went inside where Jobelle and her mom, Jitterbug, were in like a little cage. The lady also said that she runs around and then rests. She ran for us and kept on running.
I asked where were the ones we adopted. The ones who adopted them were me, Mau, Emilia, Juliette, and Mau’s older brother. We adopted them in our summer program at daycare. We were going to adopt one, but we had enough money to buy 2 ponies that were Maya, the queen of the ponies, and Hazelnut, the baby pony, but that was a long time ago. We raised our money selling lemonade.
"The Pony Pens" by Payce Howarth
3rd grade and 2nd grade went to the Ocracoke pony pens and saw the new baby pony that was only 10 days old.
They were real cute and seemed like a happy horse family because Jobelle stayed next to Jitterbug the whole time.
We stayed there the whole time so we could enjoy the moment because not many people could see a 10 day old pony. Some people may have not even seen a horse pen before in their lives. So that was a very big advantage for us to go see it.
The baby pony was very energetic because she would run for a minute, then she would sit for minute and then keep on doing it over and over again.
It was the best pony trip ever and I am looking forward to seeing another baby pony.
For more park information relating to the Ocracoke ponies and how you can participate in the “Adopt-A-Pony” program, click here or call 252-928-5111.
