WILD HORSES SUBJECT FOR CAPE NATIVE

The wild horses of Assateague Island have been called "ponies" for centuries by the island's native residents.

The animals were made nationally famous by the 1948 publication of a fictional work for children by Marguerite Henry, entitled "Misty of Chincoteague."

The ponies are in the spotlight again in a new book, "Assateague Island of the Wild Ponies," co-authored by a Cape Girardeau native, Larry G. Points.

Points, and Andrea Jauck, a former Assateague naturalist who now lives in Will County, Ill., follow the story line of a new-born foal and explore a year of the ponies' lives as they roam through Assateague Island's unique habitat.

Points, a graduate of Cape Girardeau Central High School and a 1966 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, joined the National Park Service at Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington after serving in the army.

He has served at Assateague Island as the National Seashore Chief of Park interpreter since 1974. Points and his wife, who is a science teacher, and two children reside in Delmar, Md.

Points' father, Gene E. Points, lives in Cape Girardeau. The elder Points said he talked with his son a couple of weeks ago.

"We're quite proud of Larry," said his father. "He sent me one of the books, and it's interesting reading, although it is designed for younger people. It tells how the ponies got there, and how they live."

The book is being released by the Macmillan Publishing Company, New York City.

Copies of the book have been placed in the Cape Girardeau Public Library and at Franklin School, where he attended elementary grades.

Assateague is a 37-mile long barrier island, located off the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. The island has been home to hardy bands of free-roaming horses since colonial times.

Each year, since 1920, a "Pony Penning" event horse round-up, saltwater swim and public auction has been held on the island, which became a national seashore in 1965.

The wild horses are called ponies by residents who host the annual auction on nearby Chincoteague Island. Although scientists do not consider the island horses to be a true pony breed, the island's harsh conditions have resulted is a slightly smaller and more stocky appearance.

Ecological zones on the island include a salt marsh, pine forest, sand dunes and the ocean beach.

A total of 50 full-color photographs enrich the text, which was designed to answer the most common questions seashore visitors have about the horses. Scenes include stallions fighting, horses standing in crashing ocean surf and a foal nursing in bay waters.