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The following is excerpted from
Hoofprints
in the Sand,
by Bonnie S. Urquhart.
Pub Date: April 2002.
Chapter 4: Bankers, Blackbeard, and Boy Scouts
Major
Marvin Howard, son of Homer Howard, retired from his military
career to his home on Ocracoke Island and organized the
first and only mounted Boy Scout troop. Major Howard,
who derived great satisfaction from working with both
children and horses, founded Troop 290 in 1954, and most
of the boys on the island enthusiastically joined. For
the next decade, Howard served as Scoutmaster to about
fourteen boys at a time and advised them in the care and
training of their once-wild mounts.
For
the freckle-faced, barefoot boys of Ocracoke, the Scout
troop and the ponies were the focus of their lives. Each
boy began by selecting a wild pony to catch, train, and
ride. Each pony, though living free, technically had an
owner. Some were privately owned, and some were legally
the property of the federal government. The price was
fifty dollars per pony, a steep sum for a young boy on
a remote island in the 1950s. Fortunately, jobs were available
for any boy willing to work hard mowing lawns or assisting
fishermen with the day's catch.
Usually
two boys set out after the chosen pony, which had no desire
to be captured. The herds evaded the boys at every turn,
often venturing out into the water or the muddy marshes
to escape. The preferred mount was a stallion, even though
young stallions were the most difficult to capture and
train. Stallions in general have four things on their
minds -- dominance, mating, looking out for predators
or threats to the herd, and satisfying bodily needs such
as hunger and thirst. Submitting to being ridden is not
one of a stallion's priorities. Gelding a colt allows
him to focus his attention on his rider's wishes and makes
him more tractable. Most male horses are gelded young,
but not the mounts of these boys.
It
is a tribute to their skills as horsemen that they were
able to ride these once-wild stallions bareback in a group.
The feisty ponies were used to having their own way and
often resisted domestication, especially at first. Stories
abound among current residents. One time, so the tale
goes, a rowdy stallion aptly named Little Teach bucked
a scout from his back, kicking him in the head for emphasis.
A vacationing doctor, in a slightly inebriated condition,
successfully sewed up the scalp wound with forty-four
stitches...
Howard
coached the boys in training methods and horsemanship,
and they met most of their Scouting requirements on horseback.
The boys also had the opportunity to show off their skills
at the Pirates' Jamboree, which featured races and other
tests of riding ability. Annually the troop would compete
in the horse races held on the beach at Buxton and at
Hatteras. This was no small undertaking.
The
boys would set out early, for they had to ride a total
of twenty-six miles to get there. To cross Hatteras Inlet,
eighteen boys would lead their stallions onto the little
ferry and hold them on the open deck for the forty-minute
crossing, while the boat rocked and groaned underfoot,
a situation that would panic most other horses. After
the long ride to Buxton, the boys would race in four quarter-mile
heats, often besting stiff competition that included Arabians
and Quarter Horses.
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Hardcover
10 x 8 1/2
224 pages
Product #B11-1062
List Price: $24.95
ISBN 1-58150-074-2
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