Surprise Foal Expected Soon On Assateague Island; Gokey Go Bones Expected To Birth Soon

Surprise Foal Expected Soon On Assateague Island; Gokey Go Bones Expected To Birth Soon
gokey go bones

ASSATEAGUE — The ongoing baby boom on Assateague Island is even bigger than first expected after officials on the barrier island late last week learned a fourth mare is pregnant and expecting at any time.

In an annual November ritual on the barrier island, a biological technician conducts pregnancy tests of sorts on many of the mares in the wild horse population on Assateague in an attempt to predict how many, if any, new foals will join the herd in the coming year. When the results came back late last year, Assateague officials announced three mares on the island, including Carol’s Girl, JoJo and Charmed were all expected to birth falls this spring and early summer, creating a virtual baby boom on the island.

Two of the foals have already been born. Carol’s Girl birthed her foal in April and JoJo gave birth to her foal about three weeks ago, leaving only Charmed still expecting. Charmed is expected to birth her foal at any time now. However, the Assateague Island Alliance (AIA), the friends group of the Assateague Island National Seashore, which advocates on behalf of the island’s most famed residents, learned last week yet another mare, Gokey Go Bones, is also pregnant and is expected to give birth at any time.

Gokey Go Bones has been observed by Assateague Island staff with a growing abdomen that has dropped recently. The mare is clearly pregnant and based on her size, it is estimated Gokey Go Bones will foal soon and her November pregnancy test was a false negative. So, what was first believed to be three new foals added to the herd this year is now four, representing a veritable baby boom on the barrier island.

Assateague Island biological technician Allison Turner each year spends much of November following as many as 41 mares in the population of wild horses on the island waiting for them to defecate. The samples are collected, frozen and sent to a lab to be analyzed to determine if any of the mares will be expecting in the coming year.

For two decades or more, Turner has been carefully monitoring the birthing habits of the island’s most famous inhabitants and the information she collects tells the story for the coming year. Based on the collection of samples from 41 mares last fall, three mares, Carol’s Girl, JoJo and Charmed were believed to be expecting and now Gokey Go Bones is added to the mix.

Carol’s Girl is one of the most prolific mares on Assateague, having now birthed 12 foals. JoJo was the mother of the one and only foal born on Assateague last year. Last year’s foal was named Jasper after a record-breaking naming rights contest in December. The newest additions will be named later this year after the AIA conducts similar naming rights contests.

The trend in the last several years has been one or two or even zero in some cases. With two foals already born this spring, the number of wild horses on the Maryland side now stands at 90, which is in the middle of the ideal range of 80 to 100, with 91 and 92 expected any time now.

In the interest of maintaining a healthy population size, the National Park Service several years ago began a contraceptive program for the mares. Selected mares are injected with a non-invasive contraceptive called PZP in an effort to maintain the size in its manageable threshold. However, some, including Carol’s Girl, for example, have proven to be resistant to the contraceptive.

Assateague’s contraceptive program has become the model for wild horse and other animal management programs around the country. As recently as just a few years ago, the size of the wild horse population on Assateague had swelled to around 140, or well north of the target range. However, with recent losses to old age, illness or other natural and man-made causes, NPS Resource Management has moved from the reduction phase to an adaptive management phase. From this point on, the results of the year-end pregnancy testing along with the estimated population will determine which, if any, mares will be darted with the contraceptive program.

About The Author: Shawn Soper

Alternative Text

Shawn Soper has been with The Dispatch since 2000. He began as a staff writer covering various local government beats and general stories. His current positions include managing editor and sports editor. Growing up in Baltimore before moving to Ocean City full time three decades ago, Soper graduated from Loch Raven High School in 1981 and from Towson University in 1985 with degrees in mass communications with a journalism concentration and history.