As the lead veterinarian for the wild Chincoteague pony herd, Allison Dotzel hit the ground running upon her arrival from Pennsylvania last Thursday in anticipation of Wednesday's Pony Swim.
This is Dotzel’s second official Pony Penning experience as lead veterinarian. There’s always something to do.
Last weekend, 147 adult ponies and roughly 80 foals were rounded up for health checks and vaccines prior to the swim.
Dotzel works with others like Dr. Cara Rosenbaum of Rhinebeck Equine Hospital in New York and veterinary technicians and assistants.
She also consults closely with members of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, who own and look after the herd. Dr. Dotzel consults the company on medical decisions.
Growing up in Montoursville, Pa., Dotzel always dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. She took riding lessons as a child and at fifteen, she got her first horse.
She obtained her undergraduate degree from Penn State in 2007 before receiving her degree from the Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011.
She opened her private practice, Stoney Creek Veterinary Clinic near Montoursville, that same year, providing small animal and mobile equine care.
Dotzel's involvement with the pony herd happened gradually. She started as a volunteer rider during the 2015 roundups and pony swim.
Over the years, Dotzel became more involved with the ponies, and in 2023, she treated four ponies diagnosed with pythiosis (pythium insidiosum), or swamp cancer.
Swamp cancer isn’t a cancer, despite its name. It comes from aquatic mold in stagnant or slow-moving water, and the spores mostly affect a horse’s lower limbs or hooves through open wounds. It manifests as hard, necrotic ulcers called “kunkers,” or as hoof abscesses.
The ponies in 2023 spent months at Dotzel’s farm under her care. All of them survived the once very fatal disease.
Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company members are all too familiar with swamp cancer after losing eight ponies to it between 2016 and 2019.
Dotzel works with top researchers in the field to protect the Chincoteague herd, using treatments such as immunotherapy and an experimental pythiosis vaccine.
The adult ponies and the new foals are administered the vaccine, but it’s not foolproof.
Since arriving for this year’s Pony Penning Week, Dotzel has been treating a mare named Wildfire’s Phoenix for swamp cancer. Wildfire’s Phoenix is a descendant of Misty, the title horse from the 1947 novel “Misty of Chincoteague,” which was based on a true story.
Dotzel’s team is also caring for a 2022 mare named Angelique’s Tigress Warrior, found suffering with colic in the corrals over the weekend.
In 2026 alone, six ponies have died, including two mares who were Misty descendants, said Chloe Noelle, who is regarded as a Chincoteague pony expert.
When Dr. George Marble, herd veterinarian at that time, decided to step away to devote more time to his private practice in Cape Charles, he immediately thought of Dotzel as his successor.
“There was never a question in my mind that she was the right choice,” Marble said.
In addition to her compassion, he cited her “unprecedented knowledge” of the individual ponies as key to his decision.
Marble said Dotzel also works well with the CVFC and others who routinely monitor the ponies locally.
She officially accepted the paid position with the CVFC in December 2024.
“I truly could have remained a volunteer forever with Dr. Marble,” Dotzel said. “But I am honored that he thought this much of me.”
She also praised the CVFC for their year-round watch over the herd.
“They absolutely know and love these ponies from the bottom of their hearts,” she said. “They are always willing to do whatever they can to save them and shed real tears when we can’t.”
