The Chincoteague Pony

by Gale Park Frederick

The Chincoteague ponies live on the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. They are a race of small, hardy horses, compact and good natured. The legend is that these ponies swam ashore from a Spanish vessel that had capsized off the coast some time around the year 1600. Once on the islands, they became stunted under the harsh environment. To keep from starving they ate coarse saltmarsh cordgrass, American beachgrass, thorny greenbrier stems, bayberry twigs, seaweed, and even poison ivy. Because they drank salt water, they had an appearance of being fat or bloated. The horses bred down to the unique breed we know today as the Chincoteague Pony.

Today there are two groups of these ponies descended from the 17 original Arabian horses that survived the famous shipwreck. The Virginia Herd consists of approximately 130 head and is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. The ponies graze in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, located on the Virginia portion of Assateague Island. The Maryland Herd consists of approximately 140 head and is owned by the Maryland Park Service.

Off the islands, the ponies are easy keepers, requiring little food compared to an adult horse. There is a saying, "A Chincoteague Pony can get fat on a cement slab."

There are approximately 980 privately owned Chincoteague Ponies scattered over the United States and Canada today. They are now recognized as a pure and rare breed.

Excerpted from http://www.pony-chincoteague.com/; reprinted with permission. Photo by DB King, licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.