Virginia’s Wild Pony Islands
Two barrier islands lie off the coast of Virginia. Chincoteague is just seven miles long. It nestles next to Assateague, which is 38 miles long. Assateague protects its little neighbor from the fury of Atlantic storms.
Chincoteague Island is home to a small resort town of the same name. Assateague Island has no homes or towns. Parts of these and other islands and shoreland make up the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge includes 14,000 acres of beaches and provides habitat for birds, horseshoe crabs, and other wildlife.
There are many tourists. Every year, nearly 1.5 million people come to visit the refuge. They come to enjoy the white sands and dunes. They come to see the fish and crabs, and they come to watch for migratory birds.
But there is one sight every visitor must see—the wild ponies.
No one knows for sure how the ponies got to the islands. Ponies are not a native species. But they have been there for a very long time, perhaps 400 years. Legend says that they swam ashore from sinking Spanish galleons, or ships, that were shipwrecked near the islands during a storm.
Maybe people from the mainland put their animals on the deserted island. That way, they did not have to pay taxes on the animals. Over time, many of the animals became wild.
These days, the story of the ponies draws tourists to the islands. People come to stay in seaside hotels. They stay on the lookout for a glimpse of a mare with her foal. They hope to see a stallion galloping over the dunes. They want to see his mane flying in the wind.
The author Marguerite Henry was also fascinated by the ponies. She wrote the book Misty of Chincoteague in 1947 about a real pony named Misty. The book was made into a movie. Children everywhere fell in love with Misty and the island ponies and loved learning about Pony Penning Day.
Once a year, since about 1925, volunteer firefighters have continued the tradition of Pony Penning Day. On horseback, they round up the Assateague ponies. Including the foals, there are about 150 ponies. The firefighters herd the ponies into the water, and then the ponies swim across the channel to Chincoteague. It is a short swim, and it takes five or six minutes.
The “saltwater cowboys” then parade the ponies down Main Street and to the local fairgrounds. Forty or fifty thousand people show up every year to watch. This spectacle brings business to the town of Chincoteague.
The young ponies are sold at auction. People may pay from $375 to $17,500 for one pony. The ponies belong to the volunteer fire department, and the money raised by this auction goes to help the fire department with its annual expenses.
Some of the money is used to fund vaccinations and care for the wild ponies. The islanders want to keep the ponies healthy. They also want to keep the herd approximately the same size. They do not want too many ponies. The people plan to protect the island environment for many years to come.
