Assateague Island National Seashore: Where the Wild Ponies Are

As a little girl, I read the story of "Misty," Marguerite Henry's children's classic about two children and their adopted Assateague Island pony, Misty. The children were Maureen and Paul Beebe, two real children of the Island, and Misty was indeed a real horse! The story was wonderful and fascinating to a horse-loving young girl like me. And when it came time to think about a vacation, where else to choose but to go see the wild ponies of Assateague Island?

Assateague Island is divided, with half belonging to Maryland and half to Virginia. The Maryland portion is called the Assateague National Seashore, and the Virginia portion is known as the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Assateague is National Park Service property, and Chincoteague is Fish and Game Commission property, but they both have pony herds. The ponies of Assateague Island are divided between the two states, and they are separated by a mostly unseen fence.

The ponies in Maryland are owned and managed by the National Park Service in conjunction with the State of Maryland. They are managed quite differently then the Virginia ponies. The Maryland ponies roam freely throughout the island, and receive very little vet care or human interaction. Their numbers however, are controlled by birth control methods within the herds, administered by vaccine by veterinarians. This keeps the population manageable and ensures the herd's good health, as they are not outsourcing the food staples.

The Virginia herd is owned and managed by the Chincoteague Island fire company. These ponies also roam free, but they receive a fair amount of veterinary care, although they are still considered wild animals. Every July, the pony penning occurs. This is a fire company sponsored event. The ponies swim over to Chincoteague from Assateague Island under the direction of the pony cowboys. The foals are then rounded up and sold at auction to become domesticated. After the sale, the adults swim back over to the island to await next year's swim. Not all the foals are sold, and this keeps the population on the island healthy. The fire company auctions off about 60 foals, and the proceeds not only help the all-volunteer fire company, but pays for the upkeep of the ponies year after year. The fire company has never lost a horse on the swim, and they have been doing this for many, many, years!