CHINCOTEAGUE PONY'S

HISTORY OF CAPE HENLOPEN AND BEYOND

ASSATEASGUE & CHINCOTEAGUE

AN ABUNDANCE OF WILD PONY'S

Wild ponies are abundant on either island. Take a half hour walk from the Atlantic Hotel

and there will be at least a hundred of them . In 1873 it is known they have been here

many decades. How they got here is not really known.

The best story, a Virginia Gentleman was bringing a dozen or so English Pony's to the

State of Virginia and his ship capsized on Assateague , the ponies survived and swam ashore, and soon there was a herd. During the 1700's they were considered of no value

and there are no record that any land owners ever set claim to them. Then when the herdsmen

became land owners, ponies on their lands were marked, tamed to ride and pull carts and

such. Many were tamed and sold to the mainland farmers, in 1840 they were sold for $30.

Early herds of wild ponies lost many due to the fact all ponies were not fit to survive the

harsh coastal winters and either starved, froze to death or drown in the marshes at high tides.

The male ponies were always at war with one another and the strongest conquered was the

herds leader. During the northeasters the herds gathered together, face southwest, stand

motionless until the storm moved on.

Whatever, the ancestors, these pony's are handsome as any thoroughbred and look like

diminutive horses. They do not have characteristic of a Shetland breed.

This year there are near 500 ponies which have divided themselves into herds without regard

of ownership and each herd confines itself to it's own range and is governed by a

male with supreme authority , sort of an equine autocrat.

Male's are sold as they become four years of age, the mares, which are neater and more

docile are seldom sold., but kept on the island be be a mother ten or more times. A money

make to the owner of a free gold mine.

Ponies are more happy in summer, wild grass to eat, a bath in the sea waters to keep flies and such off. In a harsh and snow filled winter they get pretty lean.

Then in August there's “ the penning “. Most ponies are marked on the left hip for ownership

identification and penning is wh ere this is done. The ponies are herded by riders, made to cross the sound, to the 'pen' at the hotel in mid town Chincoteague. This penning is about all the attention a pony gets from it owner until they a penned and sold when old

enough to break and conquered and are then gentle.

Abstract: The Democratic Advocate, Westminster, Maryland, Saturday, August 23, 1873