First, a little background: these ponies are very similar to Maryland’s Assateague ponies we shared campground space with last week. In fact, the Chincoteague ponies also live on Assateague, but on the Virginia side. Many years ago, a fence was built down the state line of the 37-mile long Assateague that ensures each pony keeps to his or her respective state.
A narrow bay separates this side of Assateague Island from Chincoteague Island, which is just off the mainland of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. In the 1600s, when the white men came, both were already named (and ruled) by the Indians. The local Native American history sites a Spanish shipwreck on September 5, 1750 – the bones of the ship are supposedly still able to be seen at certain shifts of the sand – in which a cargo of Spanish horses was spilled into the sea and survived on Assateague. By 1821, there were 36 families living on Chincoteague. To celebrate harvesting season – crabs, clams, oysters, etc. – the locals began rounding up the ponies for sport once a year right around that time.
Fast forward to 1920, when half of Chincoteague burned down. A causeway separates Chincoteague from the mainland and while there is a bridge now, there was no easy or quick way then for firefighters to get to the island. Four years later, most of the other half of Chincoteague burned down. It was then that the locals formed a volunteer fire department on the island. Someone got the idea of rounding up the Assateague pony population, swimming them across the channel to Chincoteague, and selling off the babies to raise money to pay for firefighting equipment. (They also built a beautiful firehouse (shown in the photo), which they had completely paid off from pony proceeds in the first few years). Add in some legal mumbo-jumbo and the ponies are now officially owned by the fire department instead of the state or individuals. The firefighters and other invited horsemen who participate in pony penning are known as “Saltwater Cowboys.” In 1925, the saltwater cowboys swam the ponies across the channel for the first time, paraded them through town on the way to the carnival grounds, and culled the herd, auctioning off the babies the next day. An astounding 15,000 people came to that first event and it’s just grown and grown every year, helped in no small part by Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, published in 1947.
The Chincoteague ponies aren’t quite as wild as the ones on the Maryland side. The saltwater cowboys also round up their herd in the spring and fall (but do not swim them across the channel at those times). Each pony is then given a thorough veterinary inspection, hoof trim, vaccinations, dewormer, etc. Federal grazing rights allow the saltwater cowboys about 150 adults on Assateague. The babies are generally weaned during the Pony Penning Days at the carnival grounds. A few are of course too young to be weaned yet and are left with the herd for a few more months.
There’s some things in life that are a “must do.” For every child who ever swelled with excitement at Misty of Chincoteague, for every equine enthusiast (young and old, any breed and any discipline), and simply for every person looking for a slice of Americana, the Chincoteague Pony Swim is one of them.
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