Chincoteague Pony Breed History

Chincoteague ponies are classic children’s mounts and have seen success in the hunter/jumper, dressage, and western ring… but have you ever heard of Chincoteague as a five-gaited champion?  Modern Chincoteague ponies are not gaited, meaning they do not have gaits other than the walk, trot, and canter. Gaited horse breeds like the Tennessee walking horse or the Paso Fino  naturally have gaits beyond the standard walk, trot, and canter—for example, the Paso Fino has special, four-beat gaits unique to the breed.  Gaits other than the walk, trot, and canter haven’t been noted in the Chincoteague pony breed since the late 1800s, when a Canadian stallion let loose on the island imparted the pace to his offspring.  However, in the late 1950s, a girl named Ann Gilliam set out to change that.  As a young girl, Gilliam wanted a show pony, so her father bought her a Chincoteague pony in an attempt to dissuade her from showing—his reasoning was that if he bought her a "plain, ordinary pony,&q

On March 27, 1877, the front page of Norfolk, Virginia’s The Public Ledger declared: “A trotting race is to come off at Campostella race-course on the 5th of April between Mr. Daniel Steever’s Maryland horse Carrollton and Sadie Bell, the famous Chincoteague pony, owned on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.”  Sadie Bell Sadie Bell was a trotting legend from Accomack County, Virginia who astounded crowds with her speed. The mare was reported to be about 15hh and was a light chestnut color. She had two back stockings that went halfway to her hocks, and she did not pace.  Media at the time often called her a Chincoteague pony. Let’s explore Sadie Bell’s life and lineage and celebrate a remarkable racehorse of dubious origin.  Sadie Bell’s breeding Was Sadie Bell born a wild pony on Chincoteague? No, but she possibly had Chincoteague blood through her mother’s side, with emphasis on the possibly .  In newspapers, Sadie Bell was frequently referred to as a Chincoteague pony, and she did have th

Long before Misty of Chincoteague made him famous as the lovable Grandpa Beebe, Clarence Beebe owned a considerable number of wild Chincoteague ponies. In 1952, the Suffolk News-Herald reported that Beebe had a herd of 200! Today, we’re going to explore two possible instances of outcrossing in the Beebe herd.  Pony management Let’s start with some extra context. Nowadays, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company owns and manages all of the wild ponies, who all live on the Virginia side of Assateague. That wasn’t always the case—historically, wild Chincoteague ponies have lived on Assateague, Chincoteague, and even Wallops Island and were owned by private owners. From time to time, those owners sought to improve their stock and added in horses and ponies from other breeds.  Beebe kept his herd on Chincoteague, but on Pony Penning Day, all the wild ponies were rounded up and the foals sold, and Beebe’s ponies mingled with the fire company’s and other private owners’ ponies.  Arabian? In 1

The hurricane-strength Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 was one of the most destructive storms to hit the mid Atlantic, and it caused significant damage to Chincoteague and the surrounding islands. You may be familiar with the storm and its effects on the island from Stormy, Misty’s Foal , the Marguerite Henry book that tells a fictionalized tale of the nor’easter. Dozens of wild ponies died as a result of the storm.  Three years later and hundreds of miles away, Illinois was dealing with a flood of its own. In the spring of 1965, the Mississippi River rose about 22.5 feet, causing $125 million in damage to the Quad Cities region—the equivalent of almost $1 billion today.  Patricia “Tish” Hewitt of Moline, Illinois had read articles about the Ash Wednesday Storm and Chincoteague’s plight, but seeing the flooding in her own town spurred her to action. She reached out to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company to see if they would be interested in using one of her Arabian stallions, Skowreym,

Welsh ponies dramatically rose in popularity around the 1950s, with many ponies imported to America from Wales to meet demand. Some pony breeders around this time decided to breed Welsh-Chincoteague crosses—in this blog post, we’ll look at three cases of this!  Bayside Farms Bayside Farms of Berlin, Maryland focused on what they described as "the development of a superior type Chincoteague pony."  They wanted a large children's pony, and the thought was that Welsh blood would add refinement to the "thriftiness, hardiness, and stature" of the Chincoteague. They felt that their 3/4 Welsh, 1/4 Chincoteague crosses achieved their ideal.  A pony they produced, Bayside Prince Charming, played the part of Watch-Eyes in the 1961 Misty movie. Bayside Prince Charming, Welsh/Chincoteague cross.  Bayside Farms started breeding in 1952, crossing their Chincoteague mares with Welsh stallion Farnley Morning Star. They soon purchased Farnley Sun Star and began breeding him as w

As an amateur Chincoteague pony historian, I’ve combed through a ton of old newspaper articles, book chapters, and magazine stories. Lots of people speculate on the origin of the breed—did pirates leave their ponies on Assateague? Is the Spanish galleon shipwreck a true story?  Here are four anecdotes about the breed that made me say, “Wait, what???” Enjoy! 1. Fish-eating ponies? This 1915 article in The Evening Star gets more wrong than it does right.  “There was at one time a peculiar breed of ponies to be found on the coast of the Carolinas. They were known as “Chincoteague marsh” ponies. They were, of course, in a very wild state, and it is claimed that they subsisted on crabs and fish. This probably would render their flesh unfit for food.”  The writer is confusing the Chincoteague pony and the marsh tacky , which is a very special breed of Colonial Spanish Horse from South Carolina that even has its own unique gait, the “swamp fox trot.” There are only about 400 marsh tackies le

This is the story of Eve Prime Fout (1929-2007) and her Chincoteague pony, Spoogie Woogie.  Spoogie Woogie’s part begins in 1938, when she was a young foal bought at Pony Penning. Like many foals at the time, she was brought back home in the backseat of a car! Owned at first by Mrs. W.S. Stokes Jr. of Edgemont, PA, Spoogie Woogie lived with horse trainer Alexander Calvert in Warrington, Virginia.  Spoogie Woogie was special, and she was a small thing: she was about 12hh when her horse show career began, and grew to be somewhere under 13hh. One writer later described her as having “tremendous jumping ability and even more personal charm.” She was broke to ride by Calvert and rider Hamilton Jackson as a two year old, and a mere three months later, she was competing in shows over fences, earning ribbons and beating out seasoned show horses with a child rider on her back.  That child was a young Eva Fout, known in those days as Eva Prime. She rode Spoogie Woogie in her first show, winning

 It’s an understatement to say that Misty of Chincoteague has captured the imaginations of thousands of children–for many of us, reading Misty has lead to lifelong friendships, a deeper love of horses, and quite a few mosquito bites from hanging out on Chincoteague and Assateague. For author Susan Friedland, revisiting the Misty story has led to a remarkable research journey. Marguerite, Misty and Me is Friedland’s 2023 memoir that chronicles the author’s research and adventures as she sets out to uncover the life of Marguerite Henry, the author of Misty of Chincoteague . Friedland was living the big city life in California, but after personal turmoil brought her back to her hometown of Wayne, Illinois, she gained the opportunity to reconnect with her horse-loving, Misty -reading childhood. The book alternates among personal experiences as a horsewoman, Henry’s biography, the real Misty's life, and Friedland's experience conducting research. At the heart of the book lies a si

It’s almost Pony Penning week! If you’re bound for Chincoteague for the first time, or simply want to brush up on your wild pony facts, this is the blog post for you.  This blog covers the history of the Chincoteague pony, but today, we're going to talk about the present. Since newcomers to Pony Penning tend to have a lot of questions, I’ve put together a FAQ about the ponies and Pony Penning at large.  Full disclaimer, I’m not associated with the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department and I'm not speaking in any official capacity–I’m just a pony nerd who’s attended every Pony Penning since 2004 and has heard a lot of the same questions asked around the corrals.  Who owns the wild ponies? The wild Chincoteague ponies are owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department (CVFC), who have a permit from the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge to keep ponies on Assateague Island. The wild foals are auctioned to benefit the CVFC. The auction provides the money for firefighting e

It’s often been said that the Chincoteague breed’s beloved pinto coloring originated when Shetland was introduced to the wild herd, but mentions of Shetland outcrossing have been vague. I’ve found confirmation that at least one Shetland pony was released into the wild: in the early 20th century, Edward P. Timmons introduced Shetland to his wild Chincoteague ponies. Background: Early 20th century pony management Let’s back up and talk about herd management at the time–in the early 1900s, wild Chincoteague ponies were managed much differently than they are today. Nowadays, the wild herd lives on Assateague island and are owned and managed by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, but back then, the wild ponies lived on Assateague, Chincoteague, and Wallops Islands and were owned by individuals on Chincoteague.  During the annual Pony Penning event, the Chincoteaguers came together to round up everyone’s ponies and sell the offspring for a profit. To keep track of whose ponies belong