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 "plai...

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. ...

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...