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...

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 ...

For well over a hundred years, people have argued over the true origins of the Chincoteague ponies, so it's appropriate that the origins of the most famous wild pony are not completely known. The wild Chincoteague pony stallion Surfer Dude captured the hearts of thousands with his distinctive looks: his deep chocolate-brown coloring, his blonde mane, his partial blue eye, and the spot of gray below his '92 hip brand. Surfer Dude in 2010. Photo by Sarah Boudreau. Surfer Dude was born in 1992. The CVFC started freezebranding with the year of the pony's birth in 1991, which allowed for easier recognition and record-keeping. Two years after Surfer Dude was born, the Chincoteague Pony Association was formed. The CPA was organized by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, and it was the primary pony registry for many years, keeping track of which foals were born to which parents. It is difficult to verify information on many of the ponies born before the CPA, because ...