Some have dismissed the legend of the Chincoteague ponies’ origin as overly romantic, but researchers recently uncovered evidence that supports the story. As captured in the opening chapters of Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, the legend is certainly a dramatic one. The story goes that a storm ravaged a Spanish galleon, and in the shipwreck, only the ponies in the hold made it out alive, swimming to nearby Assateague Island. The ponies have called Assateague their home ever since. 1893 illustration of a Chincoteague pony published in the Abbeville Press and Banner. Alternative theories range from the equally fantastic (The ponies were left on the island by pirates!) to the utterly mundane (The ponies were left on the island by townspeople who didn’t want to pay taxes on them). Experts aren’t sure when exactly ponies began living on the island, though they’ve been written about for over two hundred years. Horses themselves are not native to the Americas. In his second trip...
The stories behind the beloved breed