In recent years, I have taken several trips to photograph wild horses. These trips have taken me west, where horses roam free and cowboys and cowgirls still ride the range. But last year, I wanted to do something different and head east to a place I’ve only visited in the pages of a favorite childhood book: Misty of Chincoteague.
I invited several join me on this We planned to day in Chincoteague take a boat tour to get better access to the ponies. We talked the boat captain of Salt Water Pony Tours into taking us out before sunrise, and I’m glad we did, as the sunrise that morning was nothing short of spectacular!
When most of us think of wild horses, we think of the American West, with iconic herds of Mustangs. But wild horses can be found all across the U.S., including the coastlines of Virginia and Maryland.
These wild horses are believed to have been on a galleon ship, bound for America from Spain. The ship wrecked in a storm, and the horses were able to swim to safety to the shores of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands, where they learned to survive on their own. A recent discovery of a shipwreck off of Assateague Island supports this theory.
While they are proportioned like horses, people most often refer to them as ponies due to their small stature, caused by a less-than-ideal diet of salt marsh plants and brush.