Assateague Island

  Today's post is for all of the fans of Marguerite Henry's book Misty of Chincoteague. I still have my book and my Breyer model of Misty.  A couple of days ago we traveled to Assateague Island to see the wild horses.     If you don't know the book, or have forgotten, the wild horses are descendants of domesticated horses that were brought to Assateague Island over 300 years ago.  There are two theories as to how they got there.  Either they were survivors of a shipwreck off the Virginia coast, or they were put there to graze tax-free by settlers during the 17th century.
  The horses were made popular by the book Misty of Chincoteage written by Marguerite Henry in 1947.   The horses have adapted to the nutrient poor saltmarsh grasses that the live on, but are now smaller in stature because of it.  There are actually two herds, one on the Virginia side and one on the Maryland side.  The Virginia herd is owned and managed by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department.  They have a grazing permit which allows for 150 adult horses to be on the island.  Each year they have a "Pony Penning" and swim the herd from Assateague to Chincoteague where the foals are collected and auctioned off.  This keeps the numbers under control and is the basis of Henry's book.  The Maryland herd is owned and managed by the National Park Service.  Their numbers are kept in check due to a vaccine to prevent pregnancy.

Ponies on the marsh.

Heading out to the marsh.

The stallion of this group.

His mares.

We rode our bikes so we could get real close.

More ponies on the marsh.

Another Assateague resident.

A Blue Heron.

"Pony Penning" pens.

Some information

Miss Molly's Inn where Marguerite Henry stayed while writing her book.