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Chincoteague (you pronounce it like "shinko - teeg") ponies are wild ponies whose breeding has been left to natural selection. They tend to look like the Welsh or Arabian breeds, although Mustang blood is also a possibility. Surprisingly, the Mustangs introduced to the herd were unable to handle the harsh environment and died. They typically have beautiful flowing manes and tails. The ponies range from around 12 to 14 hands tall. Adults weigh approximately 750 pounds and they come in a variety of colors and often have paint markings. They have bold eyes, broad chest and loins, well angulated shoulders, and powerful legs which give the correct impression that they are a powerful natural breed that has survived through a relatively unhampered process of natural selection. The horses are now considered an official breed and they have their own official registry at the Chincoteague Pony Association located on Chincoteague Island.
The ponies are found on Assateague Island, which is one mile wide and seven miles long. The island is separated from Chincoteague Island by Assateague Channel. Over 150 Chincoteague ponies inhabit the marshes and wooded areas of the Assateague National Wildlife Refuge, which is 9500 acres on the Virginia end of Assateague Island.
Part of the mystique of the ponies is due to the unanswered question: How did these ponies get onto the Island? Local folklore offers at least three tales. One has the horses arriving from a sixteenth century Spanish galleon shipwreck, another suggests that the horses were put their by pirates to be corralled, and the third attributes their presences to Colonial Virginia framers attempting to avoid taxes or having to put up fences.
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