THE WILD PONIES OF ASSATEAGUE ISLAND YOU CAN WATCH 'EM, BUT YOU CAN'T RIDE 'EM

Imagine a large herd of wild horses running free. Americans might picture them in a Western U.S. state like Montana, Wyoming, or Nevada. But just a three-hour drive from the bustling city of Washington, DC, is a unique island called Assateague. There, hundreds of wild ponies have run free along the beaches and through the forests for centuries.

- LEE GJERTSEN MALONE

Assateague and Chincoteague

Assateague is what's known as a barrier island, which is a long, relatively narrow island running parallel to a mainland. Thirty-seven miles (60 km) long, Assateague Island sits just off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula, a landmass that spans three states. The peninsula's unusual location is how it got its name: Del for Delaware, mar for Maryland, and va for Virginia. The island of Assateague itself is split between Maryland and Virginia. And, as if they knew, the ponies have separated themselves into two herds, one on either side of the state line. The Virginia herd is called the Chincoteague ponies, in honor of another small island next door.

The ponies of Assateague "are very much all over the island-very in tune with their surroundings," says Billy Weiland. He's a water specialist at the Assateague Coastal Trust. Sometimes the ponies gather in the forest to keep out of the wind, he says. During the summer, you'll see them trotting through the surf.

So, how did all these wild ponies get there? Stories abound. One tale says they are the descendants of horses that escaped after a Spanish galleon wrecked offshore in 1750. But the most commonly accepted story is that early colonist landowners hid horses on the island in the 1600s to avoid taxes and other fees. So, the current herds could be the descendants of those early "tax shelter" horses.