Fall Chincoteague Pony Round Up 2023

One of the most exciting scenes in Misty of Chincoteague, the 1947 classic by Marguerite Henry, is when the Saltwater Cowboys round up the wild herd of Chincoteague Ponies and the ponies swim the channel separating Assateague and Chincoteague Islands. When Marguerite and her illustrator Wesley Dennis went to take in the annual spectacle for research purposes, they both had cameras and positioned themselves in two different spots. When they met up after the swim, neither one had taken a single photo–they were so entranced. Whether by land or by sea, watching the Chincoteague Pony herd is a mesmerizing experience. At the end of September, I had a chance to take in the fall round up with a breed expert and it was a blast.

Not Just One Pony Round Up, But Three

What many people don’t realize (and I learned while researching for Marguerite, Misty and Me) is that the wild Chincoteague Ponies are rounded up three times a year: spring, summer and fall. During each of the round ups, the ponies receive veterinary attention in the form of vaccinations and an overall health check. Only the July roundup during Pony Penning Week includes the swim, an event which draws tens of thousands of pony fans to the island. The spring and fall Chincoteague Pony round ups draw fans (but not on the same scale).

If you are someone who doesn’t care for crowds, can’t stand high humidity and mosquitoes love you and view you as a feast, you might want to skip the pony swim in the summer and opt for the fall Chincoteague Pony round up. (Also, the accommodations on Chincoteague Island will not be as expensive as during peak Pony Penning Season.)

The last weekend in September I had a chance to join Chincoteague Pony owner, breed enthusiast and International Chincoteague Pony Association and Registry Vice President, Amanda Geci to take in the fall roundup on Assateague Island. Amanda has been following the herd for almost thirty years. She knows all the 150ish wild ponies by sight and can name them. She can cite bloodlines and share breed history in the same fashion a hardcore Thoroughbred enthusiast can discuss race results and pedigrees.

To give you an example of her familiarity, when she sent over photos for me to use in the blog post I sent her a screenshot of the main blog image asking which ponies these were. She replied almost instantly: “From left to right: Skylark, Ajax, Heide’s Sky.”

When I learned I would be on the island again for a few speaking gigs related to my new book, (one at the Museum of Chincoteague–can you peep the real Misty in the background of the above photo?) I asked Amanda if I could tag along with her to witness the fall round up. She not only agreed, but offered the use of a bike to get to the remote area of Assateague Island where the northern corrals are located.

Click here if you want to see the real Misty of Chincoteague when she lived in Wayne, Illinois.

How to View the Chincoteague Pony Fall Round Up

I met Amanda at 7 a.m. at the Wildlife Loop parking lot on Assateague the day of the northern herd round up. Just to be clear, there is a southern herd and a northern herd. The southern herd corrals are closer to civilization (i.e. a parking lot and would require a bit of walking, but no hiking), but I wasn’t able to make that round up the day before.

The northern herd’s range is more remote. In order to get up to the corrals we rode about two miles on the bikes and then had to walk about another mile. Once we got to the fence line separating us from the ponies’ domain, we joined a small crowd of maybe twenty other pony people.

Then we waited.

And snacked.

And chatted with other Chincoteague Pony fans. There was a middle school age-ish girl next to us who, like Amanda, knew all the ponies. She referred repeatedly to the Chincoteague Pony identification app on her phone. She had a few favorite ponies, but I now can’t remember which ones.

The individual bands came in one by one, over the span of a few hours. As they trotted into the corrals it was pretty much a drama-free event. After all, they’ve been doing this triannually their whole life.

Amanda knows each stallion, and as we passed the time between bands coming in, she cited which groups we were still waiting on. For example, Twist (or maybe it was Prince) likes to hide out and was among the last of the ponies to come in. She spoke of the wild ponies like one would of their own pets. From viewing the bands over the years she has come to know their distinct personalities, and she was quick with fun anecdotes, such as a smart mare who would carefully walk over the cattle guard and escape from the compartment. The wily pinto pony whose name was Sweet Mischief (how appropriate) was retired to a cattle farm. She had a good long life as she was born in 1985 and lived until 2021.

The Virginia herd of Chincoteague Ponies are all fenced off from the beach and the roads into two separate “compartments.” There’s a southern range of hundreds of acres and a northern range of thousands. Most of the ponies are in the northern area. If you see YouTube videos of rogue Chincoteague Ponies going through beachgoers’ picnic lunches, etc. those are the ponies on the Maryland side (more on the two states’s herd distinctions in my Marguerite Henry biography/memoir, Marguerite, Misty and Me.)

Over the course of the hours I stood waiting, each time a band trotted or galloped in to the corrals, it was a thrill. Drinking in the sea air, feeling the excitement of the crowd of fellow pony devotees, hearing the quick, successive clicks of Amanda’s camera capturing the wildness, and observing the adorable ponies up close made for memories I will never forget.

Thanks for reading! And in case you can’t get enough horse books, I just released a Marguerite Henry biography: Marguerite, Misty and Me: A Horse Lover’s Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony! I would love to personalize and sign a copy for you so you can relieve the nostalgia of your horse crazy youth. 🙂 CLICK HERE to shop Marguerite, Misty and Me.

Question: Do you think you would like to watch the summer Pony Penning week swim (complete with humidity and crowds) or would you prefer to watch the spring or fall round up?

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