Live Encounters Magazine Volume Two November-December 2024.
Assateague Island Allure, photo feature by Katie Costello.
The barrier island of Assateague is a 37-mile-long island that spans the coast of Maryland and Virginia in The United States of America. Much of the area is marsh land. The entire island, in both states, is considered Assateague Island. However, the National Park system in each state is different. Maryland (About 2/3 of the island) is known as Assateague National Park, and the Virginia side (about 1/3 of the island) is known as Chincoteague National Park.
When I was a little girl, I loved to read. One of my favorite books was Misty by Marguerite Henry. This book was magical to me as a child, and I waited my entire childhood to grow up and be able to see this magical place for myself.
My first visit was in 1994. It was as magical as I had read about. Feral (wild) horses running free on the island. I went to both the Maryland and Virginia side in that first trip, and fell in love. Over endless visits since, and falling more in love with the location than the little girl’s version of Misty, my thoughts and ideas have changed in so many ways.
On the Maryland side the horses are “owned” by the National Park System. These horses are truly living wild. They do not offer veterinary care, or food during harsh winters. Veterinary care normally only comes in the form of an animal who has been severely injured and is determined to need to be euthanized.
On the Virginia Side the horses are owned by the Volunteer Fire Department. They offer extra food through harsh winters, they do veterinary care twice a year (which is done through stressful roundups) and then they have their annual pony penning, where horses are forced to swim under stressful conditions and sent to an auction. There is also a fall auction. These horses are determined by humans on which side they should live and which mares they will get. These horses are living pseudo wild lives. I also think the pony penning is an archaic and horrible event. Yearly horses die from the stress they are asked to endure, and then they are paraded down the streets of Chincoteague in celebration. It is a complete disconnect between people and horses.
Now let me be clear. I am not anti-fire department by any means. I also am not against offering food during really harsh winters. On the surface much of what they do doesn’t sound awful. However, the definition of freedom is: “The power or right to act, speak or change without hindrance or restraint” and “Absence of constraint: The state of being free from necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” So, freedom is about choice. Having choices to decide things in your own life. To decide what you like and what you don’t. This is, in my world, true of every single animal I work with, 2 legged or 4. To deny an animal a right to choose is such a violation of ethics.
I love the idea of the freedom, and after witnessing these horses in their true “wild” state is amazing. Their eyes shine differently, they hold their heads differently, their strong familial ties unwavering. I am in awe of them.
In the book Misty, the plot revolves around the “pony penning” that the Virginia Chincoteague side does yearly. The book, thought of solely through the eyes of a human, are troubling to me at this point. I boycott the idea that these families are ripped apart yearly for their auction. Salt water cowboys round the horses up, and auction off mostly the foals. The stress these horses endure during this is horrific. Google Pony Penning in Chincoteague, and you will be witness to the horses in their own body language showing you exactly how stressed they are. I think of those horse families prematurely torn apart. The loss of the wildness, which is all they know. I don’t think of the person who is getting a new horse to keep in their barn.
All too often we have 1 sided relationships with animals. While on the surface, the Chincoteague way may feel kinder. But the more you can open yourself up to understanding that other animals also have a right to freedom, you start to see things very differently. In America a lot of focus is put onto “Land of the Free” and the importance of freedom. Unfortunately thought only extends through humans.
To many, those animals that are caught and auctioned are “lucky” to have a family to love them. Such a human way to think, or justify. I fully believe if we were to give those horses the options, they would choose their moms and dads EVERY time over the barn where they lose most of their choices in their life and are asked to endure “training”, which in the horse world is all too often harsh punishment-based treatment.
I spend most of my time on the Assateague side of the island. I love all things wild. There aren’t houses on the Maryland side of the island. You can camp there, but that is the best you are going to get. The closest town to the island is Berlin, and Ocean City isn’t far. But it is a desolate kind of location where wild things live, and nothing else does.
The island itself has such diversity. Such pristine, untouched beauty. There is truly very little to do on the island. No houses or restaurants, only nature and a few visitor centers.This island would not be for everyone, but for nature lovers, it is amazing. It is one of my favorite places on the planet. Chincoteague, on the other hand, does have houses, restaurant, hotels, and many stores on the island. Again, stark contrasts between the two places.
For many years, I wouldn’t visit the Chincoteague side at all. Their horses are penned up in an enclosure (that is very large) as compared to the first time I was there. Many horses were walking the island. The only way to see the horses is to walk the service roads for many miles or to go on a boat tour in hopes of seeing them. So, a couple of years ago I hired Mike Gellis from Up the Bay Pony Tours because he was the only ones not advertising that he was one of the “salt water cowboys”. And so, I tried Chincoteague once again. Mike is amazing, and we have debated some of these very same talking points I am making in this article, without an agenda. Different viewpoints and mutual respect.
The colors of the Chincoteague horses are unparallelled to the Assateague horses. And while I don’t like the story of “Misty” any longer, to know that some of those horses are descendants of Misty is thrilling to me. So, I have found a way to once again love Chincoteague, from a little distance.
The island, on either side has some similarities. For one, the weather can be brutally hot. There is a biting black fly count, which can be extreme in the summer. And the
national bird of Maryland, it has been suggested, is the mosquito. They are the largest mosquitos I have ever seen.
Again, remember primitive and natural in my descriptions. If that isn’t your thing, this probably isn’t an island for you.
© Katie Costello
Katie Costello was born and raised in Hubbard, Ohio, USA. Her greatest passion in life has always been to help animals. She is lucky enough to be a licensed veterinary technician and owner of The Canine Campus Training and Wellness Center and The Canine Campus Bed and Biscuit Inn, where she helps animals through behavior work, does training of all types including aggression, fear, and service dog work.
A vegetarian since she was 6 years old and a vegan for the last 15 years, she currently has 7 dogs, 5 cats, 7 chickens, 3 roosters, 1 very special turkey and 2 farm pigs that are amongst her dearest friends. She is founder of 2 non-profit organizations, K-9’s for Compassion (Co-founded with her father), a therapy animal group and The Together 3 Journey, a service dog organization. She has been on the board of many animal organizations throughout her life, including Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary and C.H.A.I.N. (Community Helping Animals In Need) and SVBT (Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians) She enjoys freelance writing about (mostly) animals for different magazines, with her favorite being Live Encounters!
https://thecaninecampustraining.com/