Wild Horses

by Lianne Schneider

Title

Wild Horses

Artist

Lianne Schneider

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Painting/photographic Art

Description

Digital painting, photographic composite based on images in the public domain.

WILD HORSES OF CHINCOTEAGUE

The Chincoteague Pony, also known as the Assateague horse, is a breed of horse/pony that developed and lives in a feral condition on Assateague Island in the United States states of Virginia and Maryland. The breed was made famous by the Misty of Chincoteague series written by Marguerite Henry starting in 1947. While phenotypically horse-like, they are commonly called "ponies". This is due in part to their smaller stature, created by the poor habitat present on Assateague Island. Variation is found in their physical characteristics due to blood from different breeds being introduced at various points in their history.

Although popularly known as Chincoteague ponies, the feral ponies actually live on Assateague Island. The entire Island is owned by the federal government, though Assateague is split by a fence at the Maryland/Virginia state line, with a herd of around 150 ponies living on each side of the fence. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. Each year the Fire Company purchases a grazing permit from the National Fish & Wildlife Service. This permit allows the Fire Company to maintain a herd of approximately 150 adult ponies on Assateague Island. Twice a year, the Virginia Chincoteague ponies are �penned� on Assateague and then swum across the very narrow channel that separates Assateague and Chincoteague Islands so they can be inspected and treated by veterinarians, dewormed, checked for encephalitis and other diseases and deformities. Then once a year, approximately 70 adult Chincoteague horses are auctioned off to mainland buyers in order to maintain the herd at around 150 horses. Assateague Island can barely support that population.

Legend states that Chincoteague ponies descend from Spanish horses shipwrecked off the Virginia coast on their way to Peru in the 16th century. Another story holds that they descend from horses left on the island by pirates. Some have suggested that the wild ponies of Assateague trace their origin to horses released to forage on the Island by early settlers. However, the evidence strongly suggests that they are the descendants of the survivors of a Spanish galleon which wrecked off the coast of Assateague in the mid-18th century. This story, which has been passed from generation to generation on Chincoteague Island, is stronger than fiction.

If you�ve ever seen a shipwreck map of the mid Atlantic coastline, then you know that there were a remarkable number of shipwrecks. Before modern navigation, ships used lighthouses and the stars to navigate at night. This worked well until a bad storm came up or heavy fog set in, which impaired visibility. This caused ships to get off course and hit sandbars along the coast. This would usually occur during a storm and the large waves would beat the wooden ship apart. The large number of shipwrecks, together with the fact that it was very common for ships to be transporting ponies to the Colonies or South America, makes it very likely that ponies originally got to Assateague from a shipwreck.

A recent book written by Mr. John Amrhein "The Hidden Galleon" (www.thehiddengalleon.com) suggests the local story about the Spanish galleon is true. In the book he describes the wreck of the La Galga in 1750, its location, the circumstances surrounding the voyage, the great storm of 1749 which decimated all the livestock on the Island, and the appearance of the "Beach" Ponies shortly after the demise of the La Galga, and other evidence. While not absolute the circumstantial evidence he presents is very powerful.

The Chincoteague ponies differ to some degree from the Assateague horses on the Maryland side of the island by virtue of the addition of a few stallions of other breeds � pintos, Arabians, etc. � over the centuries to offset the deformities caused by excessive inbreeding of the confined population. Recent actions by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the Maryland side of Assateague to increase the waterfowl population has endangered the feral horses by preventing them from getting to their limited food sources near the shore in the salt water marshes.


Susan Boyle � Wild Horses - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jI_J2n0Hk

LYRICS:
Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can�t let you slide through my hands

Wild horses couldn�t drag me away
Wild horses couldn�t drag me away

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you�ve decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind

Wild horses couldn�t drag me away
Wild horses, couldn�t drag me away

I know I�ve dreamed you, a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don�t have much time.
Fate has been suffered, tears must be cried
So let�s do some living after we die.

Wild horses couldn�t drag me away
Wild horses couldn�t drag me away�away.

Uploaded

September 24th, 2012

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