About 8 miles from Ocean City is Assateague Island; roughly 37 miles of shoreline, pine forests, shrub thickets, marshes and a rich variety of wildlife. The blue crab, herons, snakes, and the Assateague Pony
share this bird sanctuary and wildlife preserve.
There are 2 main theories on how the horses ended up on the island. One is that they swum from a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast. The other is that they are the feral descendants of livestock that colonial settlers owned.
The terms "horses" and "ponies" have been interchangeably used when it comes to the Assateague pony.
As a general rule, horses are 14.2 hands or more at their withers. A hand is 4 inches, so that translates into 56.8 inches. The height of the Assateague pony falls below that standard - when they remain on a diet of marsh grass. But foals that have been auctioned off and raised on a healthier diet grow beyond the height qualifier. But then there are some horse breeds that are shorter, and still classified as horses, and ponies that are taller, but still classified as ponies. Ponies also tend to have a thicker head and chest. It's a subject not worth a debate as far as I'm concerned. A rose by any other name.
