Virginia lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday, designating the Chincoteague Island pony as the official pony of the commonwealth.
The bill was introduced by Republican state delegate Robert Bloxom Jr., who is a resident of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where Chincoteague Island is located.
CHINCOTEAGUE, VA – JULY 25: Wild ponies are herded into the Assateague Channel to for their annual swim to Chincoteague Island, on July 25, 2012 in Chincoteague, Virginia. Every year the wild ponies are rounded up to be auctioned off by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
“This is probably the most important bill of this legislative session. This is the main event,” Bloxom told the House of Delegates last Friday.
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The delegate gave a brief history of the Chincoteague pony, which he called a “special breed” that has lived and run wild on Assateague Island for hundreds of years.
Stories passed down for generations linked the horses to an old Spanish Galleon that shipwrecked off the coast of Assateague Island in the 1700s.
Chincoteague ponies gallop into the corral at the Chincoteague Carnival Grounds after the 90th annual Chincoteague Pony Swim on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. A portion of the pony herd will be auctioned on Thursday to benefit the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, which owns and maintains the herd. (Jay Diem/The Daily Times via AP)
Bloxom said DNA testing was conducted on the herd, which linked the ponies back to Spanish origins.
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For the past 98 years, a pony swim has occurred in Chincoteague Island.
“This is where the ponies are herded to swim to Chincoteague Island every year, on the last Wednesday of July at slack morning tide,” Bloxom said.
Once on Chincoteague, some of the foals are auctioned off, not just to control the size of the herd, but also to bring in…
