ELGIN — When Rebekah Hart was a child, she asked God for just one Chincoteague pony after reading about the breed in Marguerite Henry’s Newbery Honor book, “Misty of Chincoteague.”
Today, Hart has nine Chincoteague ponies and is the founder, president and a registrar of the main Chincoteague pony breed registry: the International Chincoteague Pony Association & Registry.
“I like the thought of keeping the breed going and giving people the resources and creating more value within the breed,” Hart said. “If we don’t preserve who they are, then they get lost.”
Hart maintains Hart’s Island Pony Ranch on her parents’ farm near Elgin. Hart is also a graphic design student and works on her family’s corn and soybean operation.
Hart said the breed population of Chincoteague ponies is 2,000 at its best. The breed, which contains Mustang and Arabian bloodlines, originates from wild herds on Assateague Island on the Atlantic coast.
How the ponies came to live on the island wild and untethered is unknown. Hart said one explanation is that people living nearby grazed their horses there to evade taxes, and the other is that a Spanish ship wrecked near the island and the horses swam ashore.
Hart is unsure what she believes.
“The shipwreck is a fun story, (but) I tend to lean maybe a little bit more towards the grazing because it makes … more sense,” Hart said. “I’ve also heard that sometimes, stories passed down through generations hold a lot of weight.”
Assateague Island is split by the Maryland and Virginia state line, which is fenced. The Maryland herd is managed by the National Park Service with minimal intervention. The Virginia northern and southern herds are owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. For the past 100 years, the fire department has done yearly roundups and sold a percentage of the foals.
Hart has had three ponies originally from the island, although she bought them already off the island. Hart said she is interested in maintaining the bloodlines of Chincoteague ponies born off the island.
This interest is partly why Hart started her registry. In 2021, Hart was trying to get one of her Chincoteague mares registered. One of the breed registries was no longer issuing registration papers. The other registry did not do verification research for off-island ponies.
Hart offered to help the existing registries, but the organizations were not interested.
“I was like, ‘Well, I guess the only thing is to start one,’” Hart said.
As of Dec. 29, 2025, her registry has 298 ponies. Hart and the other staff do full and half-blooded Chincoteague registrations and off-island pony verification. Hart collaborates with Amanda Geci, who manages the Chincoteague Pony Pedigree Database.
Hart has attended the fire department’s weeklong summer pony round up three times. The first two days are dedicated to corralling the southern and the northern herd for identification and health checks. On the third day, the northern herd is walked down the Assateague Island beach and united with the southern herd.
The buybacks are announced the fourth day. Buybacks are foals which will stay on the island. They are sold as a benefit to the fire department later in the week as a formality — similar to a 4-H purple ribbon auction. The buyers do not retain ownership but are allowed to name their foal.
“Basically, you get bragging rights,” Hart said. “There’s been a steady increase in price for buybacks because it’s been such a status symbol, and it’s getting more and more competitive as more people hear about the breed.”
In 2025, the top buyback sold for over $100,000. Overall, the sale of the 94 foals — which includes the buybacks — topped $1 million.
On the fifth day, all the able-bodied ponies are swum across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague Island for the auction.
Hart said attendees get up early in the morning to go out in boats or to stand in the marsh to watch.
“You’ll see the ponies swim, and it’s just really cool,” she said. “People will be cheering, especially when they hit the shore.”
Once the ponies have reached Chincoteague Island, they are paraded to the carnival grounds where the auction occurs the next day.
“Once they pass by (in the parade), you have just hordes of people … just following them,” Hart said.
Hart’s journey with Chincoteague ponies started in 2009. At the time, she wanted to become a horse trainer. While looking for a horse to train, she found two Chincoteague mares in Wisconsin. For the next five years, she began buying and breeding Chincoteagues.
After high school, Hart attended Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, for equine science and equine management. Once she finished, she enrolled at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio, for their horse program.
However, Hart was forced home two and a half semesters later because of a serious, unknown illness.
“There was a lot of spiritual growth in there, and just a lot of learning how to trust God when I (had) literally no idea why I (was) so sick,” Hart said.
Hart’s breeding program had paused for college. When she returned home, continued maintenance was all she could handle.
“Once I started to feel better, … I was like, ‘Well, I love breeding; I’d love to get back into it,’” Hart said.
She spent two years figuring out her herd, and she started the breed registry. In 2023, Hart began having foals again.
Looking to the future, Hart said one of her goals is to increase DNA testing within the breed. Expanded testing will allow better study of bloodlines and color patterns, as well as the creation of more accurate pedigrees since the lineage of wild ponies is guesswork.
“We’ve been very excited to start, especially (with) some foals that … we don’t know who the sire is,” Hart said. “Now, we have at least some way to start figuring it out.”
Hart said as she looks back at her life, she sees her interests prepared her to operate the registry.
“Small little things that you had a heart for (are) all … coming together,” Hart said. “You’re like, ‘This is what it’s for.’”
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