You are asked to check in at the ranger station adjacent to the entrance. To reach the Seashore, turn right after crossing the bridge onto the island. The Seashore is adjacent to Maryland’s Assateague State Park, but they are two different entities, and horses are not allowed in the Park. You do not have to show a Coggins or health papers. The boys seem happy with their “wild girl” harems.Īs part of the National Park system, Assateague Island National Seashore charges a user fee. There are no problems with mares in season being stalked by pony stallions. Our horses, on the other hand, get a bit up when a stranger strolls around their parked trailers.
When they do show up on the beach or in the parking lots, they largely ignore their domesticated cousins. They seem content to stay in the brush and marshes, which are off-limits to trail riders. If your horse is happy in the water, the footing is firm and safe for that gallop through the waves, although even in May, the water is cold! Wild Ponies of Assateague Wild horses of AssateagueĪs famous as the “wild” ponies are, you rarely encounter them. Closer to the water, it’s firm enough to trot or even for a short canter. Most of the footing is moderate-to-deep sand, lending itself to a casual walk. I usually find a picnic table or get a leg up from someone with a shorter horse. Mounting can be a challenge if you need a mounting block like I do with my big Dutch Warmblood. We often take young and inexperienced horses to the beach with an “old hand” and walk unmounted for a while as the youngsters get used to the alien sights, sounds, and sand. Riders unload the horses in a designated parking lot and walk unmounted up the dunes to the beach.
Assateague island national seashore overnight drivers#
The area is so vast that you rarely see or even hear the 4-wheelers, and when you do, the drivers are extremely co-operative and polite. It runs most of the length of the Maryland side of the Seashore. The horseback riding area is actually the 11-mile long OSV (over-sand vehicle) range, used by 4-wheelers. Although the wind can be bracing (to put it mildly), and sometimes you have to bundle up like the Michelin Man. There are no crowds and no bugs, and most of the time the weather is moderate enough to be rideable. The beach is open for horseback riding from mid-October through mid-May. Horseback riding in Maryland: Assateague Island As often as not, a pod of dolphins patrol off-shore, leaping and splashing for the sheer joy of it. Many people bring their dogs, which must be leashed. You share the beach with shorebirds, folks looking for shells, and families spending quality time together. Horseback riding on Maryland’s Atlantic coast, just south of the resort town of Ocean City, Assateague offers an almost endless, wide sandy beach that invites long, lazy, relaxing ambles for horse and rider. Assateague Island National Seashore, home of the “wild” ponies, fits this experience exactly. Few horseback rides are as memorable as those along the shores of the ocean’s crashing waves.
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