The Horses of Assateague Island

I love horses, they are such beautiful, magical creatures!  I used to collect unicorns as a child!

Assateague Island National Seashore is known for the wild horses/ponies that roam the island, there are few different stories about how they got there which you can read about on the National Park website.  When I heard about this I was so excited to visit and I really hoped I would see some horses on the beach.  Our first visit there was in the morning, and it was so hot that we could barely move.  So of course the horses are going to be smart enough to not hang out on the beach when it is so hot.  There were only humans lounging in the blazing sun and I didn’t really want to take photos of them.  So, we decided we go do something else for a while and return later.  (We drove into Delaware so we could add that state to our refrigerator magnet collection!)

When we came back later in the day, a crazy thunderstorm rolled in, so most of the people that had been baking in the sun on the beach were leaving.  We hung out in the visitors office until it passed, and then, MAGIC!

We drove out to the beach, and I saw a horse from the road, so I got all excited and started yelling at Tim to pull the car over and park!  Where?  I don’t care, anywhere!  There were a few horses walking through the campgrounds and then as I approached the beach I saw these 3 horses sauntering along the waters edge AND it was sunset!  Horses on the beach at sunset!   It was so pretty that I went a little nuts!  I probably chased these 3 horses (at a safe distance mind you, they are still wild animals and will bite) for a good mile along the beach, photographing them.  They were so lovely I couldn’t stop!  This was a dream shoot for me!