Please note, despite what the title suggests, this is not a field guide to tracks left by these horses.
The world-famous Chincoteague Ponies, stars of the silver screen and main attraction at the annual Pony Penning, are essential to the local economy and local identity. But they run free only on the neighboring island of Assateague, which borders Maryland and Virginia, under the watch of an ambivalent federal agency, and they bear little resemblance to their colonial forbears. What does the future hold for them?
Wild horses have lived on the Atlantic coast for hundreds of years. Now confined to a few barrier islands in four states, they attract millions of visitors even as they generate speculation, concern, and spirited debate. Millions of visitors who frequent vacation spots along the Atlantic Wild Horse Trail are eager to learn about the wild herds that roam the nearby islands. The Hoofprints Guide Series engage the reader with detailed information about the history, environment, behavior, and prospects of these intriguing animals. Each guide presents a realistic, detailed account of one Atlantic coast herd and is packed with black-and-white photographs. The Hoofprints Guides are appealing to a general readership, yet are well-referenced and accurate enough to satisfy the scholar. Each of the Hoofprints Guides has been abridged from Bonnie Gruenberg's Wild Horse Dilemma: Conflicts and Controversies of the Atlantic Coast Herds (2015)
By profession, Bonnie Urquhart Gruenberg is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner who welcomes babies into the world in Lancaster County, PA. Specializing in obstetric and equine topics, she is a prolific author, artist and photographer. For nearly two decades, she has spent countless hours researching and photographing the private lives of wild horses in both Western and Eastern habitats. Her award-winning textbook Birth Emergency Skills Training (Birth Guru/Birth Muse, 2008) has been translated into Russian, and was developed into a hands-on workshop. She also has published Essentials of Prehospital Maternity Care (Prentice Hall, 2005); Hoofprints in the Sand: Wild Horses of the Atlantic Coast (as Bonnie S. Urquhart; Eclipse, 2002), and numerous other books, e-books and articles. Prior to her career in obstetrics, she worked as an urban paramedic in Connecticut.