Chincoteague ponies: Two herds of wild horses make their home on Assateague Island, separated by a fence at the Maryland-Virginia line.
www.chincoteague.com
Interesting info in that story.
Ponies, horses..... They're horses to me. A 'hand' shy of being a horse is still a horse to me. They're big animals when you're face to face with them.
I don't know how they interact with people south of the Maryland border but up here, they tend to own the island. My access is limited to the camping section that stretches about 3 miles or so in the northern end. Almost every day I see them raid people's unattended campsites. The horses know where the food is. At least once every stay here I see them scare people away from the picnic table dinner. Happened yesterday to a couple that just got sat down to eat. They're like any other animal that detects fear and takes advantage of it. They will leave you alone if you show a little aggression.
At our RV, we have a garden hose with a spray nozzle attached. If they decide to invade or space, a quick spray changes their minds. When we go to the beach, we carry a spray bottle. Yeah, the beach is theirs too. Can't leave unattended snacks unsecured there either.
I don't mean to make it sound like it's a constant battle. It's not. Most times they're just part of the scenery. We see their small groups several times a day from our campsite, beach or bike rides. Their mostly looking for or eating food. On extremely hot days they'll head to the beach. Especially this time of the year with the water being so cool. They mainly go stand near the waters edge to keep cool. Makes for awesome pictures though.
They do tend to disrupt traffic flow as well. There's only one way off of this island and if they decide to stand in the middle of the road you're stick there until a park ranger moves them on their way.
We've become familiar with them enough and see them so often that we don't give the encounters much thought anymore. We mainly try to get a decent pic and head about our business.