While the real Misty was actually born in captivity, the story of the annual wild horse roundup and Pony Swim from Chinconteague to Assateague—two barrier islands on Virginia and Maryland’s ...

There, the foal was swallowed up in a $76 million bureaucracy that captures, feeds and stockpiles more horses than any other in the nation. Wild horses in captivity now outnumber those in the wild.