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Please Note: Very graphic intensive!
Please allow time for all photos to appear. |
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April, 2008
We enjoyed a vacation in Corolla, North Carolina
April, 2008. Besides the rolling ocean
waves, platoons of pelicans and parasailing, we
wanted to see the wild Corolla ponies we'd heard
about.
While the weather was not conducive to
parasailing (next time!), we did have one day in
which we were able to go 4-wheeling in Carova,
just north of Corolla, to see the wild mustangs.
The pictures that follow are from our
pony-watching trip. The text is taken from
the sources listed below; their story is
fascinating. Note, the area the ponies now
roam is fenced to protect them, but is still
being developed for the tourist trade with
multi-million dollar homes going up every day.
There are no paved roads - all "roads" in this
area are plowed sand that fill up like ponds
after a rain. The ponies roam free and are
often found wandering between occupied homes as
they forage, or on the beach when the day turns
warm. |
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Descended from Spanish stock which arrived over
400 years ago, these hardy, tenacious horses
have lived here since the earliest explorers and
shipwrecks. In previous centuries there were
thousands of these horses roaming the full
length of the Outer Banks, from Shackleford
Banks, all along Core Banks, Ocracoke, Hatteras,
and on northward beyond Corolla on Currituck
Banks. The Outer Banks of North Carolina is one
of very few places in America where wild horses
still roam free, stubbornly surviving in this
once remote coastal environment. With the
protected status now afforded to them, they
should remain free to live as their ancestors
have for centuries.
Found north of Corolla they roam freely, where
they can be seen if you have a 4WD to make the
trip up the beach to the Carova (from "Carolina
over to Virginia") area near the Virginia
border. Visitors without a 4WD vehicle can take
advantage of guided tours to see the horses. |
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Beyond the historical record, scientific studies
have linked today's Corolla herd to clear
Spanish origins. The University of Kentucky's
veterinary department conducted DNA studies
sponsored by the Corolla Wild Horse Fund which
confirmed their ancestry, and further showed
that the horses, due to their isolation over the
past centuries, have become a breed unto
themselves. Corolla's wild Spanish Mustangs have
since been recognized by the State of North
Carolina as a significant historical and
cultural resource.
Hot sand, freezing winds, brackish water, coarse
grasses, salt spray. Difficult conditions for
any species. For the wild horses of Corolla,
it's home |
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A Currituck County ordinance
prohibits people from approaching
within 50 yards of the horses.
The Corolla horses don't have the
protection of the U.S. Park Service
like other wild ponies such as the
Chincoteague ponies. Everything
that's been done to protect them has
been done by concerned citizens.
There was a time when the Outer
Banks' wild horses didn't need any
protection. It has been only in the
last 40 years that the advent of
tourism has forced the horses --and
the Outer Banks as a whole-- to
radically adapt.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP THE COROLLA MUSTANGS:
http://www.corollawildhorses.com/help.html |
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Text credits:
Wild Horses of the Outer Banks;
http://www.outerbanksguidebook.com/horses.htm
Corolla Wild Horses;
www.corollawildhorses.com |
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