I traveled to Corolla, North Carolina to see the wild horses that live on the Outer Banks. The Banker Horses arrived on board Spanish ships during the 1500’s and the relative isolation of the region has kept the Spanish Barb/Arabian bloodlines pure. Greeting cards and fine art prints of these magnificent horses will be available on Susan M. Carter Photography.

The Spanish Mustang Registry is satisfied that the Banker Horses, in particular the Corolla strain, are as lineally pure to the 16th century Spanish importations as can be found in North America today.

An alert herd stallion.

The interior sections of the island have richer grasses than I expected. Here an adolescent colt naps in the sunshine. He was already being pushed to the edge of his small band and will probably be forced out of the herd by the end of the year.

There is plenty of fresh water available just on the other side of the beach dunes.

The horses come down the beach to escape the flies during the hot times of day. The foal peeking around its dam is about one week old.

Sadly, development is destroying the natural habitat of these horses and they are not protected by federal law. Inevitably septic tank run off, chemicals from building supplies and plain old trash is poisoning the environment.

To my great astonishment, vehicles are allowed to drive all over the beaches and in fact houses are built where the only access is across the sand dunes. Dune erosion is a problem all along the east coast and I can only imagine the damage caused by driving on the dunes.

This setting and these animals are too magnificent to lose to greed and ignorance. The Corolla Wild Horse Fund was founded to raise awareness about this piece of American history. A bill has been introduced into Congress to protect the horses and you can help by writing to your Representative.