The Corolla Wild Horse Museum is OPEN!

at the Historic Corolla Schoolhouse

Located in the heart of Corolla Village,
1126 Schoolhouse Lane
Corolla, NC

11:00AM - 4:00PM (call to verify daily hours)

252-453-8002

Corolla Wild Horse Fund
P.O. Box 361
Corolla, NC 27927
The Corolla Wild Horse Fund is a 501 (c) 3 public charity

horses on road

2 horses on beach

 
Everyone's a fisherman on the Outer Banks

Corolla Wild Horse Fund
email: info@corollawildhorses.com


History of the Banker Horses

In order to understand the Banker Horse, one must understand the location and environment from which they developed. Until recent years, the Outer Banks of North Carolina was considered some of the most isolated and under-developed areas in the country.

The bank consists of a string of sand dunes that serve to protect the mainland of North Carolina from the Atlantic Ocean. They are separated from the mainland by large bodies of water called "sounds". The Outer Banks are approximately 175 miles long from the Virginia line to below Cape Lookout. Perhaps the islands are best described by the name of one of the Indian tribes that lived there...."Hatterasil", an Algonquin word meaning "there is less vegetation".

 

 
 
corolla_wild_horse_fund

 

 FACTS:

1. Spanish and Arabian/Barb horses were brought to the 'New World' from 1519 to mid-century.

2. Horses were carried on the decks of ships and pushed overboard to swim ashore when the ships arrived near to shore.

3. In hostile environment, the Spanish settlers became ill and weakened, unable to care adequately for their livestock.

4. While inhospitable to non-native people, the coast with its verdant salt marsh grass was, and is, more than adequate for theses type of horses.

5. North Carolina's Outer Banks remained isolated for centuries, and have been the last area of the state to be populated to saturation. This means there was little opportunity for adulteration of the Spanish blood line.

6. The shallow sounds and marshes of the Outer Banks, while isolating and separating them from the mainland, were not impassable for young stallions traveling from island to island, gathering satellite herds and setting up new pasturage.

7. Examinations by veterinarians and horsemen who are familiar with the Spanish-type horses reveal too many similarities to ignore.

8. Our ongoing study of the Ocracoke and Corolla herds provides data on behavioral and temperamental characteristics which are common to them and to Spanish Barb/Arab horses.

CONCLUSION:

The Spanish Mustang Registry is satisfied that the Banker Horses, in particular the Ocracoke and Corolla strain, are as lineally pure to the 16th century Spanish importations as can be found in North America today, and that they compare closely to the selectively bred South American Spanish derivative stock.

Author; Dale Burrus
Senior Inspector ( at the time he compiled this history and findings)
SPANISH MUSTANG REGISTRY
Copyright © 2005 Outer Banks Concierge
Maintained by Outer Banks Production