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Seeing Corolla's wonderful Spanish mustangs interacting
in the wild is very special. It is even more exciting when you can watch them run
free along the beach with the ocean's waves behind them. Such a dramatic setting
is unique to Corolla's wild mustangs. There is nowhere else in the world where you
can so easily drive right into their habitat, without fees, tickets or permits, and
watch wild Spanish mustangs by the ocean.
Whether you call them Spanish mustangs,
Colonial Spanish, Barb, Spanish Barb, Cayuse or Original Indian Horse, they are descended
from the horses brought from the Spanish colonies (now Puerto Rico), which in turn
came directly from Spain. Those horses from Spain were the fabled Andalusian horses
of the Iberian peninsula (Spain/Portugal), one of the oldest horse breeds known to
man. They are the horses whose ancestors were immortalized in the cave paintings
of Europe.
Although Corolla's wild Spanish mustangs
are accustomed to people, they are definitely not tame. Though they sometimes run
off when people approach, they will usually just move away when people get too close
for their comfort. There are ordinances dictating that people must stay at least
50 feet away from the wild horses, and petting, feeding or harrassing these horses
is not permitted either.
Sometimes individual horses can become
curious, and may approach a visitor. In such a case it is best to move away, no matter
how tempting it is to get close. On occasion people have been bitten. The penalty
for breaking the ordinance is the same whether the horse came too close to you, or
you came too close to the horse. They must never become too familiar with people,
nor come to expect food from people if they are to remain wild and independent.
Sadly, some people ignore these warnings
and occasionally one of these wonderful wild mustangs will learn to look to them
for food, and eventually become a nuisance. When this happens the horse has to be
removed from the wild herd and put up for adoption. Such measures decrease an already
insufficient population among the wild horses, putting them deeper into danger. Without
enough horses to maintain genetic viability, they cannot survive as wild Spanish
mustangs. If this should happen, an irreplaceable North Carolina treasure will have
been lost.
Corolla's
wild mustangs are living, breathing history, straight from the history books. They
are a part of the legend and lore spanning hundreds of years on North Carolina's
unique barrier islands. Think what it would be like if Blackbeard's descendants still
sailed and plundered the waters along the Outer Banks. Then consider that the ancestors
of these wild Spanish mustangs first came to these shores on sailing ships that preceeded
Blackbeard by more than 150 years, but unlike Blackbeard's pirates these horses have
survived. It's certainly a part of history worth preserving.
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