Help Protect
The
Wild Spanish Mustangs
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Corolla's
Wild Mustangs
Take
a good look at these faces of Corolla's wild Spanish mustangs - proud, intelligent,
tenacious and strong, yet calm and gentle of temperament. These faces can only
begin to tell the story of these wild horses that cling to survival in the last
remote and least developed corner of Currituck Banks.
Their tale began over
450 years ago, when the earliest European explorers arrived on the Carolina coast,
bringing Spanish mustangs along with their other livestock and necessities, hoping
to gain a foothold in the New World.
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Some
of those mustangs were shipwrecked by storms or the notorious invisible shoals
of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, and had to swim ashore for survival. Some were
abandoned or turned loose when the explorers left these shores because of failed
settlements, or to flee the native inhabitants who did not always welcome unfriendly
intruders. These tenacious horses learned to fend for themselves and survive
as best they could on the harsh, sandy, storm ravaged barrier islands of the
Outer Banks. Survive they did, even flourishing into the thousands and expanding
all along these strips of sand. Their presence has been historically noted all
up
and down
the
Outer Banks in centuries past.
By the 1800's,
civilization
had recognized the "healthful" benefits of the Outer Banks' ocean breezes
over the oppressive humidity, heat and insects of the inland coastal summers.
These barrier islands quickly became a popular getaway. The first known
cottages
and hotel
were built before 1850 in the Nags Head area near Jockey's Ridge. From there,
as the saying goes, the rest is history. The new residents, as hardy as the wild
mustangs, often rounded up the horses, with some being sold and tamed for riding
and pulling carts and wagons. As people spread out across the Outer Banks, the
wild horses sought more remote places away from civilization.
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