WILD MUSTANGS OF THE OUTER BANKS

Descendants of herds brought to these shores by Spanish explorers dating back to the 1500s, the wild horses of Corolla on North Carolina’s Outer Banks make the sandy beaches of this attractive coastal community their home.

- Ken Amorosano

Descendants of herds brought to these shores by Spanish explorers dating back to the 1500s, the wild horses of Corolla on North Carolina’s Outer Banks make the sandy beaches of this attractive coastal community their home.

Traced though DNA research, the Corolla Wild Horses’ lineage has been determined to be from hardy Spanish mustangs that arrived by ship through wrecks or being pushed off in exchange for another valuable booty. Having remained largely undisturbed in this formerly remote location for the last 400 years, the herd was eventually threatened to near extinction. As development in Corolla boomed during the 1980s and 90s, numbers fell to as low as 40 animals from rampant inbreeding, consumption of indigestible foods, and being struck by vehicular traffic.