The Outer Banks of North Carolina has a stretch of land running from just north of Corolla to the Virginia state line that is sparsely populated, absolutely beautiful and home to 60 wild horses. These horses not only roam free, they thrive in this area. The horses are the direct descendants of the Mustangs that the Spanish brought to this country on Spanish galleons back in the 16th century. The breed has had a long time to acclimate and have survived for many generations feeding on the marsh grasses and salt grasses and pawing the ground to reach the fresh water that is two to three feet below the surface.

When Columbus made his second voyage to the New World in 1493, there were horses listed among the necessary items for colonization. The royal credula that is preserved in the Archives of the Indies reads:

"The Twenty-Third of May, 1493. Archive of the Indies. The King and the Queen: Fernando Zarpa, our Secretary. We command that certain vessels be prepared to send to the Islands and to the Mainland which has been newly discovered in the ocean sea in that part of the Indies, and to prepare these vessels for the Admiral Don Christopher Columbus...and among the other people we are commanding to go in these vessels there will be sent twenty lancers with horses...and five of them shall take two horses each, and these two horses which they take shall be mares."

The Spaniards preferred to ride stallions, but Columbus knew to keep the herd growing and to replace any horses that my fall ill or get killed he had to bring mares, too. As more Spanish explorers arrived, they continued to bring more horses with them because Columbus insisted that every colony ship sent to Hispaniola should include stallions and mares. The growing number of horses meant horse ranches were soon established on Hispaniola.

In the early 1500s Lucas Vasques de Ayllon sent three expeditions from Hispaniola to what is now the Carolinas and Virginia. He moved to what is now called Cape Lookout, to establish and govern a Spanish colony. The colony failed and the survivors caught a ship back to Hispaniola, leaving behind all the horses they brought with them.

For the past 400 years, these horses have adapted and flourished into a separate and distinct breed of horse. In 1993, a DNA study done by Dr. Gus Cothran, Director of the Equine Blood Typing Research Laboratory at the University of Kentucky, proves these horses are the descendants of the Spanish mustangs. Although there is no absolute certainty if these horses are direct descendants of the horses Columbus brought to the New World, the genetic test indicate they are descended from the horses from Spain.

To keep these horses safe from increasing vehicle traffic, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund (CWHF), a not-for-profit organization that is supported partly by public contributions, built a fence from sound to ocean and from the edge of the last group of homes to the Virginia state line. The CWFH is responsible for managing the herd that lives on this eleven mile stretch of land.

Source: www.articledashboard.com