Outer Banks & Northern Coast

Wild Ponies On The Outer Banks

Facts about how the so-called wild Banker ponies that roam the dunes of the Outer Banks got here are murky. But we’ve never let that get in the way of a good tale.

Ancestors of our tiny steeds pounded across Arab sands more than 400 years ago. Proud Arabian horses were bred with the sturdy horses of Spain on the Barbary Coast of North Africa. They became a separate breed known as Barb horses and accompanied Spanish and Portuguese explorers on their expeditions to the New World.
DNA has shown that our horses – and despite their small size, they are horses – trace their descent from Spanish Mustangs. But this is where we diverge into legend.

Spanish explorers came to the coast of North Carolina in the 1500s, bringing with them all of their livestock. Often, the animals made the trip to shore by swimming. Did some of the Barbs just swim off? Or, were they shipwrecked?

According to research done by the Hakluyt Society, Sir Richard Grenville bought livestock – including Spanish horses – and his ship the “Tiger” ran aground on Ocracoke in 1565. Are the horses descended from Grenville’s herd?

Dale Burrus of the Spanish Mustang Registry suggests the horses were left to fend for themselves when Indians drove the conquistadors off to their safe southern colonies in Florida. Today, they can be found from the northern boundary of the Outer Banks near Corolla, to Ocracoke, and on to the islands’ southern terminus at Shackelford Banks near Beaufort.

The Corolla herd has been traced back as far as 1523, but their future is hazy. Development places their habitat under pressure and vehicular traffic makes their wild roaming highly dangerous. In 1999 the Corolla Wild Horse Fund took the remaining horses to a 400-acre area on private Dews Island in Currituck Sound.

The Banker ponies on Ocracoke have lived in harmony with residents for more than 200 years. Islanders put the animals to work hauling lifesaving equipment and fishing boats. When the Cape Hatteras National Seashore was formed in the late 50s and early 60s, all of the animals were rounded up. Today, you can see Ocracoke’s Banker ponies at the National Park Service Pony Pen, a 160-acre pasture about 6 miles south of the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry docks.

A final sanctuary for the horses is Shackelford Banks. Here you’ll find these 14-hand high horses grazing and frolicking on the nine-mile long barrier island just east of Morehead City and Beaufort.

However they got here, the Banker ponies are now a breed of their own shaped by the hot summer sands, whipping winter winds, brackish water, salt spray and coarse grasses of the Outer Banks. These hearty hoofed beasts are a unique North Carolina natural treasure.

added: December 15, 2008

updated: March 11, 2009