Bankers are allowed to remain on the islands due to their historical significance even though they can trample plants and ground-nesting animals and are not considered to be indigenous. They survive by grazing on marsh grasses, which supply them with water as well as food, supplemented by temporary freshwater pools.
To prevent overpopulation and inbreeding, and to protect their habitat from being overgrazed, the horses are managed by the National Park Service, the state of North Carolina, and several private organizations. The horses are monitored for diseases, such as equine infectious anemia, an outbreak of which was discovered and subsequently eliminated on Shackleford in 1996. They are safeguarded from traffic on North Carolina Highway 12. Island populations are limited by adoptions and by birth control. Bankers taken from the wild and trained have been used for trail riding, driving, and occasionally for mounted patrols.
The typical Banker horse is relatively small, standing between 13.0 and 14.3hands (52 and 59inches, 132 and 150cm) high at the withers[3] and weighing 800 to 1,000 pounds (360 to 450kg).[4] Other sources list them as taller, standing between 14.0 and 15.2hands (56 and 62inches, 142 and 157cm) high.[4] The forehead is broad, and the facial profile tends to be straight or slightly convex.
In terms of conformation, the chest is typically deep and narrow, and the back is short, with a sloped croup and low-set tail. Legs have an oval-shaped cannon bone,[5] a trait considered indicative of "strong bone", or soundness.[6] Calluses known as chestnuts are small, on some so tiny that they are barely detectable. Most Bankers have no chestnuts on the hind legs.[7]
Several of the Bankers' characteristics indicate that they share ancestry with other Colonial Spanish horse breeds. The presence of the genetic marker "Q-ac" suggests that the horses share common ancestry with two other breeds of Spanish descent, the Pryor Mountain Mustang and Paso Fino. These breeds diverged from one another 400years ago.[10] The breed shares skeletal traits of other Colonial Spanish horses: the wings of the atlas are lobed, rather than semicircular; and they are short-backed, with some individuals possessing five instead of six lumbar vertebrae. No changes in function result from these spinal differences. The convex facial profile common to the breed also indicates Spanish ancestry.[5]
The Foundation for Shackleford Horses has set up a studbook for establishing the Banker horse as its own horse breed; as such, it is registered as a critically endangered breed with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Some Banker horses have also been accepted into the Mustang breed registry.[4]
Breed history
A map showing herd locations
Since they are free-roaming, Bankers are often referred to as "wild" horses; however, because they descend from domesticated ancestors, they are feral horses.[12] It is thought that the Bankers arrived on the barrier islands during the 16th century. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the horses' origins, but none have yet been fully verified.
One theory is that ancestors of the Banker swam ashore from wrecked Spanish galleons. Ships returning to Spain from the Americas often took advantage of both the Gulf Stream and continental trade winds, on a route that brought them within 20 miles (32km) of the Outer Banks. Hidden shoals claimed many victims, and earned this region the name of "Graveyard of the Atlantic". At least eight shipwrecks discovered in the area are of Spanish origin, dating between 1528 and 1564. These ships sank close enough to land for the horses to have made the shores. Alternatively, during hazardous weather, ships may have taken refuge close to shore, where the horses may have been turned loose. However, the presence of horses on Spanish treasure ships has not been confirmed—cargo space was primarily intended for transporting riches such as gold and silver.[13]
Another conjecture is that the breed is descended from the 89horses brought to the islands in 1526 by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón. His attempted colonization of San Miguel de Gualdape (near the Santee River in South Carolina) failed, forcing the colonists to move, possibly to North Carolina. Vázquez de Ayllón and about 450 of the original 600colonists subsequently died as a result of desertion, disease, and an early frost. Lacking effective leadership, the new settlement lasted for only two months; the survivors abandoned the colony and fled to Hispaniola, leaving their horses behind.[14]
A similar theory is that Sir Richard Grenville brought horses to the islands in 1585 during an attempt to establish an English naval base. All five of the expedition's vessels ran aground at Wococon (present-day Ocracoke).[15] Documents indicate that the ships carried various types of livestock obtained through trade in Hispaniola, including "mares, kyne [cattle], buls, goates, swine [and] sheep."[16] While the smaller vessels were easily refloated, one of Grenville's larger ships, the Tiger, was nearly destroyed. Scholars believe that as the crew attempted to lighten the ship, they either unloaded the horses or forced them overboard, letting them swim to shore. In a letter to Sir Francis Walsingham that same year, Grenville suggested that livestock survived on the island after the grounding of his ships.[15]
Life on the barrier islands
Drinking from a horse-dug water hole on Shackleford Banks
About 400Bankers inhabit the long, narrow barrier islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks.[4] These islands are offshore sediment deposits separated from the mainland by a body of water such as an estuary[17] or sound.[3] The islands can be up to 30 miles (48km) from the shore; most are less than onemile (1.6km) wide. Vegetation is sparse and consists mainly of coarse grasses and a few stunted trees.[18] Each island in the chain is separated from the next by a tidal inlet.[17]
The Bankers' small stature can be attributed, in part, to limited nutrients in their diet.[19] They graze mostly on Spartina grasses but will feed on other plants such as bulrush (Typha latifolia), sea oats,[20] and even poison ivy.[21] Horses living closer to human habitation, such as those on Currituck Banks, have sometimes grazed on residential lawns and landscaping.[20] Domesticated Bankers raised on manufactured horse feed from an early age tend to exhibit slightly larger frames.[19]
Fresh water is a limiting resource for Bankers, as the islands are surrounded by salt water and have no freshwater springs or permanent ponds.[18] The horses are dependent on ephemeral pools of rainwater and moisture in the vegetation they consume.[20] Bankers will dig shallow holes, ranging from 2.5 to 4 feet (0.76 to 1.22m) in depth, to reach fresh groundwater.[18] Occasionally, they may resort to drinking seawater. This gives them a bloated appearance, a consequence of water retention caused by the body's effort to maintain osmotic balance.[22]
Land use controversies
Aerial view of a barrier island in the North Carolina Outer Banks
The National Park Service (NPS) is concerned about the impact of Bankers on the environmental health of North Carolina's barrier islands. Initially, the NPS believed that the introduced Banker horses would completely consume the Spartina alterniflora grasses and the maritime forests, as both were thought to be essential to their survival.[22] Research in 1987 provided information on the horses' diet that suggested otherwise. Half of their diet consisted of Spartina, while only 4% of their nutrients came from the maritime forest. The study concluded that sufficient nutrients were replenished with each ocean tide to prevent a decline in vegetative growth from overgrazing.[23]
A 2004 study declared that the greatest impact on plant life was not from grazing, but from the damage plants sustained when trampled by the horses' hooves.[20] Banker horses - an introduced species - pose a threat to native ground-nesting animals, such as sea turtles and shorebirds. Feral horses interrupt nesting activities[24] and can crush the young.[22]
A 2019 study, citing earlier studies from 2014[25] and 2017,[26] also found that free-roaming Banker horses also appear to cause some environmental issues by directly affecting other wild species. This included Banker horses potentially limiting these native species' access to water sources, and that not managing Banker horses increased the risk of soil erosion in both riparian and upland plant communities. This was found to decrease ecosystem productivity and function at some sites, and that unrestricted free-roaming horses may, over time, cause stream channel incision and a drop in the water table in riparian areas, particularly if the banks were made unstable by a loss of deep-rooted plant species. The study also found that soil compaction from unrestricted free-roaming-horse use likely limits herbaceous vegetation, because soil compaction can restrict water infiltration and root growth, thereby having a substantial ecological impact in native upland and riparian plant communities.[27]
The study recommended a longer-term environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the response of soil, vegetation, and wildlife to free-roaming-horse exclusion in order to better understand the magnitude of these effects. However, the study's authors also noted that magnitude of horse effects will likely vary substantially across the landscape, because horse use intensity and frequency is variable. The ecological effects of free-roaming horses were recommended to be considered in restoration and nature conservation plans for native species. The study noted that some restoration and conservation goals may not be achievable in areas that free-roaming horses occupy, and should therefore not be attempted, because resources would be wasted. The study's final recommendation was more management of free-roaming Banker horse populations to reduce their negative impact.[27]
As the Bankers are seen as a part of North Carolina's coastal heritage, they have been allowed to remain on the barrier islands.[28] To cope with the expanding population, prevent inbreeding and attempt to minimize environmental damage, several organizations partner in managing the herds.
North Carolina's early economic development depended heavily on the Banker horses. In the 19th and 20th centuries, they were considered an important economic commodity, and regular roundups were held on the islands, called pony pennings. The Bankers were auctioned off to buyers from the mainland.[4]
Since 1959, Bankers on Ocracoke Island have been confined to fenced areas of approximately 180 acres (0.73km2; 0.28sqmi). The areas protect the horses from the traffic of North Carolina Highway 12, as well as safeguarding the island from overgrazing. The NPS, the authority managing the Ocracoke herd, supplements the horses' diet with additional hay and grain.[31]
In 2006, as a precaution against inbreeding, two fillies from the Shackleford herd were transported to Ocracoke.[32]
Shackleford
A freeze branded mare on Shackleford
Public Law 105-229, commonly referred to as the Shackleford Banks Wild Horses Protection Act, states that the Bankers on Shackleford Island are to be jointly managed by the National Park Service and another qualified nonprofit entity (currently the Foundation for Shackleford Horses). The herd is limited to 120–130horses. Population management is achieved through adoption and by administering the contraceptive vaccine Porcine zona pellucida (PZP) to individual mares via dart. The island's horse population is monitored by freeze branding numbers onto each animal's left hindquarter. The identification of individuals allows the National Park Service to ensure correct gender ratios and to select which mares to inject with PZP.
Since 2000, adoptions of Bankers from Shackleford have been managed by the Foundation for Shackleford Horses. As of 2007, 56horses had found new homes, 10 resided with another herd on Cedar Island, and two had been moved to the Ocracoke herd.[33]
On November 12, 1996, the Shackleford horses were rounded up by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Division and tested for equine infectious anemia (EIA). EIA is a potentially lethal disease, a lentivirus transmitted by bodily fluids and insects. Seventy-six of the 184captured horses tested positive. Those that tested negative were allowed to remain on the island and those with the disease were transported to a temporary quarantine facility. Finding a permanent, isolated area for such a large number of Bankers was a challenging task for the Foundation; eight days later the state declared all proposed locations for the herd unsuitable. It ordered the euthanization of the 76infected horses. Two more horses died in the process—one that was fatally injured during the roundup, and an uninfected foal that slipped into the quarantined herd to be with its mother.[34]
Currituck Banks
As a consequence of development in Corolla and Sandbridge during the 1980s, horses on Currituck Banks came into contact with humans more frequently.[35] This proved to be dangerous and sometimes fatal for the horses. By 1989, eleven Bankers had been killed by cars on the newly constructed Highway 12,[36] and several others in Sandbridge.[37] That same year, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, a nonprofit organization, was created to protect the horses from human interference. As a result of its efforts, the remainder of the herd was moved to a more remote part of Currituck Banks,[38] where they were fenced into 1,800 acres (7.28km2; 2.81sqmi) of combined federal and privately donated land between Corolla and the Virginia/North Carolina line. Corolla commissioners declared the site a horse sanctuary.[22]
The population is now managed by adopting out yearlings, both fillies and gelded colts.[39] Conflicts over the preservation of the horses continued into 2012.[40] In 2013, legislation was introduced to help preserve the herd on Currituck.[41]
Rachel Carson Site
A herd lives on the Rachel Carson component of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, a series of five small islands and several salt marshes.[42] There were no horses at the Sanctuary until the 1940s. It is unclear whether the Bankers swam over from nearby Shackleford[43] or were left by residents who had used the islands to graze livestock. They are owned and managed by the state of North Carolina and regarded as a cultural resource.
No management action was taken until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when after years of flourishing population, the island's carrying capacity was exceeded. Malnourishment caused by overcrowding resulted in the deaths of several horses; the reserve's staff instituted a birth control program to restrict the herd to about 40animals.[44]
Uses
Adopted Bankers are often used for pleasure riding and driving.[28] As they have a calm disposition,[43] they are used as children's mounts.[28] The breed has also been used in several mounted patrols.[43]
Before 1915, the United States Lifesaving Service used horses for beach watches and rescues. In addition to carrying park rangers on patrols,[45] the horses hauled equipment to and from shipwreck sites.[31] During World War II, the Coast Guard used them for patrols.[31] In the 1980s, Bankers were used for beach duty at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.[45]
In 1955, ten horses were taken from the Ocracoke herd as a project for Mounted Boy Scout Troop 290. After taming and branding the horses, the scouts trained them for public service activities. The Bankers were ridden in parades and used as mounts during programs to spray mosquito-ridden salt marshes.[45]
Currituck County is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,100. Its county seat is Currituck. The county was formed in 1668 as a precinct of Albemarle County and later gained county status in 1739. The name is "traditionally said to be an indigenous word for wild geese; Coratank." Currituck County is included in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area. It is in the northeastern section of the state and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Currituck Sound, Camden County, Dare County and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currituck Court House, mentioned as early as 1755, was the name of the county seat. Today the words "Court House" have been dropped and only Currituck is used as the community name.
Cape Lookout National Seashore preserves a 56-mile (90-km) long section of the Southern Outer Banks, or Crystal Coast, of North Carolina, USA, running from Ocracoke Inlet on the northeast to Beaufort Inlet on the southwest. Three undeveloped barrier islands make up the seashore - North and South Core Banks and Shackleford Banks. The seashore includes two historic villages on Core Banks, Shackleford's wild horses, and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, which has a black-and-white diamond pattern. A visitor center for the seashore is located on Harkers Island.
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they are actually feral horses. The original mustangs were Colonial Spanish horses, but many other breeds and types of horses contributed to the modern mustang, now resulting in varying phenotypes. Some free-roaming horses are relatively unchanged from the original Spanish stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.
Corolla is an unincorporated community located in Poplar Branch township, Currituck County, North Carolina, United States, along the northern Outer Banks. It has a permanent population of approximately 500 people; during the summer vacation season, the population surges into the thousands. Corolla is home to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, one of the seven North Carolina coastal lighthouses.
Colonial Spanish horse is a term for a group of horse breed and feral populations descended from the original Iberian horse stock brought from Spain to the Americas. The ancestral type from which these horses descend was a product of the horse populations that blended between the Iberian horse and the North African Barb. The term encompasses many strains or breeds now found primarily in North America. The status of the Colonial Spanish horse is considered threatened overall with seven individual strains specifically identified. The horses are registered by several entities.
The Nokota horse is a feral and semi-feral horse breed located in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota in the United States. The breed developed in the 19th century from foundation bloodstock consisting of ranch-bred horses produced from the horses of local Native Americans mixed with Spanish horses, Thoroughbreds, harness horses and related breeds. The Nokota was almost wiped out during the early 20th century when ranchers, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, worked together to reduce competition for livestock grazing. However, when Theodore Roosevelt National Park was created in the 1940s, a few bands were inadvertently trapped inside, and thus were preserved.
The Outer Banks are a 200 mi (320 km) string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. A major tourist destination, the Outer Banks are known for their wide expanse of open beachfront and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The seashore and surrounding ecosystem are important biodiversity zones, including beach grasses and shrubland that help maintain the form of the land.
Shackleford Banks is a barrier island system on the coast of Carteret County, North Carolina. It contains a herd of feral horses, scallop, crabs and various sea animals, including summer nesting by loggerhead turtles. It is a tourist and beach camping site.
The Florida Cracker Horse is a critically endangered horse breed from the state of Florida in the United States. It is genetically and physically similar to many other Spanish-style horses, especially those from the Spanish Colonial horse group, including the Banker horse of North Carolina, and the Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina.
In North Carolina, the Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River. The Crystal Coast is a popular area with tourists and second-home owners in the summer.
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses. Feral horses are descended from domestic horses that strayed, escaped, or were deliberately released into the wild and remained to survive and reproduce there. Away from humans, over time, these animals' patterns of behavior revert to behavior more closely resembling that of wild horses. Some horses that live in a feral state but may be occasionally handled or managed by humans, particularly if privately owned, are referred to as "semi-feral".
The Carolina Marsh Tacky or Marsh Tacky is a critically endangered breed of horse, native to South Carolina. It is a member of the Colonial Spanish group of horse breeds, which also include the Florida Cracker Horse and the Banker horse of North Carolina. It is a small horse, well-adapted for use in the lowland swamps of its native South Carolina. The Marsh Tacky developed from Spanish horses brought to the South Carolina coast by Spanish explorers, settlers and traders as early as the 16th century. The horses were used by the colonists during the American Revolution, and by settlers for farm work, herding cattle and hunting throughout the breed's history.
Carova Beach or Carova is an unincorporated community in Currituck County in the extreme northeastern corner of North Carolina, United States. The community, begun in the 1960s, is found on Currituck Banks, north of Bodie Island, and can be accessed only by boat or by four-wheel drive vehicle. There are no paved roads connecting Carova to the town of Corolla, North Carolina. The neighboring settlement of Sandbridge in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is not accessible by vehicle from Carova. In the 1960s, when development began in Carova, there were plans to construct a paved road from Sandbridge south to Carova through the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but these never materialized. Today, there is a permanent fence from ocean to sound to keep vehicles from crossing and, more importantly, to keep the wild horses from migrating to the Virginia side of the border. To reach Carova, four-wheel drive vehicles must drive north along the beach from Corolla into the community, as access from Virginia is limited to pedestrians and bicyclists.
Bonnie Urquhart Gruenberg is a photographer, author, artist, and certified nurse-midwife. She was raised in Connecticut and earned degrees in nursing at Southern Vermont College and the University of Pennsylvania. She worked as an urban emergency medical technician/paramedic in Connecticut from 1988 to 2000. Her published works cluster within two primary topics: wild horses and midwifery/childbearing. She is the author of Birth Emergency Skills Training™ and the creator of its associated workshops. She is also the creator of the Atlantic Wild Horse Trail, a virtual route that links the feral horse herds of the Atlantic coast into a chain of vacation spots and day-trip destinations.
The Cumberland Island horses are a band of feral horses living on Cumberland Island in the state of Georgia. Popular myth holds that horses arrived on the island sometime in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. However, it is unlikely that any horses left by the Spanish survived, and more likely the current population descends from horses brought to the island in the 18th century by the English. Cumberland Island became part of the Cumberland Island National Seashore in 1972 when the National Park Service (NPS) took over its management. These horses are similar to the bands of horses living on the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague. There is estimated to be a population of between 150 and 200 horses on the island. Horses on Cumberland Island have a relatively short life expectancy, due to pest infestations, disease and their rugged environment. In 2000 a behavioral study found that instability marks the bands, with large numbers of co-dominant stallions, early dispersal of juveniles, and frequent band-changing among mares.
Mounted Boy Scout Troop 290 of Ocracoke, North Carolina, is one of the few mounted troops in the history of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The troop was founded by United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Marvin Howard in 1954 and was active for about 10 years. They rode the feral Banker horses of North Carolina's Outer Banks. These horses were descended from horses that had either survived shipwrecks or early explorations from the 1500s–1700s along the Outer Banks. Though the ponies roamed free, they were considered livestock. In 1953, when the Cape Hatteras National Seashore was created, the Park Service banned free roaming livestock on the island. Efforts have been made to preserve the horses and improve their bloodline.
The Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act is a bill that was introduced into the 113th United States Congress, where it passed the United States House of Representatives. The bill would affect wild horses living in North Carolina.
Horses have been an important component of American life and culture since before the founding of the nation. In 2008, there were an estimated 9.2 million horses in the United States, with 4.6 million citizens involved in businesses related to horses. There are an estimated 82,000 feral horses that roam freely in the wild in certain parts of the country, mostly in the Western United States.
The Cerbat mustang is a Wild Horse population of Arizona, found in the Cerbat Herd Management Area in that state. Their main coat colors are chestnut, bay, and roan. While their phenotype is similar to the classic Colonial Spanish horse, the actual origin of Cerbat mustangs is unclear, but they have been identified by DNA testing as of Colonial Spanish horse ancestry, and they are recognized by the Spanish Mustang registry as valid foundation stock for that standardized breed. Cerbats possess the ability to gait.
Rachel Carson North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve or the Rachel Carson Reserve is a component site of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve consisting of two islands and several shoals, banks, and marshes, south of Beaufort, North Carolina. Named after marine biologist Rachel Carson, it is one of three original National Estuarine Research Reserve sites dedicated by NOAA in 1985. The reserve encompasses 2,315 acres of varied habitat.
↑ Fear, John (2008). "Rachel Carson Component"(PDF). North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. North Carolina Coastal Reserve. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 December 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
Wood, Gene W.; Mengak, Michael T.; Murphy, Mark (2004). "Ecological Importance of Feral Ungulates at Shackleford Banks, North Carolina". American Midland Naturalist. 118 (2): 236–244. doi:10.2307/2425780. JSTOR2425780.
These are the horse breeds considered to originate wholly or partly in Canada and the United States. Many have complex or obscure histories, so inclusion here does not necessarily imply that a breed is predominantly or exclusively from those countries.
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