DNA will tell the tale of wild horses

COROLLA -- Many who see the wild horses that roam the Outer Banks conclude they're a rare and different breed. Now science may confirm it.

An equine genetics specialist from Texas is collecting genetic material -- 60 strands of hair from horses in the herds on Shackleford Banks and around Corolla -- to analyze where these postcard-perfect icons of North Carolina originated.

He expects the research will reinforce studies he conducted on the horses in the 1990s that indicated they have Spanish blood -- possibly descending from a lineage of horses brought by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Blood tests found a link, but they may not be as definitive as the DNA testing he is now conducting.

"I think we're looking at something historically significant," said Gus Cothran, a professor at Texas A&M University.

If the genetic tests back the theory that the smallish horses on Shackleford Banks and around Corolla descend from Spanish mounts, it might help the animals, which are under constant threat of outgrowing their limited habitats. A Colonial pedigree would make them more attractive to horse owners eager to adopt exotic breeds.

The research will also reveal which animals should remain in the wild to preserve genetic diversity within the herds and reduce the risks of inbreeding.

"Management should be based on genetics," said Sue Stuska, a wildlife biologist for horses who helps tend the herd that populate the barrier island of Shackleford Banks. She said DNA studies Cothran is planning on the Shackleford herd will help her get a clearer picture of which horses are closely related, so that scientists can decide which animals get birth control and which get recommended for adoption.

Stuska uses global positioning equipment to track the range of individual harems, usually one stallion and two or more mares. She also uses birth control delivered by dart guns, a technology the Corolla herd manager is starting to use.

Herds around Corolla and on Shackleford Banks remain the largest surviving groups of so-called Banker horses -- the unbridled breed smaller than the average horse that have long captivated Outer Banks visitors. Legends held that the animals descend from Spanish mounts brought to North American in the 1500s. And English ships that came later may also have carried Spanish horses.

After inspections of the Corolla and Shackleford horses, the Horse of the Americas registry ruled this winter that, while not purebred, both herds are rare descendants of Colonial Spanish equines.

Not only do they have the distinctive trots and canters common in the Spanish lines, they also have certain physical characteristics. Horse bones found north of Corolla show spinal columns with fused vertebrae -- a feature typical of the Spanish horses. Also, their hooves are large for their body size -- another Spanish trait.

A murky future

Such distinctions are important for both the Shackleford and the Corolla herds, but they're especially critical to the animals on Corolla. While the Shackleford horses are sheltered on unoccupied Cape Lookout National Seashore and protected by federal law, the Corolla horses dwell on a mix of private and public land, and no government agency is obliged to preserve them. As a result, they face a murkier future.

After the main road into Corolla was paved, collisions with horses became common. In the 1990s, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund fenced in the herd beyond the road's reach. That worked for a while. Then four-wheel-drive vehicles started carrying big crowds to the northern beach areas, and people tried to lure the animals with food, despite a local law against feeding them.

Such efforts are dangerous for man and beast. This spring, the wild horse fund removed a dead horse from a canal. It apparently died from a natural poison in moldy animal feed. And a live horse was removed to a horse farm off site after it struck a woman who had fed it several times.

"People haven't learned to co-exist with the horses" said Steve Rogers, herd manager for the fund, which works to protect the horses.

Now the biggest threat to the Corolla herd is development. Vacation homes are encroaching on the 12,000 sandy acres where the horses roam. Conservationists with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund want to make sure the horses don't overpopulate the limited space they have. So they want to trim the herd from roughly 93 to 60.

Without such intervention, fund members say, the rare Banker horses could vanish along with the fish houses, oyster reefs and public piers disappearing along North Carolina's changing coast.

"They are a little bit of the culture of coastal North Carolina," said Mary Riley of Corolla, a horse fund board member and longtime advocate for saving the wild horses. "A lot of what was here is already gone."

(FOR MORE: For information about the horses that roam North Carolina's Outer Banks, go to: www.shackleford horses.organd www.outerbanks.com/corolla/horses.)