Adopted wild horses and their owners seem to enjoy special relationships, different from those of domesticated horses and their owners. Like other horses, they have the capacity to become playful, loving pets. But unlike their domesticated brethren, Shackleford's horses have a nature and a heritage that set them apart -- wherever they are -- as ambassadors of wildness. For some owners, their Shackleford horse provides a historical connection with the past. "My ancestors had Banker ponies as farm horses," says Jamie Gillikin-Hibbs, owner of Leo, who was moved from Shackleford in 2001. Using a bit of Down East vernacular, as if talking about a family member, she adds, "Leo's used to me mommicking [teasing] him -- treating him like a baby." Others, like veterinarian's assistant Penny Wright, value the historical connection. "We have a piece of the Banks heritage here," she says, referring to Sam. In addition, Sam has "special needs," and "that's why we chose to adopt him." Describing Heloise, a young mare born on Shackleford in 2000 and adopted the following year, Le Ann Henry, an elementary-school teacher, insists, "If anyone says you can take a Shackleford horse and make it behave like a domestic horse, it's not true. They're too smart. I've been around horses all my life and Heloise is the smartest I've ever seen." Others agree. Because the Shackleford horses have not lived except in the wild, they tend to be curious about everything. Though often shy, they are not fainthearted. "Angel's like an innocent baby who doesn't know anything bad about people," says Susan Goines, a nurse. "He doesn't have any fear. He just wants to play."

It is hard to say exactly why the wild Banker horses elicit such profound feelings. Perhaps they touch us so powerfully because, as creatures on their own treading upon the sandy pastures that separate a vast continent from a limitless ocean, their story is an affirmation of the American experience. Just seeing them grazing in the dunes or galloping through the marshes reconnects us with something elemental. Would it be going too far to assert that these horses and other wilderness creatures are a vital part of our well-being as a nation? The reintroduction of red wolves in eastern North Carolina and of radio-collared (and numbered) elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is more than a humane attempt to restore nature's balance lost over the years. It is a belated effort to repair some of what we have destroyed in our world and therefore in ourselves, in our identity as Americans.

(From "The Wild Horses of Shackleford Banks" by Carmine Prioli with photographs by Scott Taylor. Published by John F. Blair, Publisher, 2007. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. For more information visit www.blairpub.com.)

Researcher Brooke Cain searches journals and other sources for talk about the South. She can be reached at (919) 829-4579 or bcain@newsobserver.com.

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