We were up early. Joseph and Carrie and Eloise were picking us up at our hotel at 8:30. It was about a one hour drive north to the tour place to go see the wild horses and we had to be there 20 minutes early for our 10:30 tour. We actually arrived quite early as the drive was not as long as Carrie had been told; but early is much better than late.

There was another three-generation family on our truck. Grandparents, parents and two young kids. We were taken further up the highway then moved off onto the sand by the shore. There are lots of houses (about 800) built in the dunes and the bumpy beach is the only way in and out so people drive over it to work and back every day. Most of the houses are rentals, but about 100 or so people live there all year round.

I was surprised by the number of people that drove the coast and spent the day at the beach as well. Since the horses are protected I thought there would be restricted access to where they live, but no, they just ignore the people and vehicles. But no development other than residential houses are permitted and I think that is so because the lots were already surveyed and some built on before the horses arrived from further up the coast. When the highway was paved and access to the Outer Banks became easy, vehicle traffic quickly increased and quite a few of the horses of the Corolla herd were killed on the road. They were used to wandering all over, even into the small towns.

Years ago there used to be about 5000 of them that roamed long stretches of the coast. At one time they were considered a nuisance and a bounty was placed to kill them. The population is now about 150. They had 10 foals this year. One died but the other nine are doing well. They have all been named with names beginning with E so there was an Eloise foal.

It wasn’t long before we spotted our first horse. They are descended from Spanish horses brought by the conquistadors about 500 years ago. When the Spanish arrived they brought along horses that they would put off near the coast from the ships and they would swim to shore (it was actually a Spanish law that all colonizing ships had to have horses on board.) Of course, when the men left they could not take the horses back onto the ships so they were left behind. They have done DNA testing and they all have a line back to one mare. No domesticated horses have been introduced to their bloodlines. They go right back to the Colonial Spanish horse.

Over the many years of living on the dunes their digestive system has adapted to the special grasses and other plants that grow there. They cannot absorb sugars or other normal-type horse feed, or apples and carrots. The will develop colic and will roll to try relieve the stomach ache pain and twist their intestine and often die. At least once a year they lose a horse from it eating something it cannot tolerate. Part of the problem is the bags of trash from the rental houses that they get into.

There is a group of volunteers that patrol the beach and watch for any horse in distress or injured since the stallions do fight over the mares. There is a refuge up-island where any injured or sick animal will be taken to be treated; but once they have left their harem group and the beach they cannot be brought back (the other horses would not accept them again) so they will live the remainder of their lives at the Grandy refuge.

The law is Do not feed. Do not touch. Stay 50′ away.

People will put low sand fences around their house to keep the horses out (why I don’t know as they have no landscaping to protect). And, of course, the horses can hop over it easily.

The horses are smaller than the usual domestic horse we are used to. They are about 12-15 hands high whereas most of the horses we encounter will be 15-18 hands. So they fit between a pony and a ‘regular’ horse.

This foal was having a nap. We drove past the pair on our way back and they had moved to a different part of the yard and the foal was stretched out flat again with mom hovering beside it.

Just like on an African safari where elephants have right-of-way, the horses control the ‘road’ here too.

We were on the dunes for about an hour and a half going up and down bumpy ‘roads.’ Eloise loved it and laughed and laughed. The other two kids, especially the young boy, did not like it so much. Eloise is going to Disney World in October on a girls trip with her mom, aunt, grandma and cousin so I think she will enjoy the rides a lot.

We spent the afternoon in our hotel room. I did photos and wrote my blog. After dinner we drove back to Nags Head for the wedding Welcome Party which was also set up in the parking area by the rented cottages.

Eloise stuck my camera through the balcony rail and took some photos of the guests.

There was all kinds of food, an open bar, and live music. A really nice evening. The wedding rehearsal went quite well, except Eloise forgot to toss the flower petals. We will see if she remembers at the wedding tomorrow. Her other grandma will be walking down the aisle with her, and her mom will be sitting near the front where she can be seen, so I think she will do okay.

She was very keen to get a photo of the singer.

She got one of her dad too over on the far left.