Wild horses… couldn’t drag me away…

In the past I have done two other stories on the wild horses of the North Carolina Outer Banks. If you didn’t know, there are real-life wild horses living and roaming free on our coast. They are self sufficient. All they need from us is to leave them alone.

Both of my earlier stories were on the Corolla horses. Corolla is near the North Carolina-Virginia border.

In November we’re going to introduce you to the Shackleford Banks horses 200 miles south of the Virginia border. These horses are stranded on an island. But they seem totally fine with that.

This story is unlike the others. We were not sure what we would end up with. What we got blew us away.

To be certain, we only did this story because there was a new element we haven’t covered before. That being this: Recently there was a debate over the genetic heritage of these wild animals. One that could doom them.

Here’s the debate in a nutshell.

1. The wild horses are protected by the federal government.

2. Someone started asking questions like: What if they’re just strays? What if they aren’t really wild? What if hundreds of years ago they were turned loose by settlers? Wouldn’t that make them no different than feral cats? And if so, then why is the federal government protecting them? Why can’t we just go round them up and take ‘em home?

3. That set off a bit of a firestorm, because if the horses lose federal protection it would certainly mean the end of the horses. After 400 to 500 years of wild horses on the Outer Banks, their end would come relatively fast.

So we started out looking for the answer to the debate. On the way to the answer, we got a rare inside look at the violent social world of wild horses. They do not live in peace with one another. They fight, draw blood, steal from each other and think nothing of it. It’s like street gang life… on four legs.

And though it’s sometimes brutal there is something majestic and beautiful about their lives.

On this story we saw things we had only heard about. We saw stallions deciding whether or not to attack humans who had gotten too close to their mares. And in one case the humans were us… or more to the point, Andy. And in that case the stallion turned and charged Andy. It was the kind of unexpected moment that forces a man to change his shorts.

Wild horse experts tell stories about tourists bringing their dogs out to the island. And to a wild horse, a dog looks like a wolf. To the dog a wild horse looks like a farm horse. A dog barks at a farm horse and the horse will likely move away from the dog. A dog barks and nips at a wild horse and Rover gets kicked and stomped into the afterlife.

In our case, we got lucky and we all got an education. The stallion turned and charged Andy but as Andy took a few hurried steps backwards the stallion pulled up. We were on our own at that point, without our guide and horse biologist, Sue Stuska, of the National Parks Service. And frankly we stupidly got too close to these horses.

Our background is news, not wildlife. All our training says to get close to the story and keep getting closer. So we kept creeping in. When we crossed an imaginary line, the stallion had enough and made his point.

Later, accompanied by Sue Stuska, we saw two stallions go at each other. This was breathtaking. We were up on a hill and below us were two stallions and their women. Yes, they were fighting over women. What else?

Andy never stopped rolling on any of it. Even when the stallion charged him! So you’ll see it all. And we’ll answer the debate as well.

I’ve been bragging a lot lately about our upcoming hi-def shows in November. I’m telling you… don’t miss a one. These are the best stories we’ve ever done.

Don’t come crying to me if you miss one. I’ll say talk to my elbow, ‘cuz my hand’s tired. (That’s me being street. I’m down.) (No mom, I’m not down like depressed. I’m fine. Doing well. Don’t worry. Sheesh! So much for being street.)

Be well,

Mike Redding