News and Commentary

Don’t Worry, The Wild Horses Of The Outer Banks Will Be Okay During Hurricane Dorian

   DailyWire.com
A wild Spanish mustang on a dune.
John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images

Each time North Carolina’s Outer Banks is threatened by a hurricane, people across the country worry about the wild horses that inhabit the beach.

CNN is here to report that there is no need to worry; the horses have been evading hurricanes for 500 years and know what to do. What’s more, unlike humans, the horses can naturally sense changes in air pressure and act accordingly.

As Hurricane Dorian bears down on North Carolina’s coastline, the horses will move to higher ground and huddle together under oak trees for shelter, CNN reported. The outlet explained that the Corolla Wild Horse Fund sends a message before hurricanes letting people know the horses will be okay. The Fund manages and cares for the herd.

“They’ll likely ride out winds and rain as their ancestors did before them — in huddles, butts to the wind,” the organization wrote in its message regarding Dorian.

“Remember, they’ve been doing this for 500 years!” the Fund added.

The horses, according to the Outer Banks visitor’s guide, were the earliest settlers in the area after being brought over from Europe in the 1500s. The guide explains that the horses were possibly left behind by Spanish explorer Lucas Vasquez de Allyon, who sent his commanders to colonize the eastern seaboard of America.

“While many modern historians believe the majority of these initial explorations happened somewhere around Cape Fear, (due to multiple references to the large saltwater river), it’s possible that these expeditions led them all the way to the Northern Outer Banks,” the guide explains.

While the Spanish explorers abandoned the area after various attacks by the area’s Native Americans, the horses remained.

Another theory as to the origins of the horses is that they were brought over by English commander Richard Greenville.

“Regardless of their actual roots, one of the allures of the wild horses is, and has been for centuries, their mysterious appearance on the Outer Banks,” the guide explains. “Whether they are intrepid survivors who indeed ‘traveled incredible journeys’ from ancient shipwrecks off the coastline, or the descendants of livestock that were left behind by the earliest of colonists, the unclear ancestry of the Corolla Wild Horses is clearly part of the allure of their story.”

While Hurricane Dorian continues to batter South Carolina’s coast before moving up to North Carolina, the horses are already preparing for the storm. Extra food and water have been stocked at the farm the horses frequent, and ID tags have been braided into their manes. The Fund said the herd manager will stay at the farm with them through the hurricane.

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