Corolla Wild Horse Fund

2 days ago

Hay and sand - two of the most coveted things at any farm during the winter!

We've had an especially rainy, chilly couple of months, which means we are going through lots of hay. We’ve also needed to add sand to the run-in sheds and other low spots around the farm. It's important that the horses have somewhere high and dry to escape the nasty weather! If you'd like to help out with some of these seasonal expenses, there are many ways to get involved.

🔹 Hay For a Day: www.corollawildhorses.com/hay-for-a-day/

🔹 Sponsor a rescued mustang: www.corollawildhorses.com/horse-sponsorships/

🔹 Become a member: www.corollawildhorses.com/memberships/

🔹 Make a one-time donation: www.corollawildhorses.com/one-time-donations/

Or you can donate directly through Facebook, where no fees are taken out and 100% of the proceeds come right back to us for general operating costs that include horse care.

Thank you so much for your support! ... See MoreSee Less

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Corolla Wild Horse Fund

2 weeks ago

We thought you might like to see what happened to all the wormer that was on our Amazon wishlist. 🐛 💩 Today the girls got wormed - here’s how it works! We do this several times a year.

Step one is to collect poop from each horse. Horses poop a lot so you’d think this would be the easy part. But you know the saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink?” Same goes for pooping. It usually takes us about a week or two to get a sample from each and every horse. They are all bagged and labeled and once we get everyone, they head off to the lab.

Each sample is examined under a microscope and a parasite count is taken. It’s different for every horse, even the ones who live together in the same pasture. Some horses are just naturally high shedders, meaning their numbers are always high. And some, not so much. At the same time, the manure is examined for remnants of hay and grass. Long pieces of hay in manure indicates the horse isn’t chewing properly and probably needs its teeth floated. We have a lot of older horses at the rescue farm and regular dental care is critical to keeping them healthy and happy.

Once we get all the numbers back, we determine what kind and how much wormer each horse needs. It’s based on parasite load and weight, which means this is when the calculators come out! The appropriate wormer is mixed in with a little bit of grain and each feed bag is labeled with the horses name.

Today, all of the mares got their wormer. The ones with high numbers will be restested in a couple weeks and wormed again if needed. In the first photo, the number in parentheses is the length of the grass found in the poop, and the other number is the parasite load. The horses with asterisks by their names need to have their teeth examined and probably floated the next time our vet is out.

All in a days work! Thank you for making sure that we have the supplies and tools we need to care for these special horses. 🐎 ... See MoreSee Less

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Corolla Wild Horse Fund

3 weeks ago

Just learned today is #NationalBirdDay, so here’s a shout out to our favorite - the cattle egret! These birds spend the summer on the Outer Banks, hitching rides on the horses to gobble up insects. In addition to flies, cattle egrets will also eat ticks and sometimes even small vertebrates like frogs and lizards. We often get calls in the summer from people who think the horses have terrible scars on their backs, or that someone has painted on them, but it’s just cattle egret poop! A small price to pay for natural insect control. 😉🦟 ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

4 weeks ago

Happy New Year! 2020 certainly has been a wild ride. We had some major lows, but also some major highs, and through it all we couldn't have done it without our incredible community of supporters. Our annual appeal letter is posted below, and it's a long one, but so was this year. Our sincerest and most heartfelt thank you goes out to all of you. Wishing you all the best in 2021!

www.corollawildhorses.com/support-corolla-wild-horse-fund/

⭐️

Dear Friends of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund,

The word challenging has many meanings -- difficult and demanding, daring and defying, opposing and disputing, and even stimulating and inspiring. All of them seem to apply to the year 2020 – a year unlike any other. As we come to the close of this momentous year, I wish to express my gratitude to each of you -- our members, donors, and supporters -- who continue to do all you can so that we may continue to fulfill our mission to protect, conserve and responsibly manage the wild horses of Corolla. Yes, the year has been challenging but my hope is that although the new year may not look very different as it begins, it brings with it a renewed hope for the future – one that is filled with promise and well-being for all of us and for the horses.

The highs and lows of the year were immense for the world and for the Fund. Our small staff has accomplished remarkable things even under the strain of working responsibly and cautiously while the pandemic continues. Our now seasoned team of Sanctuary Observers continue to spend their days monitoring and recording their sightings of the horses. Trained to report on their sightings with details, we benefit from these recordings to better understand the interactions of the horses, their trends in movements, and their habitat relations. This information is also gathered to note any behavior that is out of the ordinary and/or medical conditions to keep watch on.

Although helicopter surveys were suspended this year and will continue to be for the foreseeable future due to COVID, we were able to do a herd count from the ground this summer that accounted for what we believe is every horse in the herd (101 horses were observed and every horse that we have records on was seen).

A significant step taken as part of our long-term strategic planning has been the start of our DNA project earlier this year. We recognize that charting all the relationships among the wild horses and those directly under our care at the rehabilitation farm is fundamental in order to create a family tree that can be used to help us responsibly manage breeding and track family lines through many generations. The first step was to submit DNA samples (via hair follicles) from the previously wild mustangs at the farm. After studying those results, we were able to determine which wild horses to collect tissue samples from first. Thus far, we have been able to secure thirteen samples in the wild. We are working with geneticists from Texas A & M and UC Davis to analyze these samples for genetic health issues, degrees of inbreeding, color, family associations, and more. The percentage of Spanish breeds represented in the horses already tested is more than 80% and we have not encountered dangerously high instances of inbreeding. Our end goal for this long-term project will be to collect tissue samples from every wild horse in the herd and analyze the findings for each of them. We feel strongly that this project is essential in helping us save these historic bloodlines for generations to come.

Historical records (including oral histories) are also being gathered and interpreted to help establish lineage of modern horses (from the 1990s to present). Historical records from herd observations in the 1990s have been incorporated into our ongoing DNA/family history project. We are also looking to integrate the results of the genetic study conducted in the 1990s into our current study.

More good news is that the wild herd saw the arrival of six foals in 2020: 3 fillies and 3 colts, all healthy and thriving. Unfortunately, we did have some tragedies due to injury and illness this year. There was Valor, a beautiful, two- year-old mare, removed from the wild in May and treated for an infected wound to her lower leg. She was subsequently transferred to NCSU for more intensive treatment and was ultimately euthanized due to an infected tendon sheath. And there was Danny, a yearling colt, who was removed from the wild after choking (whole apples were scattered around the site where he was found) and died the same day despite rigorous veterinary care.

But then there was the wonderful story of Riptide and his rescue in August due to a very grave wound that caused a fungal infection that he would not have survived if left without emergency veterinary care. Riptide spent nearly six weeks at NCSU and even when he was able to return to us, he still required intensive care for several weeks. We are grateful for all who were able to turn Riptide’s injury and near loss of life into a success story. From the person who first reported the injury, our staff who monitored him and then got him off the beach, our local vets who so fully embrace and respect our mission and the significance of these horses, the entire team at NCSU who not only treated Riptide’s physical issues but also took care of his emotional needs and showed him so much love and compassion while he was at the hospital, to all of YOU who support our organization and make it possible for us to seek out this level of care and put so many resources into saving their lives when they need our help - that is why Riptide is alive today.

And, so, now Riptide lives at our rehabilitation farm along with the 17 other Corollas including Raymond the mule.

The unpredictable nature of what we do – the decision to remove a wild horse from the wild and be ready to financially take on whatever care is required and appropriate for not only the survival of that horse but, hopefully, the continued guardianship of it so that he/she will thrive for many years to come is crucial. These cases can take substantial funds but will always provide more knowledge to our team about these unique horses.

Each horse that is removed from the wild is still important to the breed in general. When a herd numbers only about 100 horses, if one should require removal, he or she may still be able to contribute to the genetics of the breed through our conservation program.

Through these times of uncertainty, our museum and gift shop have been closed since mid-March. Our rehabilitation farm continues to be closed to the public. We have determined that the best way to protect our organization, its continuing work to fulfill its mission, the animals that we manage in the wild and those that we care for directly, and, finally, our employees who are needed to do this work, is to err on the side of caution and limit our exposure as much as is possible.

Our plan has been to continue “business as usual” but without events and being able to welcome visitors. As a small staff with a unique mission and highly specialized functions, each of us plays a vital role in the management and care of the horses. There is no backup staff.

Without being able to be open or hold any of our scheduled events, it is an understatement to say that this year has not been difficult to meet our financial goals. Yet, the challenges to the horses’ life in the wild continue to persist. Loss of habitat due to development, increased vehicular traffic, fencing breaches, and emboldened human interactions remain immediate threats to the wild herd.

To confront these threats, we need your continued support. Just as we needed your support in this last year to accomplish so much, we continue to need your support to carry on our work to manage and protect the wild horses and look after those under our care at the rehab facility.

You still have time to make your tax-deductible contribution for 2020 and help us attain an effective start for the New Year. We hope to accomplish even more in this next year and we will need your help to do so. Your support is vital to our existence. Your contribution supports our daily operations, our plans to continue to safeguard the horses, and our efforts to educate the public. You can make your secure online contribution by clicking on the links below or by mail to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, PO Box 361, Corolla, NC 27927.

We sincerely appreciate your support and realize that we are all facing unprecedented and unchartered times right now. We are looking forward to the day that we will be able to welcome you to our “new” home in the Old Village in Corolla and to see our new exhibit on the wild horses as well as to our rehab farm where you will be able to see our work with the rescues.

If you have any questions about how your gift will improve the lives of the Corolla wild horses, please feel free to contact us at info@corollawildhorses.com. We are thankful for your help. Any level of support is appreciated and will make a difference.

We wish you and yours a safe, healthy and Happy New Year. ... See MoreSee Less

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Corolla Wild Horse Fund is feeling grateful.

4 weeks ago

It’s a blustery day but the sun is warm. All the horses at the rescue farm have been alternating between sun bathing and eating. Not a bad way to spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s, huh? 🤗 We’d like to thank everyone who sent something from our Amazon wishlist earlier this month - the horses (and Raymond, of course) had a wonderful holiday thanks to your generosity! ... See MoreSee Less

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Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 month ago

Brrrrrrrrrr it’s cold and blustery today! The horses were feeling frisky. Did you know that the individual hairs in a horse’s winter coat stand up when it’s cold outside, trapping warmth in air pockets between the hair and the horse’s skin? It’s also why they look extra fluffy on days like today.

🐎 Learn more about the horses and CWHF: www.corollawildhorses.com/learn/ ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 month ago

Our staff monitors the horses every day, collecting information that guides us as we manage the herd. We track movement and behavior, and also grazing patterns. Knowing what the horses eat at various times of the year is helpful for many reasons, both in regards to the health of the horses and the health of the environment.

Yesterday, Martha observed some horses munching on greenbrier, also called horsebrier. This is a native plant with semi-evergreen leaves, which is why we see horses eating it this time of year. Greenbrier isn’t toxic, and provides food and shelter for other wildlife too. It’s often considered a pest on maintained landscapes but that doesn’t mean it’s not an important part of our fragile ecology!

Help us continue this important work by becoming a member, or getting involved in other ways you can learn more about on our website: www.corollawildhorses.com/support-corolla-wild-horse-fund/ ... See MoreSee Less