Corolla Wild Horse Fund

5 days ago

Wild ponies and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse - quintessential Corolla for 150 years. 🌟

Happy National Lighthouse Day! ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 week ago

Do you want to get up close and personal with a Banker horse in a safe, responsible, and fun way? Then come see us tomorrow at our farm open house!

There are 19 formerly wild Banker horses who call this farm sanctuary home, each with a unique story. Some were rescued due to life-threatening illness or injury, others were sadly removed from the wild due to human-caused habituation. Learn about the history of CWHF, chat with us about our on-going efforts to protect the herd and its habitat, and meet the staff who cares for the horses on the farm as well as those in the wild. It's a great opportunity to better understand how we manage the herd and learn about why it's so important for the public to play an active, supporting role as well.

Plus you might get a smooch from Brio if you're lucky. 😘

More information: www.facebook.com/events/1204545211316588/1204545227983253 ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 week ago

Y’all stay out of the water today! Ignoring the 🚩🚩puts you and our first responders in great danger - don’t do it!

Years ago one the wild stallions - Amadeo - got chased out into the ocean by a rival, and got caught up in a current. He was swept a mile up the beach before ocean rescue could get a tow strap around him and haul him to shore. He survived by the skin of his teeth and spent his remaining years with us at the farm, but just think about that for a minute. If the ocean can overpower a horse, imagine what it can do to you (or your kid!).

We’ve already had multiple incidents this summer - don’t become a part of that statistic. Stay safe out there! 🌊🚩🚩Ocean Rescue is flying double red flags today. The water is closed for public use. 🚩🚩 ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

2 weeks ago

It’s going to be very hot again over the next few days. Please give the horses plenty of space! No one likes to be crowded on the beach, including them. 🏖️

If you witness a horse in distress or see people approaching, feeding, touching, or harassing the horses, please call 252-453-3633 so that law enforcement and CWHF can be dispatched.

Have a great weekend and be safe out there! ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

3 weeks ago

Wanted to post an update about the old mare with the eye injury since we’ve been getting a lot of calls about her today. People are very concerned that she is standing alone on the beach and we just want to assure everyone that we are monitoring her closely and her behavior has not changed at all in the last month or so.

If you missed the first post about her, you can read it here: www.facebook.com/share/19Dag3XWa9/

She spends most of the day standing on the beach (and sometimes lying down), probably because it’s cooler and there are fewer flies bothering her. Her stallion and the yearling colt that’s with them hang out behind the dunes just out of sight, and come down to check on her multiple times a day. She also goes behind the dunes throughout the day to graze, drink, and rest - she does move around quite a bit, even though sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. Our vet is updated regularly and we all still agree that there is no need to intervene at this time. She is behaving normally for a 40ish year old wild horse in the middle of a very hot summer.

We greatly appreciate everyone who has reached out in concern - always better safe than sorry if you see something that doesn’t seem right. We are taking things day-by-day with her and will step in the minute our veterinarian and herd management team determine it’s appropriate. But for now, we ask that everyone please just give her plenty of space so that she can stay cool and comfortable.

To report emergencies with the wild horses or if you witness people crowding, touching, or feeding them, please call 252-453-3633. They will contact CWHF (we are on-call 24/7) and can dispatch law enforcement if needed. ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

4 weeks ago

This beautiful filly was born in May - her dam’s first foal and the start of a new generation. She carries with her hundreds of years of endangered and invaluable Banker genetics that she will one day hopefully pass down to her own foals.

In order to do that, she has to grow up safe and healthy. There are many natural challenges to the horses’ survival that we can’t control; that we wouldn’t want to control even if we could. Wild and free means letting nature take its course, even when that’s sometimes very difficult for us. But we do have control over our own actions, and there is a lot that everyone can do to help ensure that no horse’s life in the wild is cut short due to human interference or negligence.

Please give the horses plenty of space - especially foals. They are impressionable and easily habituated at this young age. Stress and irritation can also cause horses to scatter and move erratically, which can lead to foals being separated from their families. The heat is hard on foals (and older horses too), and if they are constantly moving around they are at risk of dehydration, exhaustion, and heat stroke. Remember to always stay 50ft away (at minimum!), do not crowd, and please drive slowly and carefully.

If you come across a horse in danger or distress, or witness someone petting, feeding, or otherwise harassing the horses, please call the county non-emergency number: 252-453-3633. They will contact CWHF (we are on-call for emergencies 24/7, 365) and can dispatch law enforcement if necessary.

One careless mistake can lead to consequences that damage generations of rare genetics and decades of careful herd management. Whether you live, work, or vacation on the off-road beaches, you play an important role in the long-term survival of these horses. Thank you for helping us keep them safe, wild, and free! ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 month ago

A week ago today, Friday July 4, at approximately 9pm, witnesses reported seeing a pickup truck traveling at a high speed strike a horse on Ocean Pearl Road in Carova. Witnesses said the horse fell to the ground, but then got up and ran off into the brush. The driver of the truck did not stop. Law enforcement was called and deputies responded to the scene. The horse that was struck could not be located again that night.

Residents who witnessed the incident were able to give us a good description of the horses that had been in the area that night, and based on that we were able to narrow down the list of possible victims. Early Saturday morning our herd management team began searching for the potentially injured horse. By around noon on Saturday we had located thirteen of the stallions we believed could have been struck, and all were in fine condition with no visible injuries. We continued looking for the last two horses on our list, and around 1:30pm one of the people who witnessed the incident called to let us know there was a stallion in their yard who they believed may have been involved. Upon inspection, the stallion was indeed moving stiffly and did have a very swollen shoulder. He was not limping, did not have any open wounds, and overall seemed sore but fine. We took photographs to send to our vet and continued looking for the last horse on our list just to confirm he was ok, but we were unable to locate him Saturday or Sunday.

On Monday morning, our staff was able to locate the remaining horse and he had no visible injuries and was completely sound, so we are relatively confident that the stallion with the swollen shoulder was the horse who had been struck. We’ve been monitoring him as closely as possible this week and he has been improving. The swelling in his shoulder has gone down and he is moving and behaving normally; there is no indication that he has any internal injuries. There remains a small chance that he was not actually the horse who was struck, but at this point we have seen every stallion who normally lives in this 2-3 mile radius and he is the only one with injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.

He was extremely lucky. In the last ten years, eight horses have been struck by vehicles and he is only the second one to have survived. The odds are not in the horses’ favor and it’s highly likely that if you hit a horse, you are going to kill it. Please slow down and drive responsibly. In most of these cases speed and/or alcohol were involved and there is just absolutely no excuse for it. This disrespectful, dangerous behavior is causing irreparable damage to the herd and putting all other wildlife and people at risk too.

We’d like to remind everyone that it is against the county ordinance to injure a wild horse and not report it. It’s worth noting that the person who hit the horse on the beach a few weeks ago at least had the decency to stop, report the collision, and accept the consequences of their actions. If you are involved with or witness an emergency with a horse, please immediately call 252-453-3633 so that law enforcement can be dispatched and CWHF notified. We are on-call 24/7, 365, and time is of the essence in these cases. Leaving a horse to suffer is unimaginably cruel.

Our most sincere gratitude goes out to the residents who reported the collision and helped us with identifying the horse who was struck. Thank you for being such great stewards of the herd, and so supportive of our work. We’d also like to thank the telecommunicators at Currituck County Emergency Management for always being so kind and helpful in the midst of these horrific situations.

We’re so glad we didn’t have to bury another horse on Saturday, but the next time the phone rings in the middle of the night we probably won’t be so lucky. Please slow down and be careful.

If you have any information about this incident, please reach out to the Currituck County sheriff’s department: 252-453-3633 ... See MoreSee Less

Corolla Wild Horse Fund

1 month ago

We’ve been getting a lot of calls and messages over the last week about one of the wild horses who has a very noticeable situation going on with her eye. We’ve been monitoring her very closely for the last couple months and her condition hasn’t changed much overall, but we understand that for visitors seeing it for the first time it could be very alarming. So, this afternoon we just wanted to provide some insight into the situation and background on the mare.

While we do not have an exact date of birth for this mare, we know that she is quite old. We’ve got photographs of her with foals dating back to the early 2000s, so we believe that she was probably born in the mid-late 90s. She’s quite aged. About four years ago she lost her left eye, most likely due to some kind of injury but we were curious to know if genetics had anything to do with it. We had her, along with several other horses she was related to, tested for inherited eye diseases since they all had either poor vision or missing eyes as well. Luckily nothing came up, so it was just a coincidence. She adapted just fine to only having vision on one side and we saw no change in her behavior or body condition.

We did not see this mare or her stallion over this past winter, and then when they first came back out onto the beach in April we noticed quite a bit of granulated tissue had developed in the empty eye socket. She was behaving normally otherwise and her body condition was typical of an old horse coming out of the winter. Our vet recommended monitoring her very closely for a few days before making any decisions about intervention, and during that time we observed her eating, drinking, moving around unencumbered, and interacting with the other horses in her group like normal. She did not meet the criteria for intervention then, and still does not now. She has gained quite a bit of weight over the last couple of months and continues to behave normally.

Our staff generally sees this mare every day so we are able to keep good track of any changes to the tissue or her body condition, and our vet is updated regularly. While this is not currently a life-threatening condition, should things deteriorate to the point where the mare is unable to eat, drink, or keep up with her group, we will certainly intervene under the direction of our veterinarian. This would most likely be to humanely euthanize her, so as long as she’s behaving normally we will let her live out the rest of her days as an old, wild horse should.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out in concern about her - we appreciate our wonderful community of residents and visitors who are always helping us keep watch over the horses.

(She’s the horse in the middle. Stallion on left, unrelated yearling laying down.) ... See MoreSee Less