Hey friends!
As you may be aware, the Outer Banks really peaked in interest this year after the release of Netflix’s new series by the same name. Like, really peaked.
It seems the world was really into this “sneak peek” of the area where Blackbeard hid his treasure. Although, based on what I’ve read, the show failed to capture the real essence of this amazing locale.
Whether or not you watched this series, though, you may recognize the Outer Banks (or the OBX as we locals call it) as one of America’s prime summer vacation spots.
This incredible area has so much to offer, from lighthouse tours to beautiful beaches to historic oceanfront towns. It’s home to a lot of fascinating history–yes, Blackbeard did frequent the Outer Banks–and unique activities. But the feature I’d like to focus on today is Corolla’s wild horse herd!
Like the famous Assateague Island just a few hours away, Corolla is also home to a herd of wild horses! Both herds are descended from the Spanish Mustangs that either swam to shore after their ships crashed on the reefs or were abandoned when Native Americans drove off the Spanish settlers. Either way, they have quite the movie-worthy origin story!
Watch Our Adventure on YouTube!
The Currituck Banks Reserve
You can visit the Currituck Banks Reserve in Corolla, NC, to see these horses thriving in the wild and walking casually along the beach.
Although I’ve been to the reserve before with friends in 4×4 vehicles, we recently took a trip with Wild Horse Adventure Tours that was incredibly insightful. I would highly recommend them if you’d like to take an official tour of the reserve, including their private property specifically for the horses.
We could tell that our guide (and the company) genuinely cared about helping the horses, and they’re involved in a lot of the island’s conservation efforts. It also helped that our guide knew the best places to look and maximize our 2-hour tour.
However, as long as you have a 4×4 vehicle, you can enter the Reserve for free and drive down the beach searching for horses (or prime beach access and fishing). Just watch out for other cars parked in the middle of the beach and for driftwood “graveyards” where sharp logs could easily pop your tires!
The reserve is mostly fenced in, but vehicles can access it freely by crossing over a large grate situated between the fences. It’s no problem for automobiles, but horses can’t get across, which prevents them from wandering into the busy streets and shopping centers of the rest of the Outer Banks.
One surprising feature of the Reserve is that it’s actually full of beach homes! I knew a few people lived along the beach from my previous visits, but I was surprised to see how many houses dotted the sandy streets behind the dunes. Unlike the carefully curated subdivisions of the lower towns, however, the houses here have sandy yards and no clear layout. They do offer a complete escape from the bustle of daily life in their remote locations and the chance to see a few horses grazing on seagrass outside your window!
To really explore the reserve, you’ll need to head left, around the dunes, and hit the packed-sand trails that weave through the underbrush and little woods scattered across the sand. In other words–be adventurous! But be sure to drive carefully because the horses aren’t afraid to use the roads, too.
You can follow a few main streets all the way up to the Virginia border, in an area called COROVA. Just remember, you’ll have to exit the same way you came in at Corolla.
The Wild Horses of Corolla
While fairly thin, the Reserve is several miles long and is home to nearly 100 wild horses!
According to our guide, however, the Outer Banks were once home to thousands of wild horses! Can you imagine? Personally, that sounds incredible, but the farmers and settlers of the time saw them as a nuisance because they destroyed crops. So the government placed a bounty on the horses until only a handful survived.
Thankfully, others stepped in, who saw the need to preserve the final descendants of this herd. Today, the herd has less than a hundred horses, and the conservationists are doing everything they can to boost that number.
The horses wander around the reserve freely, prancing along the beach, grazing in the scrubby brush behind the dunes, or meandering between beach houses like they own the place! If you’re lucky, you’ll even see a foal or two!
I loved how the horses seemed to pop up in the most unexpected places, like yards, the side of the road, or–like this fearless mustang–right in the middle of the COROVA park!
One important thing to note is that these horses are a protected and endangered herd, so you need to keep your distance and never feed them. It is actually illegal to approach within 50 feet or to feed them. Even if you think you know horses and have grain or feed, it will wreck their metabolisms because they’ve adjusted to a strict diet of salt grasses. Anything you feed them will make them very sick and could lead to death.
So just be smart and enjoy these beautiful wild creatures from a distance!
One final tip: go during the day to make sure you have good visibility back in the brush. But if you can, stick around for sunset. The beach is beautiful at dusk, and you may get some amazing shots of both the sunset and the horses.
Closing Thoughts on Wild Horses on the East Coast
If you’re looking for a unique vacation idea, I think exploring the beaches for wild horses (or staying at a beach house where wild horses chill in the front yard) sounds pretty amazing!
If you really wanted to get into it, you could take a tour of wild horse herds on the east coast. There’s actually another herd of 100 or so horses at the southern end of the Outer Banks, on the island of Shackleford Banks! You could start there, head up to Corolla, then travel a few hours north to the famous Chincoteague Island in Virginia and check out the herds on both the Virginia and Maryland sides of Assateague.
You can also camp in Assateague, Maryland, and wake up with horses outside your tent! If you’re interested in reading more about that experience, be sure to check out this guest post from Jenneth Dyck.
By Jenneth Dyck
Thanks for stopping by to check out the Mandala Traveler this week! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed learning about these amazing horses and that you’ll have the chance to visit someday! It is an incredible experience!
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Just wanna tell that this is extremely helpful, Thanks for taking your time to write this. Joceline Daisey