I. SPANISH EXPLORATION & COLONIZATION.
1493
When Columbus made his second voyage to the New World, he had with him the
numerous items necessary for colonization, including twenty-five horses.
When he arrived in Hispaniola, his first act was to establish ranches to
be run by the stockmen he had included among his colonists. Part of the
royal credula is preserved in the Archive of the Indies. It reads :
"The Twenty-Third of May, 1493. Archive of
the Indies. The King and the Queen :
Fernando Zarpa, our Secretary. We command that certain vessels be
prepared to send
to the Islands and to the Mainland which has been newly discovered in
the ocean sea in
that part of the Indies, and to prepare these vessels for the Admiral
Don Christopher
Columbus...and among the other people we are commanding to go in these
vessels
there will be sent twenty lancers with horses...and five of them shall
take two horses
each, and these two horses which they take shall be mares."
This is likely our only record of the first
Iberian horses to be sent to the New World. Since the Spanish habitually
rode stallions, Columbus knew that stallions would arrive with every
contingent of soldiers; he also knew it was imperative, in order to begin
horse breeding to provide mounts for the soldier/explorers, that mares be
brought to the Indies.
1494
Columbus sent a message to the king and queen stressing that "...each
time there is sent here any type of boat there should be included
some...brood mares."
1495
On April 9, 1495, four caravels were dispatched with six mares on board.
1495
On April 23, 1497, fourteen mares were sent. In addition, records show
that a group of merchants were given special permission to ship 106 more
mares from Seville, San Lucar, and Heulva.
1498
On his third voyage, Columbus was allowed to carry forty horsemen and
their horses to the island of Hispaniola.
1500
In less than ten years from the initial voyage of Columbus, large horse
breeding ranches had opened in the Indies. By 1500, the Crown had one
Hispaniola ranch that boasted sixty brood mares.
1501
The records say that in 1501, Don Nicolas de Ovando brought over 18 of the
best horses available.
(*The island ranchers became an aristocracy of
unlimited wealth. With this wealth, they bought the finest horses and
cattle of Spain and brought them to their island ranches. Suddenly
realizing that the best Spanish horses were being exported to the New
World, on March 30, 1520, the Emperor declared an embargo on the export of
horses from Spain.)
1520-25
Lucas Vasques de Ayllon, a Hispaniolan civil official originally from
Toledo, Spain, "educated as a lawyer, wealthy and virtuous",
sent three expeditions to the coast of what is now the Carolinas. These
Spaniards explored the land that the native Indians called Chicora.
Various accounts place that land between the present day Cape Fear River
and Jamestown Island. Old Spanish maps call a large area of the east coast
(containing present day North Carolina and Virginia) "Tierra de
Ayllon"...the "Land of Ayllon".
1526
In mid-July, de Ayllon himself came to the river he called the Rio Jordan,
with six ships bringing 500 men, women and slaves, three Franciscan
friars, and eighty-nine horses. The colony failed within the year, due to
inept leadership, disease, and Indian hostilities. De Ayllon died of a
fever, and only 150 survivors managed to catch a passing ship back to
Hispaniola. Though de Ayllon's wife wanted to return, we have found no
record that any further attempts were made by the Spanish to re-settle the
area, or to reclaim the horses left behind. References sometimes state
that de Ayllon's settlement was in the vicinity of Cape Feare. The Cape
Fear River, with which we are familiar today, is south of here near
Wilmington. However, historic maps show an old name for Cape Lookout was
"Cape Feare".
1570s
By this time, Spanish reconnaissance voyages had explored the east coast
as far north as Chesapeake Bay.
II. ENGLISH EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION.
1584
Sir Walter Raleigh, an Englishman, sent a small expeditionary force to the
New World. It was led by 19-year old Philip Amadas of Plymouth, and
piloted by a Portuguese sailor named Simon Fernandes. On or about 13 July,
they arrived at the coast of present-day North Carolina and found an
entrance in the Outer Banks about midway between Cape Hatteras and present
day Cape Lookout. In 1584, North Carolina was part of the area called
"Virginia" by the Englishmen, in honor of Elizabeth I.
1585
Raleigh's second expedition, led by Sir Richard Grenville, sailed on 9
April 1585. They stopped along the South side of Puerto Rico at Mosquito
Bay. One of John White's drawings of Mosquito Bay depicts Grenville on
horseback, and two "captured" horses inside the fort. Leaving
there, Grenville engaged in successful trade with the Spanish, and the
flagship Tiger's shipboard life was enlivened by hogs, cattle and horses
purchased for the colonists at Roanoke. On 29 May 1585, the fleet headed
for the north coast of Hispaniola, and weighed anchor at Puerto de Plata's
Isabela Harbor. Here, they acquired more horses; these with saddles and
bridles. Working their way up the coast, they ran into shoals probably at
Cape Fear on 23 June. On the 24th they anchored and fished, apparently at
Lookout, then sailed north until they reached an opening in the Banks
called Wococon probably near the middle of present-day Portsmouth Island.
When the pilot attempted to enter the sound with the flag ship Tiger, she
grounded and lay in the surf for two hours. The crew feared that her back
would be broken, because she received some eighty-nine buffets. Finally
free, beached and careened for repairs, she sailed on to Roanoke. This was
a devastating loss, however, since her load of supplies were soaked in
salt water. It is at this point, many historians believe, that the animals
on deck were shoved overboard either at her grounding, in order to lighten
her load and float her, or when she was careened (rolled on her side) on
the beach to have her bottom repaired.
1585
On 3 Sept, Ralph Lane ended a letter to England: ..."To conclude, if
Virginia [which included North Carolina] had but horses and kine in some
reasonable proportion, I dare assure my selfe being inhabited with
English, no realme in Christendome were comparable to it."
1620
Another early reference to the horses in the initially explored areas of
the still "New World" came in June of 1620, when the Council of
Virginia issued a glowing report on the state of the colony which said
that "The horses also [are] more beautiful, and fuller of courage
than those of the breeds from which they came."
1650-1690
In The First Americans, author Wertenbarker wrote about hunting in Virginia
..."more interesting was the hunting of wild horses, which in the
last decades of the century abounded in the woods. These animals, as they
were unmarked, belonged to anyone who could capture them. But to do this
was no easy matter, for they were so fleet and so difficult to follow
through the woods that one was more apt to ruin an old mount that to than
to gain a new."
1701
John Lawson, an Englishman who traveled through North Carolina said the
horses are excellent drudges and will travel incredible journeys. He also
reported how well the horses taken inland were treated by the Indians.
" They fattened them with corn, and never made use of them unless to
fetch home a deer".
1856
Edmund Ruffin, famous as an agriculture authority and editor, and also
credited as firing the first shot of the Civil War at Fort Sumter, in his
"Sketches of Lower North Carolina", described
"horse-penning" twice a year on Core Banks. Ruffin described the
horses as all of a small size with rough and shaggy coats and long manes,
"capable of great endurance of labor and hardship". (This would
indicate that Ruffin did not see the horses in summer, when they shed to
sleek and glossy coats, and their finer features are revealed.) The horses
fed, he wrote, "entirely on the coarse salt grass of the marshes. ..
There are some hundreds of horses of the dwarfish native breed, on this
part of the reef between Portsmouth and Beaufort harbor--ranging at large
and wild. ...The race of course, was originally derived from a superior
kind of breed stock; but long acclimation and subjection for many
generations to this peculiar mode of living, has fixed on the breed the
peculiar characteristics of form, size, and qualities which distinguish
the 'banks' ponies." Ruffin went on to say, "It would be the
reverse of improvement to introduce horses of more noble race and less
fitted to endure the great hardship of this locality." Ruffin didn't
believe that horses not native to the Outer Banks would likely survive the
first year. "Water that is fresh, but badly flavored", he said,
"may be found anywhere (even on the sea-beach) by digging from two to
six feet deep. The wild horses supply their want of fresh water by pawing
away the sand deep enough to reach fresh-water which oozes into the
excavation, and which reservoir serves for this use while it remains
open."
1866
The Banks horses had been "claimed" by various people living
along the coast, and were often listed as property of value to be
handed-down at their deaths. In a will dated Sept 22, 1866, Josiah Daniels
willed to his sons Randolph and Eason "all my horses on Core
Banks...to son Eason Daniels my rite to the nets, and my rite to the
horses at North Bay..; to grandson Valentine Daniels - a mare at the Beach
Marsh".
III. .......THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
1926
In an article in the May issue of "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC"
magazine, writer Melville Chater, who had traveled the Outer Banks
northward from Beaufort Inlet, (Barden's inlet not being in existence
then) wrote as a photograph caption:
"SUPPOSED DESCENDANTS OF THE BARBARY
PONIES BROUGHT TO AMERICA BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S COLONISTS. Between 5,000
and 6,000 of these wild horses roam the sand banks of the North Carolina
coast....." The article continues:
"TRADITION SAYS WILD HORSES ARE DESCENDED
FROM RALEIGH'S PONIES"
..For centuries they have been roaming on the
Banks, and current tradition has it that they are descended from Barbary
ponies which were brought over by Sir Walter Raleigh's colonists.
Our quest landed us on a naked sun baked spit, where men were driving
the so called Banker ponies along the beach into a coral made of timbers
from old wrecks. Perched on the pen's top rail, we took lens shots at
the enclosed jam of 200 horses. The sun blazed, the sand blazed. The men
were shouting in their broad dialect, so like that of the rural England
of their ancestors. The United States seemed worlds away. The heat drove
some of them to a waterhole on the beach, where they lay prone and drank
the brackish fluid. It was a wild animals drinking place, for the banker
ponies slake their thirst by scooping holes in the sand with their
forefeet. The gates were flung wide, and the herd trotted forth to
liberty, snorting disapproval of man and his strange ways.
Then a chosen dozen were auctioned off at about $6.00 a head. A few
years ago, these putative descendants of Raleigh's 'little Barbary
ponies' were bringing from $50 to $125 apiece. The auctioneer in
explanation complained, "Tew much gasoline about naowaday!"
1957
Raleigh, NC - 40 YEARS AGO: Five Harkers Island residents, owners of
ponies on Shackleford Banks appeared before the Conservation and
Development Committee. They made a plea for allowing the ponies to remain
on the Banks. Dan Yeomans, 79 years of age, was the spokesman. Mr. Yeomans
said that he has owned ponies for 60 years stock passed on to him by his
forefathers. He told the committee, "You know, we have pennings ever
summer and sell lemonade, and our friends from upstate come to see us. We
have a good time..."
1980
(MAY) The magazine, WILDLIFE IN NORTH CAROLINA covered a pony penning on
Shackleford Banks. It stated: "Because of public interest in the
ponies from both a cultural and scientific viewpoint, removal of the
ponies is locally a sensitive issue.... The Outer Banks Ponies are
believed to be descendants from horses that survived the European
shipwrecks. ...The ritual of pony-pennin'.. is deeply rooted in tradition,
and the practice continues without economic interests. To be successful,
pony-pennin' requires the community participation and cooperation. The
event is a communal function uniting people for a time in both work and
pleasure. Skills for roping and branding are handed down to younger
horsemen, and the tradition is passed on. ... The cultural significance of
the ponies is difficult to measure and quantify. To the local people, they
are no longer a source of income. To them, they are more than that--they
are a reminder of a way of life which is rapidly vanishing".
1980
In November, Governor Jim Hunt forwarded recommendations from NC
Department of Natural Resources & Community Development to The
National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta, concerning
the Draft EIS for Cape Lookout National Seashore. It read: "The
National Park Service should not act to remove any species from the
seashore until a detailed management plan for wildlife has been developed
and approved ...Further, the department questions whether the banks ponies
should be considered exotic since there are accounts of their presence
before permanent settlement of the area."
1982
In June, members of the Spanish Mustang Registry came to the Outer Banks
to observe the last known remaining bands of Banker Horses still existing
in the natural state as they have been for the last 400 years. At Harkers
Island, fisherman Weldon Willis, in white clam boots, ferried Wyoming
mustangers wearing cowboy boots, to Shackleford Banks in his fishing boat.
"People don't know how rare this little horse is and how hard it is
to come by", said one of the cowboys, "They don't know what a
prize they're getting." Standing on a dune, looking out over
Shackleford Banks, Emmett Brislawn, son of the founder of the Registry,
admitted it was a little hard at first to picture such a Western horse in
such an Eastern setting. "But that's why we're here", said Cody
Holbrook, also of Oshoto, Wyoming. Two of the men, [stationed at Fort
Bragg], became interested in the horses in 1981, bought a few and
registered a few. Realizing that the isolated Outer Banks were an ideal
place to find horses pure enough to qualify, they convinced the SMR to
meet here. The SPANISH MUSTANG REGISTRY,INC. STUD BOOK, 1996 contains two
Shackleford horses: #600 - "Mr. Shackleford Banks, a sorrell
stallion; and #704 - "Scotch Bonnett", a sorrell mare.
1986
In April, the Carteret County News-Times reported: 110 cows, 320 sheep,
and seven goats were removed from Shackleford; about 100
"ornery" goats and 12 sheep got away, and were to be rounded up
within the next year. "The estimated 104 ponies on Shackleford will
be allowed to remain, because they are considered part of the island's
history. Some historians believe the animals are descendants of ponies
that survived 16th century shipwrecks off the NC coast."
1993
In the Yukon Territory, a freeze-dried horse was found by miners. This
26,000 year old horse was intact from stomach contents to hair, mane and
tail. He resembles modern day horse which eliminates hypotheses that
evolution of the horse completed itself on the Asian Continent.
1994
In his book, INTO THE WIND: WILD HORSES OF NORTH AMERICA, Dr. Jay
Kirkpatrick writes, "As early as 1565, shipwrecked horses found their
way onto the shores of the Shackleford Banks (otherwise known as
Shackleford Island)."
1995
(Oct) Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PHD, in his NORTH AMERICAN COLONIAL SPANISH
HORSE UPDATE writes: "One type of southeast horse is the Banker pony
from the Outer Banks of Virginia and the Carolinas. These descend from
Spanish horses, but in some islands have been subjected to a variety of
stallions of other breeds. A good example of this are the Chincoteague
ponies. ...The history of some of the other island populations is more
vague (Hatteras, Shackleford and Ocracoke). Some of these horses are
included in the Spanish Mustang Registry, but these are not numerous. ....
Some of the Shackleford and Ocracoke horses seem to be especially unique,
others may less so."
1995
The University of Oklahoma Press published INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
HORSE BREEDS, by Bonnie Hendrix. This lists as a breed, Banker Horse -
population status...RARE.
1996, 4 Aug
In a letter, Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick, Director of Science and Conservation
Biology, ZOOMONTANA writes - "The Shackleford wild horses are the
oldest documented population in North America and they should be managed
with the utmost care. By that I mean, they should be managed to insure
their continuation, and certainly the people who manage them should be
sensitive to the immense historic and cultural resource that they
represent. Dr. Kirkpatrick explained that the NPS' "exotic"
designation is based on written policy, but not on scientific veracity.
"The wild horse", he says, "is one of America's most
valuable wildlife species...and the Shackleford horses are one of our
oldest legacies."
1996, 25 Nov
NC Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources (DEHNR) letter
states: "As you know, the State of North Carolina considers the
horses at Shackleford as native to the area, because they are an important
part of the area's heritage."
1997, 3 FEB
NC Secretary of Cultural Resources, Betty Ray McCain wrote: "To Whom
It May concern: I am writing this letter because of my great interest in
the Shackleford Wild Ponies. They are truly a cultural resource for North
Carolina and a source of much interest and visitation by tourists. It is
my sincere and earnest hope that everything will be done, that can be
done, to save this herd of interesting characters who draw so many to our
state. They are part of what makes North Carolina one of the most
interesting and best places to live, and we are most hopeful that all
agencies will cooperate to save them. Thank you for your consideration of
this letter. I would appreciate any help that you can give to the
Shackleford Wild Ponies, and the great excitement and enjoyment that they
create for the tourists and residents of North Carolina."
1997, 13 Feb
Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. introduced H.R. 765, "Shackleford
Banks Wild Horses Protection Act".
1997, 8 Apr
Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. wrote to Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr.:
"I have heard from numerous citizens across the State and even
outside North Carolina who are concerned about the preservation of the
wild horses on Shackleford Banks in the Cape Lookout National Seashore.
These horses are truly a treasure for our state's citizens, as well as,
tourists visiting the coast of North Carolina and I feel it is important
that this cultural resource be maintained for the future. Your legislation
will certainly be helpful to assure that these wild horses are indeed
preserved in the Cape Lookout National Seashore for us to continue to
enjoy."
1997, 22 Jul
8:26 p.m.: "Shackleford Banks Wild Horses Protection Act" passed
the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 416 to 6; 12
members absent. Two of those, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, and Ms Cubin of
Wyoming, stated for the record that had they been present, they would have
voted "Aye".
1997, 25 Jul
Governor Hunt wrote President Clinton, pointing out the importance of the
horses to North Carolina, the messages of concern that he has received
from people in NC and other states, and the history of the horses. The
governor ended by saying, "Again I urge you to sign this legislation
and ensure that Americans will be able to enjoy the wild horses of the
Cape Lookout National Seashore for generations to come."
1997, 19 Aug
Dr. Gus Cothran, Director, Equine Genetics Lab, Gluck Equine Center,
University of Kentucky, presented his blood evaluation findings in,
"Genetic Analysis of the Cape Lookout National Seashore Feral Horse
Herd". Dr. Cothran established the Spanish link in the Shackleford
Banks horses through identification of several gene variants associated
with Spanish horses. In discussing his findings, Dr. Cothran explained
that one variant (Q-ac) is a very old genetic marker he has found in only
three equine populations: The Puerto Rican Paso Finos, the Pryor Mountain
mustangs of the Montana high country, and the Shackleford Banks wild
horses. He said this variant is one that is easily lost through
"genetic drift", and he was pleased to have been able to
identify it and document it in these horses.
1997, 1 Oct
"Shackleford Banks Wild Horses Protection Act" went before the
U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation and
Recreation.
1998, 25 June
The U. S. Senate passed the Shackleford Banks Wild Horse Protection Act.
1998, 9 July
The President of the United States signed legislation protecting the wild
horses of Shackleford Banks. On 16 July, the legislation became Public Law
105-202.
1998, 9 July
H.R. 765 was brought back to Congress by it sponsor. The intent of the
legislation was established. Then, it passed the House and Senate, and was
signed but the President it as stand-alone legislation. On 13 August, it
became Public Law 105-229.
1999, 23 January
In the Raleigh New and Observer, Jerry Allegood reported:
"The wild horses of Shackleford Banks are
once again free to roam their island range after a roundup and tests
last week found no signs of an incurable horse disease. The Island herd
... tested negative for equine infectious anemia..".
|
