Photo by Jeannetta Henning 



Ocracoke's horses still bear the features of their Spanish ancestors 



Meet the kin: Mr. Bob, Paint and Owen K. Ballance 



There's a family, a special breed you 

 might say, who has survived, genera- 

 tion after generation, on Ocracoke 

 Island. While no one is sure how they 

 arrived there, it is believed they have 

 been island residents for over 400 

 years. Bringing to Ocracoke a hot- 

 blooded Arabian ancestry and an in- 

 telligence born of Spanish breeding, 

 the family adapted to the harsh en- 

 vironment of the banks, weaving their 

 family history intricately into the 

 fabric of the island culture and history. 



Ocracoke's first family is not 

 human, but equine. They're a herd of 

 Spanish horses, whose ancestry com- 

 bines the breeds of Arabian, Barb, An- 

 dalusian and Spanish stock horse to 

 make a horse coveted for its en- 

 durance, adaptability, strength and 

 intelligence. 



The Spanish conquistadors brought 

 hundreds of the horses to the Americas 

 during the early years of exploration. 

 They took so many of Spain's prized 

 stock that the Spanish emperor placed 

 a ban on further export of the horses in 

 1520. But by then, breeding farms had 

 already been set up in Cuba, Puerto 

 Rico and Santo Domingo to supply the 

 Spanish with horses. 



But just how these Spanish horses 

 got to Ocracoke is the cause of great 

 speculation. Spanish fleets, carrying 

 cargoes of newly found American 

 riches, often traveled a route which 

 carried them close to Cape Hatteras 

 and Ocracoke. Some say one or more of 

 these ships wrecked, leaving a small 

 herd that survived and flourished. And 

 others believe they were left by an ex- 

 pedition led by Sir Thomas Grenville, 

 an Englishman. 



In her search for the horses' story, 

 Jeannetta Henning has found old 

 histories that talk of a Spanish settle- 

 ment in 1526 in the Cape Fear region 

 of North Carolina. Jeannetta has 

 worked with her husband, Jim, a park 

 ranger, to care for the horses and has 

 spent seven years researching their 

 heritage. The Spanish histories, based 

 on the logbooks of exploration 

 voyages, note that 500 people and 80 

 or 90 horses settled the area in July of 

 1526. According to the logbook, the 

 colony failed later the same year. Jean- 

 netta believes the horses were left 

 behind, and she thinks the herd even- 

 tally spread up the Outer Banks. But 

 no matter how the horses arrived, they 

 survived, adapted and multiplied. 



Horses were common along the 

 Outer Banks during the 1600s. Many 

 colonists used the islands to not only 

 graze horses, but to graze sheep, cattle 

 and goats as well, says David Stick, 

 Outer Banks historian. But for the 

 most part the colonists were absentee 

 landlords, who did not live on the 

 Outer Banks. It was 1715 before 

 Ocracoke village, then called Pilot 

 Town, was established. 



The horses, often called banker 

 horses or ponies, roamed the island in 

 herds, says Jim Henning. They ate 

 marsh grass and drank fresh water 

 from holes they dug in the ground. 



Each herd had a boss mare who led 

 the herd in flight and to food, says 

 Jeannetta. The boss mare was the first 

 to eat and the first to drink. Each herd 

 also had a stallion who protected the 

 mares and the young, and kept the 

 herd orderly. 



The herd stallion was an excellent 

 father to his young, and the colts and 

 fillies actually spent more time with 

 the stallion than with the mare, says 

 Jeannetta. But when a young male 

 reached two years of age the head 

 stallion drove the male out of his herd. 

 Continued on next page 



