THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310441
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Not since Tom Mix rode Tony in 1920s westerns have horses so ensnared my heart as those at Corolla.
Gulliver, who found in his travels horselike beings superior to human Yahoos, would be impressed by a herd of 22 horses roving among towering oceanfront cottages.
It is a rich mix of humans, houses and horses in this resort strand on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Three days watching wild horses endeared them to me.
As they mosey across yards and stick their inquiring heads into garages and houses, they are like amiable, extra-large, curious dogs.
At a shout of ``Horses in the yard!'' or ``Horses on the beach!'' vacationers rush to decks and porches to see the insouciant steeds.
Oh, some people, bent on replacing sea oats with suburban lawns, are incensed when a horse dumps unceremoniously on their turf; but after all, the horsey set says, horses swam ashore from wrecks long ago.
Horses even forage through garbage. Nine Yahoos paused to watch a dark stallion, a white diamond on his brow, lower his head into a bin and bring up sacks of trash, which he flung to mares to tear apart. Once, he threw a cardboard carton.
Among the bewitched audience was the place's current tenant.
A chestnut stallion paced in the setting sun through our yard, climbed a dune and, a blazing silhouette, looked on the blue sea. Far away, remote as a toy, was a mare.
The stallion cantered down the dune to the waterline and galloped by surging white surf to her. Once, two stallions reared on hind legs and sparred. . . . On a morning, a mare rested, a brown mound, on the sand. Someone offered a bagel with cream cheese which, with a nod, she accepted. And ate.
The brown Lab and I watched four horses browse in a shaded meadow beside a fancy filigreed mall. At their feet were eight white cattle egrets spearing insects stirred by the horses' hoofs.
A stately egret perched on a horse's back for a better look or a tick on its host's hide. A horse held aloft a foot so as not to discommode the long-necked bird beneath it.
The dark stallion came within a foot of our open window. The Lab, panting with eagerness, quieted as that brown wall was passing.
At least 15 horses have died in collisions with cars since 1989 as subdivisions multiplied. The Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for volunteers to build a 4-foot-high sound-to-sea fence penning the herd within 1,800 acres of a government refuge.
Wildlife officials fear that the 22, joining 100 others, will ruin the ecosystem. Members of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund decided Tuesday to count the herd. It may be saved. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by TED BERKHOUSE
The wandering horses often have an egret or two in tow.
by CNB