Running Free

Last Fall was a different year for many reasons. It made the Sweet 16 for our oldest a little challenging. Her Aunt asked if she would like to go to Outer Banks for her birthday and the resounding answer was YES!

One of our days there we took a wild horse tour. We rode in an open vehicle with several other families. First the vehicle was on the main roads but soon we hit the beach.

We rode for miles. Miles of undeveloped beach land. Mostly untouched by human hands. We keep seeing other vehicles heading in the same direction and in the other direction. We kept seeing people enjoying the solitude of the beach area. As we continued along we finally started seeing groups of horses.

I have had only a handful of experiences with horses. I rode my first horse when I was in 5th grade. I do not like heights, so it was challenging to say the least. I have seen horses on farms around our community; just never really got close enough to do more than say hello. Our previous neighbor had horses and even let my daughter ride one with her in close proximity. I have rode a horse on a horse trail in the mountains but each horse I have seen and been around even just a little have been trained horses.

None of these experiences compare to watching horses in the wild. They were completely playful. We watched several roll on their backs in the sand. The tour guide explained that sometimes they do so to help try to ward off the sand fleas. As we were being bitten ourselves, I did not blame them for doing what they have to do to rid themselves of those pests. It did remind me of our dog at home rolling in the grass.

They always were in groups. Little family groups and we learned they do not just stay on the beach. There were several signs up warning about contact with the horses. They wander through the neighborhoods near the area. The inhabited area of near where the horses were was on the backside of the island. To get to someone’s home they would have to have a 4x4 vehicle and make sure to get all supplies before headed to stay because it was quite a trek to reach that area.

We learned the history of these horses; believed to be descendants of horses brought to the area in the 1500s on Spanish ships. Also, they are the last wild herd left in the world. Which was pretty interesting being sometimes you would see them get curious around a family who was staked out on a section of the beach. It was obvious that local individuals know the rules and danger of approaching the horses. They most definitely were not trying to feed any of these wild creatures.

Right before we had gone for our vacation I had read a story that the Outer Banks Wild Horse Fund Foundation had shared, reminding people to not approach the horses. In this story, a young horse approached a family and they, in their innocence, knowing that horses that have been trained like apples, fed this wild horse an apple. Wild horses cannot eat apples. They are used to a completely different diet of plants found on the island. So this purely innocent family killed this horse by feeding him something on which he choked. It was a sad story of how a human interaction with a wild animal went wrong all because of the lack of knowledge about the animal.

I am a big believer that humans have been given the responsibility to take care of nature. I believe it is a gift to be able to see animals in the wild and see how they interact and survive. This experience was serene. We did have a bumpy ride but the picture I shot was as we were headed back from the beach. The sun was starting to set. The water seemed calmer somehow than it does at our beach near our home. It was a gentle reminder of God’s creation and His hand of protection. You see, we often have hurricanes in North Carolina. The Outer Banks get hit hard each time we have a storm come. Yet these majestic creatures manage to survive. I think that is incredibly encouraging.