Bringing Back The
"Wild" Horse Patrol
On the beach at Ocracoke, rangers
and "banker ponies** are restoring a
time-honored service.
By JEAXXETTA HEWING
Long ago. on a wind-swept island,
brave men rode fiery horses on ex¬
peditions to conquer a new world.
Conquistadors, usually associated
with South American history and our
own Southwestern states, also ranged
as far north as Chesapeake on the East
Coast. They did not conquer this land,
but they left their signature boldly
written on the history of our nation.
Their horses, the Spanish stock which
spawned the Lippizancrs. the Andalu¬
sians. the Paso Finos— the beautiful,
hardy sweet-tempered horses so
prized by the old world that their ex¬
port from Spain was banned lest the
mother country be drained, estab¬
lished a line which survives today on
Ocracoke Island.
After the Spanish quests came the
Anglos, w ith their desperate seekers of
space to start a new life, gain wealth,
independence, security. Sailors,
fishermen, farmers, traders made their
way through Ocracoke Inlet to the
calmer waters of Pamlico Sound, and
thence to the river ports stubbornly
growing against the new and savage
land. A> the numbers swelled, more
it
provisions for their safety were made,
including the establishment of a set¬
tlement of pilots on Ocracoke to guide
ships across the treacherous bar at the
inlet mouth.
Horses And The People
Thus. Ocracoke village began, with
the island property changing hands
many times, until today the old names
are only a salting among new. strange
names. The first colonists, the Spanish
horses, thrived along with the people
until the road came, when fences for
their protection were run. Like all the
bountiful natural resources, the people
used the horses as they needed them.
The same horses were ridden, plowed
with, and were hitched to two-wheeled
carts to haul goods and materials.
Many people here on Ocracoke re¬
member how the storekeepers took
grocer>' orders and delivered groceries
with horse and cart. Freight was
hauled dockside to sites around the
community by the same method.
Some estimates give as high as 200
horses ranging the northern part of the
island some fifty years ago. These
were rounded up each year and driven
south to ’horsepen point' near the
community, and there the colts were
sorted out. ownership established, and
any buying, selling or trading done.
The “Watch House"
In the days of the life-saving service,
the parent of our modern Coast Guard,
some of the men rode their ‘banker
ponies' on the beach patrols. In those
days, there were two stations on Oc¬
racoke. one on each end of the island.
The men had to punch a time clock
mounted on a post on the beach. Near
Ocracoke village a ‘watch house', a
small building with a stove for winter
heat, and a nearby pen for a horse was
manned in four hour, two man
watches. While one man waited in the
shack, the other rode to the south
point, checking the beach, and re¬
turned. whereupon the other man
would mount and ride north to the key
post, checking. When he returned the
watch would change, horse and men
returning to the more comfortable sta¬
tion housing.
Often, as the winter beach winds
raged bitterly against the patrol, the
men would luck aching hands inside
their coats and let the competent little
horses make their sure-footed way to
the key post, stopping exactly where
they should, and returning confidently
to the watch shack and station.
Spanish Stock Revived
Years passed, the banks became
motorized, powerful engines throbbed
across the dunes once slowly traversed
by the little horses. They were nearly
lost by the heedless generations. They
were called the wild horses of Oc¬
racoke’. and alternately romanticized
kongt, Sm of Ik* N<*,0»ol fork
-oHiiog poirol ..Ik Oikoto Sqoo*.
THE STATE. OCT09IA 1979