Wild-horse observation builds indelible memories and deeper understanding of many things, not just horses. For those of us who spend too much time indoors juggling deadlines and commitments, it is extremely therapeutic to hike a fertile salt marsh and fall into the rhythms of tide and season, sunrise and sunset, footfalls, breathing, sea breezes, and heartbeats. Horse-watching is an activity that can be enjoyed by all, from serious naturalists and adventurous hikers to time-challenged sightseers. Even those unable to walk great distances, including toddlers, pregnant women, and disabled persons, can enjoy horse-watching. Active people with no physical limitations can gain access to any of the East Coast islands that support wild horse populations and hike to their remote reaches.
Respect these horses as wildlife. If a horse approaches you, move away. If she follows, move away again. The goal should be to watch the ponies appreciate them, and learn from them, not interact with them. If what you are doing interferes with the horse’s natural behavior, you need to change what you are doing. All the stewards of east coast herds have rules against petting and harassing the horses. Assateague Island National Seashore requires visitors to stay 10 feet away from the wild horses—about a car’s length. Failure to do so can result in a $175 fine per incident. It is also unlawful to pull off the roadway to watch or photograph the horses. Cumberland Island NS does not specify a distance, but imposes fines on anyone who harasses or makes contact with wildlife.
In and around Corolla, it is illegal to approach within 50 feet (about one and one half school bus lengths) of a wild horse, and transgressors are fined $500 per incident. The penalty for being within 50 feet of the horses is the same whether you approached the horse or the horse approached you. If you see people approaching, tormenting, or feeding the horses, please call the Corolla Wild Horse Fund at 252-453-8002.
Feeding, touching, teasing, frightening, or intentionally disturbing any wildlife on Shackleford Banks can result in a $5,000 fine and 6 months in jail. The National Park Service recommends keeping “a safe distance of 50 feet” from the horses, but that isn’t always enough. I was about 70 feet from a stallion who was annoyed with a mare when he suddenly turned and charged me! Fortunately, he dropped pursuit when I ran. If he had injured me, I might have lain undiscovered on an island with few visitors and patchy cell phone reception until the ferry came to pick me up the next day—if the ferry captain sent someone out to look for me.
At the Maryland end of Assateague, ponies range everywhere, and it is usually easy to observe them even if your time is limited. Assateague has paved roads that allow visitors to see wildlife from their vehicles and trails to suit both the meek and the daring. In the summer, the horses often take to the beach to escape the heat and biting insects, dozing on the shore alongside beach umbrellas and sand castles. On cool, breezy days or in light rain they are often on the marsh. We usually drive up and down the roads until we spot ponies, then hike in for a better look. The Maryland end of Assateague offers both developed sites and wilderness camping options, including locations accessible by kayak or canoe, but be forewarned that summer visitors must reserve sites months in advance. Prime spots beside the ocean are often reserved a year in advance.
On the Virginia portion of Assateague, sometimes you can see ponies from your vehicle on the way to the beach. As of this writing, the Chincoteague Natural History Association runs a 90-minute bus tour from the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center to the north end of the Refuge, but locals inform me that it might close in 2016. Numerous tour-boat operators offer excursions that bring the visitor relatively close to the ponies and other wildlife. Ponies come and go on their own schedule, and can be difficult to spot. The Woodland Trail on the south end of Assateague provides a platform overlooking part of the pony range, and ponies may be seen grazing in the distance. Pony Penning week (the last week in July) is the optimal time to see the Chincoteague ponies up close, albeit in a more domesticated setting. Each July the entire herd is corralled and swum across a channel to the island of Chincoteague so the foals can be sold at auction. While they are penned on Assateague and at the Chincoteague Fairgrounds, you can watch their clashes and camaraderie up close.
On the Currituck Banks of North Carolina, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund offers a two-to-four-hour off-road vehicular tour with a wild horse specialist. When you take your tour with this organization, every dollar you spend directly benefits the wild horses themselves. The Corolla Wild Horse Fund has a museum in Corolla Village and offers seasonal events such as pony rides on a trained once-wild horse. Commercial tour companies also take groups and individuals north of Corolla Village to view wild horses. You can also walk or drive the beach yourself or rent a beach house and watch wild horses graze in the yard or scratch themselves on your bumper. On Ocracoke Island, NC, you can observe horses safely and with minimal effort from a handicapped-accessible boardwalk and viewing platform. This herd has not run wild since the 1950s, but its ancestors lived free on the island for hundreds of years. The roadside Ocracoke Pony Pen is managed by the National Park Service, and ranger programs illuminate the history and management concerns of this unique herd.
The herds on Shackleford Banks, NC, and those ranging on the Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve off Beaufort, NC, are accessible only by water. Concessionaires and guides can show you the herds via tour boat, or drop you off at either location to explore on your own. Both islands are undeveloped, with no water, rest rooms, or other facilities, so visitors should prepare to hike unassisted. If you want to learn from the experts, Cape Lookout National Seashore offers horse tours with the Park biologist. These excursions fill quickly, so call well in advance to book a spot. The herd at Cedar Island ranges on private land, but you can sometimes glimpse the horses when you take a beach ride at Outer Banks Riding Stable, or if you follow the shoreline in your own boat.
Cumberland Island is accessible only by concessionaire ferry or charter boat. Horses frequently graze near the ferry dock and may be immediately visible when you arrive. Otherwise, you can usually find them grazing in colorful groups if you hike toward the ruins of the Dungeness compound. It is about a mile from the first ferry dock to the beach, some of it deep sand, and all of it potentially very hot in summer. Cumberland Island offers both developed and wilderness camping options.
At any of the locations, hikers and campers should be prepared for the harshness of the barrier island environment. In the warm season, intense sunlight fries skin quickly, especially when reflected by sea and sand, and sunburn is a hazard even on cloudy days and in winter (when the earth is about 3.7 million miles closer to the sun than in summer). Frequent applications of sunscreen with a high SPF can save a vacation and lessen the risk of subsequent skin cancer. Summertime heat can be scorching, leaving tent campers no respite. At many of the destinations, shopping excursions or midday movies can bring air-conditioned relief when the heat becomes oppressive. If you visit the islands before 10 a.m. or after 3 p.m., you will find the indirect sun to be kinder, and the crowds at the beach thinner.
Barrier islands are home to the most dangerous animals on earth. For that matter, so is your back yard. East coast mosquitoes are host to a wide array of life-threatening diseases, including West Nile virus and several types of encephalitis. Some people are “mosquito magnets” owing to a quirk of genetics. Mosquitoes are particularly attracted to people who have high concentrations of steroids or cholesterol on their skin, have high blood levels of uric acid, or exhale large quantities of carbon dioxide. Larger people and pregnant women emit more carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitoes from great distances. Movement, heat, and the lactic acid present in exertional sweat also attract mosquitoes.
The intensity of mosquito harassment varies from year to year and from season to season. Mosquitoes are most virulent during hot, wet years and are minimally vexing during dry years, in prolonged cool weather, and on windy days. When barrier island mosquitoes are moderate, repellent will keep them at bay. During a bad mosquito season, however, they descend in a black veil and envelop potential victims in a frenzy of bloodlust. There have been times when I set out along a trail saturated in insect repellent, intending a half-day hike, only to run back to the car minutes later, swatting frantically at the voracious scourge that alighted on my skin.
Hikers must carry adequate water and drink it often. Especially in summer, it is easy to become dehydrated while hiking, and potable water sources do not exist in the wilder areas.
Appropriate footwear is essential for anyone who decides to brave the backcountry in search of horses (or anything else). Hiking boots are best, but work boots or sneakers with good treads are acceptable. Hikers who plan to cover long distances should bring a blister kit. Barefoot hikers are vulnerable to crabs, rays, jellyfish, sharp shells, and broken bottles. The sandy areas behind the dune line are studded with sandburs and sandspurs—round, prickly pods that are virtually unnoticeable until bare feet find them.
Poison ivy is an important food source for deer and ponies, but it is a bane to hikers and campers. All parts of the plant can cause a rash in all seasons. Poison ivy accidentally burned in a campfire can trigger a severe allergic reaction in anyone exposed to the smoke.
The sea is most turbulent during and following a storm. When the surf is rough, swimmers are frequently tumbled by the waves, sustaining sand abrasions, shoulder dislocations, and even broken necks. Riptides can pull a swimmer out to sea. To escape the current, swim parallel to shore until you are free, then swim back to the beach. If you fight the current, you may become exhausted and drown. Tideline treasures are most readily found following a storm. Shells, beach glass, and all manner of odds and ends are most abundant on the beach after the angry tide has ebbed.
When camping on barrier islands, anchor your tents with extra-long stakes. The standard variety uproots easily from loose sand. Improperly secured tents can catch the gusty barrier island winds and behave like giant kites, soaring great distances while unattended. (My kids have fond memories of fishing our tent out of a duck pond on Hatteras.) Car campers should also consider bringing a screen tent to provide blessed shade.
Often visitors do not realize that wild horses can be dangerous. They may appear as tame as their counterparts at a petting zoo, but these are 600+-- pound animals that are used to doing as they please. If it pleases them to take proffered treats and enjoy scratching, they stand quietly. Then with unpredictable suddenness, two horses may squabble over a tidbit, catching the person in the middle with a powerful kick capable of breaking bones. Fingers may be fractured by crushing teeth when horses bite the hand that feeds them. Domestic horses are carefully trained not to bite, kick, or trample people, but wild horses receive no such training and have their own agendas.
It is also possible to catch serious diseases from close contact with wild horses. The flies that feed on horse blood before biting humans can spread encephalitis. The horses themselves can transmit rabies. Foxes, bats, and raccoons pose the greatest risk; but about 100 cases of rabies in horses and burros are reported every year in the United States, and the mortality rate is 100 percent. Horse-to-human transmission has not been documented, but it is possible. The ponies carry deer ticks, which in turn can carry Lyme disease, and these ticks easily migrate from horse to human (or from horse to underbrush to human). Dr. Ronald Keiper writes that a pony-watcher can pick up 40–60 ticks an hour. On one trip I disregarded the no-contact edict to comfort a dying foal abandoned by his herd. Without a cell phone, I could not summon help. He spent his last hours with his head in my lap. Back on the mainland, taking a much-needed shower, I discovered five ticks implanted in the skin of my abdomen and another two on my arm.
Deer ticks are tiny. The nymphs are only about the size of a fleck of pepper. Ideally, hikers should wear long, light-colored clothing and inspect themselves and one another for ticks regularly. Ticks are easy to miss, and an infected one can transmit Lyme disease if it attaches. I caught Lyme disease myself from a deer tick while photographing horses on Assateague. Many infected people never see a tick or a tick bite, and 20–50 percent do not develop the characteristic bulls-eye rash. Symptoms of Lyme include flu-like discomforts, headaches, disabling fatigue, palpitations, and painful or swollen joints.
The East Coast barrier islands present endless opportunities for people to see horses living wild. Most of the herds are tolerant of people, and the visitor can get close enough to watch them foraging, playing, and reinforcing social bonds. The seashore is an idyllic setting, and many other family-friendly activities are available near all the wild horse islands. Wild horses inspire hot arguments, and with each population the question resurfaces—should they be allowed to remain on these islands, living as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years? Their destiny is in our hands. Whatever we choose to do or not to do will determine their fate. Having spent 20 years studying and observing the wild herds of the Atlantic coast—as well as some herds in the Western states—I have come to believe that these animals have value simply because they are wild horses, and they are valuable to us because they reawaken the wildness in our own souls.