Carolina In My Mind #15216

The Story

On a beautiful May day just after sunrise, these wild ponies have come down from the dunes to the morning ocean edge. The overnight fog is lifting in the distance, burning away in the new daylight of dawn. It’s a wet world, and the waves have left thin washes of water in tidal pools laying on the sand to reflect the blue sky.

Morning is the time for all creatures to rouse and go, even the local pelicans, who glide by in one long string just above the waves.

One can only imagine how many moons have gone by with this morning scene repeated. It’s a recurring life cycle through time for these animals, although it’s thought the wild ponies along the east coast are descended from shipwrecked Spanish horses in the 1500s. They may also be descended from runaway farming horses or both ways. The question of where these “banker ponies” came from will likely never be resolved; it’s a mystery no one has the answer for.

Location: the morning ocean edge near Corolla, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks