Taming the herd's history: A look at DNA tracing the Corolla wild horses
COROLLA, N.C. (WAVY) — Along a stretch of North Carolina's coast on the shores of Corolla, visitors will find a wild tale that has stood the test of time.
'What makes these horses special is where they live, their history here, the adaptations they've developed over the years to allow them to survive here,' said Meg Puckett, director of herd management at the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
Preserving the Herd: How you can help keep the Corolla wild horses safe for years to come
History showed these horses traveled here with Spaniards attempting to settle in the Carolinas.The humans may have failed, but their hoofed cargo certainly didn't. The famed Banker Horses adapted to the dunes and are still around today.
'This is Riptide,' said Puckett, standing by a stocky, brown horse. 'He will be six-years-old in May. He was removed from the wild when he was about a year old. He was hospitalized for about six weeks there, but they saved his life.'
Puckett said removing a Banker Horse from the herd is a difficult choice, but they have to make it when considering the horses health impacting their chance of surviving. He had a medical issue in his hoof that, if it wasn't treated, would have killed him.
Now a permanent resident at the Corolla Wild Horse Fund Sanctuary, away from the untamed beaches, Riptide has risen to the occasion, helping track the herd's hoofprints through history through the use of genetic testing.
Herd History: Corolla Wild Horse Fund using tissue-collecting darts for DNA tracing
He's one puzzle piece in a centuries long lineage that's only recently been under a microscope.
'The more we know about them genetically, how they behave, how they interact with their environment, how they interact with each other, the more we understand,' Puckett said. 'We can meet them where they are and protect what they need.'
Riptide's tissue sample is just one example of modern day DNA testing involving an offsite lab.
The lab sends back data to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, who then untangles the tale using the DNA until they land on a parenting match. By sending tissue samples like Riptide's to the lab, it is able to learn not only how to help his herd, but also trace his family.
'At this point, we've got about 150 horses on file,' Puckett said about the collected sample amount. 'Those include the horses from 2007. They include any horses whose DNA was collected over the years, but not necessarily processed. That includes any horse that we know of that was removed from the wild and living in captivity.'
Collecting tissue samples from sanctuary horses like Riptide is pretty simple. Samples from horses still storming the dunes? Not a stroll in the park, or the beach in this case.
The Corolla Wild Horse Fund uses a dart gun to hit horses still in the wild. They said it doesn't hurt the horses and the dart is recovered when it falls out. It collects a tissue sample from that horse and then is sent to the lab.
It's not just the family history that it is looking for.
Rather, they're also on the search for health anomalies — what they do if and when they spot one is handled on a case-by-case basis.
'It's a balance, right?' said Puckett. 'We don't want to play God. You know, this herd has existed here for a lot longer than anybody has ever been managing them.'
'Honestly, nine times out of 10, the answer is you don't do anything,' she said.
Though tedious, tracking the herds history and pinpointing their genetic needs helps sustain the dwindling breed. It's something the Corolla Wild Horse Fund has made their life's work.
'We've got a closed herd of horses,' Puckett said. 'What's there is what's there. We cannot bring in other horses that are not Banker Horses to this herd. It's very important that, not only do we know what their genetic makeup is [and] we understand how they're all related to each other, but also, what we can possibly do in the future to help preserve this genetics and keep the genetics healthy.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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