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[guitar leads resonant melody]

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♪

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(narrator) 
Some things never change

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on North Carolina's 
Outer Banks.

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Day after day, 
breakers kiss the shore.

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Ceaseless tides 
irrigate the marshland

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and then creep back 
out to sea.

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[surf noise]

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And here and there 
along the 175 mile or so

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stretch of barrier islands

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from Ocracoke north 
to the Virginia border,

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wild horses may be glimpsed 
grazing contentedly

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among the dunes.

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They're not as widely 
dispersed over the banks

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as they once were,

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descendents 
of equine passengers

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on Spanish sailing ships

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that ran aground 
in the 17th century.

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(woman) 
There are 2,000 shipwrecks

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on the bottom 
of the Atlantic Ocean

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up and down the Outer Banks,

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so, although there's no record,

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it stands to reason 
that some horses

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were probably able 
to survive shipwrecks

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and swim ashore.

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And some horses 
were simply left behind

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when colonies failed.

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A nonprofit 
has a mission,

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and it benefits the greater 
good of the community.

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(narrator) 
Karen McCalpin 
is a colonist of sorts,

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a transplant to the Outer 
Banks from Pennsylvania,

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lured here by the prospect 
of her dream job,

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managing the northernmost 
population of wild horses

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as director of the nonprofit 
Corolla Wild Horse Fund.

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(McCalpin) 
They've been here 
almost five centuries,

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and the United States 
Fish and Wildlife Service

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defines them as nonnative, 
feral, invasive pest animals.

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I'm not native, but, uh,

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I don't know how long you 
have to live here to be native.

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It seems like five centuries 
oughta be plenty of time.

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They're just amazing horses.

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(narrator) 
Amazing, also, is a good word

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to apply to early 
preservation efforts.

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(McCalpin) 
The organization 
was actually formed in 1989

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as a completely all-volunteer, 
grassroots organization

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by a group of residents 
who had becomed concerned

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as more and more horses 
began to get hit on 12,

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as development, uh, increased 
between Duck and Corolla,

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and in 1989, a stallion 
by the name of Star,

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with whom everyone 
was familiar, was killed,

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and that was the last straw, 
so to speak.

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(narrator) 
The herd count in the area 
threatened by development,

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here counted by helicopter,

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had diminished to about 20 
by the early '90s.

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By the time Karen arrived 
on the scene in 2006,

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the horse population 
was on the rise

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with 7,500-plus 
protected acres to roam,

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including portions

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of the Currituck National 
Wildlife Refuge

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and some low-impact 
residential developments.

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(McCalpin) 
The horses really have 
five main habitat areas.

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They eat the coarse grasses 
that grow on the dunes

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and the sea oats.

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Behind the dunes, 
there's dry meadow,

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wet meadow,

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there's a maritime forest

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that runs up the middle 
of the island.

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That's basically 
its highest point.

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You'll find them there 
in the winter eating acorns,

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like the deer.

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And then, of course, along 
the sound there's the marshes.

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We have the area, 
for our purposes,

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divided into four zones, and, 
uh, we know which harems ,

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and a harem 
is a dominant stallion

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and generally 
one to four mares--

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some have more, 
some have less.

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We know which harems we're 
going to find in which zones,

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and so they move freely 
within that zone.

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They rarely move out of that 
area because if they do,

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they risk losing their mares

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to the dominant stallion 
in the next zone.

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(narrator) 
It may seem unusual

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to see wild horses 
grazing around houses,

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but that's the nature 
of things here,

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where civilization 
and history meet

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in a uniquely 
accommodating way.

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(McCalpin) 
One of the things

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that we spend 
a tremendous amount of time

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and effort doing is educating,

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both on the beach 
and behind the dunes,

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because the wild horses here 
are tolerant of humans.

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That's why you can drive by 
one of them grazing

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and they probably 
won't even look up at you.

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But they can be standing 
along the shoreline

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and looking very peaceful,

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and people start to gather 
around and take pictures,

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and suddenly a rival stallion 
appears on the dune line

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and comes down-- 
thundering down the dune.

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Now you're in the middle of 
a very brutal, vicious fight.

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They will not care whether 
you're standing there or not--

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your vehicle's there, 
your child's there,

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your chair's there.

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(narrator) 
The most enduring threat 
to the Corolla horses,

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however, is neither 
commercial encroachment

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nor the wild horse tourism

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that has blossomed 
in the area.

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It's genetic.

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The gene pool is collapsing 
due to inbreeding.

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Dr. Gus Cothran 
of Texas A&M University

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is the leading expert 
on wild horse genetics.

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(McCalpin) 
In 2007, we pulled, uh, 
DNA samples

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with remotely delivered darts,

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and in 2008, 
the results came back

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that we had one of the lowest 
levels of genetic diversity

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of any wild herd anywhere.

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(Cothran) 
So that means that they 
have lost genetic diversity,

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relative to other 
horse populations.

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And that's likely due, 
or almost certainly due,

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to the very small 
population size

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that existed at one time.

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Small population size 
means inbreeding,

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and inbreeding means 
loss of genetic variability.

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(narrator) 
Mitochondrial DNA research 
in Dr. Cothran's lab

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provided clues to the Corolla 
horses' ancestry.

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(Cothran) 
All of the barrier island 
horse populations,

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which are now isolated 
from each other,

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show closer relationship 
to each other

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than they do to anything else,

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suggesting 
some common ancestry.

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But by looking 
at particular variants

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that we know 
where they are most common

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and where they 
most likely come from,

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we have clear evidence 
that the, uh, Banker horses

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have some old Spanish blood 
in them.

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And that could only 
have come from something

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probably three 
to four hundred years ago.

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(narrator) 
There are three zones 
of wild horses

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along North Carolina's 
Outer Banks:

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at Corolla, Shackleford Banks, 
and Ocracoke.

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(Cothran) 
They're all related 
to each other,

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but they're all different 
from each other as well.

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And so a small number 
of exchanges

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from Shackleford, for example,

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will boost the Corolla 
variability very quickly.

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The new genes will circulate 
throughout the population

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over a few generations.

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(narrator) 
The idea here 
is to keep the population

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at an optimal level,

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both to maintain diversity

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and to develop 
and manage a population

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similar to that 
established in legislation

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that protects 
the Shackleford ponies,

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but that proposal is mired 
in congressional limbo.

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(McCalpin) 
And that is why 
we've been working so hard

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on the Corolla Wild Horses 
Protection Act.

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That languages mirrors 
the Shackleford Banks Act,

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asks for a minimum herd size 
of 120 to 130,

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with never less than 110,

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with the added caveat 
that we be able to bring, uh,

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a limited amount of mares 
from Shackleford,

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and that is the critical step 
that will add new genes

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to our dying gene pool, 
and it is dying,

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and they will be gone 
in a few generations

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if we don't act quickly.

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(narrator) 
Meantime, the good work

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of Corolla Wild Horse Fund 
continues.

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Meet Amadeo,

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a 16-year-old stallion 
with an amazing story.

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(McCalpin) 
Amadeo's name is, uh,

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the Spanish, uh, derivative 
for "blessed by God."

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He was in a fight 
with a much younger stallion.

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He was already 
missing his right eye,

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and horses 
are fight-or-flight animals,

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and because 
he was losing the fight,

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his only choice was to flee.

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But his good eye had been 
damaged in the fight,

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and so he was disoriented.

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He ran into the ocean.

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It was on a day 
we had 10-foot waves

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and 30-mile-an-hour winds.

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(narrator) 
Amadeo was pulled 
over a mile by the riptide.

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He was finally rescued,

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but the trauma 
left him completely blind.

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[horn accompanies 
delicate piano composition]

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♪

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Volunteer Mike Gaulding 
is a true horse whisperer.

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Amadeo needs to be moved 
to a new facility,

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and Mike must earn his trust.

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♪

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It's fine; 
you're OK.

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You're all right.

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♪

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Calm down.

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[whispering] 
That's a good boy.

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Nobody's gonna 
hurt you.

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♪

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(narrator) 
All wild horses 
destined for adoption

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must be trained 
to adapt to humans

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and are, 
thanks to an affiliation

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with the Equine 
Technology program

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of Martin Community College.

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So the Corolla ponies 
come to us

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when they've been 
removed from the beach

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or off of the premises.

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We basically domesticate them.

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They've not been touched; 
they've not been haltered.

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They've never been in a stall 
before at that point.

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So they come to us, um, 
basically with no education,

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and it's pretty appropriate 
that they come to college

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because by the time 
they leave here,

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they--they have, uh, 
their associates degree.

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He's learned how to lunge.

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He's learned 
how to line drive.

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He also has been ridden 
for the first time,

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and he has, um, 
he's done very, very well.

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He really likes 
the domesticated life,

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and you can see he's-- 
he's quite chubby.

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[gentle guitar melody]

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(narrator) 
For something like 400 years 
of time and tide,

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these Banker horses--

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call 'em ponies if you want; 
they don't care--

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they've been 
nourishing themselves

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on sea oats and wild grasses 
around the dunes,

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in the maritime forest, 
and sound-side marshes.

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We put 'em there,

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and now it's our collective 
responsibility

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to make sure their descendents 
not only survive but thrive--

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a whole lot of wonder... 
and a little bit of wild

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on the thin edge of our coast.

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♪