We have some exciting news – another foal!
This filly, named Doe, is not brand new; she’s probably about a month and a half to two months old. She was spotted out on a sound island by Helen, who is here visiting with friends who live in Carova. They flagged down one of our staff and everyone jumped in the boat to get a closer look. We’d like to thank Skeeter for the ride!
Both mom and foal are in excellent shape, and we got to increase the herd count by two because we did not have the mare in our files. There was another horse on the island too, but we couldn’t get a good enough look at him/her to see if we recognized them or not. This winter we will definitely return to the island to ID everyone and collect tissue samples for DNA.
This puts the herd count up to 101, with five foals born so far this year – two fillies and three colts. Our population agreement, signed by CWHF, Currituck County, USFWS, and the state of NC calls for no less than 110, and no more than 130 horses.
The horses have access to about 7600 acres, much of which is marshy, swampy, and difficult to navigate. There are horses who live in these areas that we are lucky to see once or twice a year, and we always assume there are probably a handful more that we never see.
We sometimes spot a couple horses here and there on the islands when we fly over for aerial counts, but it can be difficult to ID them from that distance. Most of the horses do regularly travel back and forth from the sound islands to the main part of the beach, but it’s not often you find groups like this who seem to live out there permanently.
For additional updates, ensure that you follow the Corolla Wild Horse Fund Official Facebook page.
