page_title: Banker horse
section_title: Ocracoke
hierarchical_section_title: Banker horse / Management and adoption / Ocracoke
caption_attribution_description: English: A Banker horse on Ocracoke, North Carolina, locally these horses are know as Ocracoke ponies.
context_page_description: The Banker horse is a breed of feral horse living on barrier islands in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament. Descended from domesticated Spanish horses and possibly brought to the Americas in the 16th century, the ancestral foundation bloodstock may have become feral after surviving shipwrecks or being abandoned on the islands by one of the exploratory expeditions led by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón or Sir Richard Grenville. Populations are found on Ocracoke Island, Shackleford Banks, Currituck Banks, Cedar Island, and in the Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary.
  Bankers are allowed to remain on the islands due to their historical significance even though they can trample plants and ground-nesting animals and are not considered to be indigenous. They survive by grazing on marsh grasses, which supply them with water as well as food, supplemented by temporary freshwater pools.
  To prevent overpopulation and inbreeding, and to protect their habitat from being overgrazed, the horses are managed by the National Park Service, the state of North Carolina, and several private organizations.
context_section_description: Since 1959, Bankers on Ocracoke Island have been confined to fenced areas of approximately 180 acres (0.73 km²; 0.28 sq mi). The areas protect the horses from the traffic of North Carolina Highway 12, as well as safeguarding the island from overgrazing. The NPS, the authority managing the Ocracoke herd, supplements the horses' diet with additional hay and grain. In 2006, as a precaution against inbreeding, two fillies from the Shackleford herd were transported to Ocracoke.
caption: A Banker horse on Ocracoke Island
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