A small herd of Ocracoke ponies — Spanish mustangs descended from horses brought to the Outer Banks centuries ago — lives in a fenced pasture at the north end of the island. The National Park Service maintains the herd, and a viewing area along NC-12 lets visitors watch them from the roadside without disturbing them. They are stocky, shaggy, and entirely unbothered by spectators. The pasture is about 7 miles from the village by bicycle, making it a natural turning point for a ride up the island.
Ocracoke Wild Ponies
A story
The ponies are believed to be descendants of Spanish mustangs brought to the Outer Banks in the sixteenth or seventeenth century — possibly survivors of shipwrecks off the notoriously treacherous coast. For centuries they ran free across the island. The National Park Service moved them to a fenced pasture in the 1960s to protect them from traffic, but the herd has been maintained and is still considered wild.