Martin County Community College
HERD MANAGEMENT: Two wild ponies from the Corolla area are residing at Martin Community College (MCC) this spring. These horses are descended from the Spanish mustangs brought by the earliest European explorers to the Carolina coast nearly 400 years ago. As part of the National Park Service’s herd management program older horses and horses with health or behavioral issues are regularly removed from the “feral” herds along the Outer Banks and prepared for integration into a farm environment. The equine program at MCC, the only equine program offered by a Community College in North Carolina, is a regular recipient of these horses and is a key partner in preserving the uniqueness of the outer banks. Pictured above is Mimosa, a 16-year-old pony, and her handler Summer Cordon, a second-year student in the MCC Equine program. Cordon is from the Pamlico Beach community in Beaufort County. More information about the equine program at MCC is available at http://www.mccequine.com.