OBX: Wild Horse Tour

During my week in the Outer Banks, I got to eat delicious food, lay out in front of the gorgeous ocean, and I even got to observe wild horses in their natural habitat! 

After seeing signs for the Corolla Outback Adventures Wild Horse Tour, we decided it was something we just had to try! Don't get me wrong, I love laying out at the beach and pool doing nothing but after a while I get a bit restless and this tour was just the cure! 

The tour guide took us off the paved highway that stretches along the length of the Banks and onto the sand (that is still legally a highway...just unpaved, how cool!) for our two hour adventure exploring the less-developed edge of the Outer Banks! 

Within 10 minutes of driving along the beach, we saw a couple of horses strolling along the dunes! It was amazing! They didn't seem to be bothered at all by our tour and just kept grazing and walking along.

After a few miles of driving on the open beach, we turned onto some of the "roads" that have beach houses on them. A little further down we hit the reserve land where the horses run free! There were natural ponds, deer, lush greens...it was like we had traveled to a different world! 

In the open area of reserves, we saw a group of horses (three female and one male) gathered together and were able to get out of the tour truck. Again, they seemed relaxed and because we kept our distance, they didn't seem to notice us at all. The guide explained that these horses came from Spain hundreds of years ago on ships and that they are now extinct back in Spain. For a while after hearing that, our whole tour just stood there in awe of these beautiful animals.

Eventually, we all had to get back into the truck to explore a bit more before our 30-minute drive down the beach back to our cars on the main road.

These two glorious hours were the only two outside that I was actually cold all week! The sea air blowing made the heat more bearable in the June sun! Plus, I learned a lot more about the culture and history of the Outer Banks than I would have ever thought when we arrived at the beginning of the week...and had fun doing it!