The Banker horse is a breed of semi-feral or feral horse (Equus ferus caballus) living on barrier islands in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament, and is genetically related to the Carolina Marsh Tacky of South Carolina and Florida Cracker Horse breeds through their shared Colonial Spanish horse and Iberian horse descent. The current population of wild Banker horses is estimated to be about 400.
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. The horses are monitored for diseases, such as equine infectious anemia, an outbreak of which was discovered and subsequently eliminated on Shackleford in 1996. They are safeguarded from traffic on North Carolina Highway 12. Island populations are limited by adoptions and by birth control. Bankers taken from the wild and trained have been used for trail riding, driving, and occasionally for mounted patrols.
In June 2010, the Banker horse ("Colonial Spanish Mustang") was made the official state horse of North Carolina.
Characteristics
The typical Banker horse is relatively small, standing between high at the withers and weighing . Other sources list them as taller, standing between high. The forehead is broad, and the facial profile tends to be straight or slightly convex.
In terms of conformation, the chest is typically deep and narrow, and the back is short, with a sloped croup and low-set tail. Legs have an oval-shaped cannon bone, a trait considered indicative of "strong bone", or soundness. Calluses known as chestnuts are small, on some so tiny that they are barely detectable. Most Bankers have no chestnuts on the hind legs.
The coat can be any color, but is most often brown, bay, dun, or chestnut. Bankers have long-strided gaits, and many are able to pace and amble. They are easy keepers, and many tend to be hardy, friendly, and docile.
Several of the Bankers' characteristics indicate that they share ancestry with other Colonial Spanish horse breeds. The presence of the genetic marker "Q-ac" suggests that the horses share common ancestry with two other breeds of Spanish descent, the Pryor Mountain Mustang and Paso Fino. These breeds diverged from one another 400 years ago. The breed shares skeletal traits of other Colonial Spanish horses: the wings of the atlas are lobed, rather than semicircular; and they are short-backed, with some individuals possessing five instead of six lumbar vertebrae. No changes in function result from these spinal differences. The convex facial profile common to the breed also indicates Spanish ancestry.
A 2011 DNA study of the Banker horse found that it had very low heterozygosity and low mean number of alleles (29), similarly to the Florida Cracker Horse population, which was also shown to have a heterozygosity deficit. The study also showed evidence of DNA similarity of the Banker horse, Carolina Marsh Tacky, and Florida Cracker Horse populations to Iberian breeds. Of the three, the Banker horse was shown to most closely genetically resemble the original Colonial Spanish horse.
The Foundation for Shackleford Horses has set up a studbook for establishing the Banker horse as its own horse breed; as such, it is registered as a critically endangered breed with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Some Banker horses have also been accepted into the Mustang breed registry.
Breed history
Since they are free-roaming, Bankers are often referred to as "wild" horses; however, because they descend from domesticated ancestors, they are feral horses. It is thought that the Bankers arrived on the barrier islands during the 16th century. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the horses' origins, but none have yet been fully verified.