That Strange Edmund Ruffin

Google Edmund Ruffin to learn more about this strange man who was a hundred years ahead of the rest of the south when it came to agricultural innovations and an epoch behind most of the nation when it came to the immorality of slavery. He likely fired the first shot at Fort Sumpter and his last shot was certainly to his own head. He preferred death to living in a reunified America. All in all a pathetic figure who wasted his talents.

In one of his books, which I believe was written in 1856, he wrote a few paragraphs on the Bankers, whose remnant remains wild today at Corolla and Shackleford. He throws out two important points for those who love these horses today.

He said that horses not raised on the Outer Banks were unable to survive its harsh environs. That certainly has been born out by looking at the wild herds of Corolla and Shackleford which show no sign of having modern breeds bred into them. Their adaptability allowed them to live in isolation which allowed them to maintained their Colonial Spanish genetic heritage.

It was the other side of the equation that Ruffin wrote that has puzzled me. He said that Banker horses could not survive long on the mainland. Why could that be? What was it about mainland domestic life that was life threatening to the Bankers?

Take a look at the picture of this wild Corolla taken last week. More importantly take a look at his 'pasture". It is hard to imagine horses living on the sparse vegetation of the Outer Banks. However, the Corollas not only live off of it, most remain in good flesh even in the winter.

The Corollas certainly do graze from the ground but they have to cover some ground to get a belly full. They also, especially in the winter, eat above the ground on honey suckle, green brier, and twigs. Though not particularly calorie dense, such a diet keeps the horses from being exposed to worm eggs. The positive side of this is that the wild herd has a very low parasite load. In fact, I have only seen one wild Corolla that was removed from the herd that showed any signs of worm infestation. The negative side is that many of them, even mature horses, have not developed an immune system that kills most of the parasites that seek to migrate through their bodies. When wild Corollas are placed in an environment flush with parasites they become very hospitable hosts. Heavy strongyle infestations can take away a lot of blood in a matter of hours. Heavy infestations can lead to colic. Couple that threat with being given strange food (i.e. corn) and placed in a stress inducing stable and one has created a life threatening situation for a wild Banker.

I strongly suspect that this accounted for Ruffin's claim that Bankers just could not make it on the mainland.