Krista Wins Carol Stone Award

The Horse of the Americas Registry (HOA) has awarded the prestigious Carol Stone Ambassador Award to Krysta Rutherford, for the second year in a row. The Award is presented each year to a registered HOA member who has accumulated the most points in the Promotion category for the Colonial Spanish breed of horse. The award is given in loving memory of Carol Stone a longtime friend and lover of the Colonial Spanish Horses and their owners. The HOA honors, preserves and promotes North America's First True Horse, the Colonial Spanish Horse of which there are less than 5,000. Rutherford adopted her HOA registered horse, Katalina, a Corolla Colonial Spanish Mustang, in February of 2013.


Krysta Rutherford, only 14 years old, is the daughter of Bob and Karen Rutherford of Smithfield, VA, has continued to work hard to secure this national award again. She is the youngest member and the only teenager to ever receive this award. Krysta was inspired by Steve Edwards of Gwaltney Frontier Farm to bring the attention of this endangered strain of horse to a larger audience. The Corolla wild horses teeter on the brink of extinction, with only about 100 left in the wild on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.


Krysta has worked hard to educate the public as to the plight of these horses Her efforts included, producing a video, professional pamphlet, training demonstrations, speeches, and news articles. She even went to Washington to lobby for the Corolla Wild Horse Protection Act. Rutherford’s efforts have also earned her the 2014 President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award, Girl Scouts Silver Award, Prudential Spirit of Community Award Local Honoree, and now will focus her Girl Scout Gold Award on a documentary about the various strains of Mustangs.


The Corollas are likely the rarest and oldest distinct genetic strain of horses that exist in America today. Mill Swamp Indian Horses, in Smithfield, heads up the effort to breed these horses domestically. Those efforts are supported by the Horse of the Americas Registry, http://www.horseoftheamericas.com/, and The American Indian Horse Registry, http://www.indianhorse.com/.


Krysta knows how impressive these little horses can be. She has ridden domestic Corollas hours on end and with the help of other participants in the Mill Swamp Indian Horses program gentled and trained her own formerly wild Corolla filly.


Mill Swamp Indian Horses is a program of Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc a local 501 (c) 5 corporation dedicated to preserving and protecting endangered strains of historic horses.


For more information on Gwaltney Frontier Farm programs or to learn how you can support its programs, check out the website at www.msindianhorses.com or send an email to msindianhorses@aol.com.

                                           Krista with then Senator Hagan of North Carolina

(This is a re-print of a recent Smithfield Times article. The Smithfield Times is a local newspaper that has provided spectacular coverage of our program and our efforts to preserve these horses. Few local papers in the nation have provided the kind of consistent, high quality journalism over that years that is typical of this newspaper.)