On July 21, at 4:00 pm, Kay Kerr's award winning short film on the plight of the wild horses of Corolla will make its local debut at Trinity United Methodist Church on Cedar Street in Smithfield. The film short, "Croatoan's Memoirs" grew from her illustrated children's book of the same name. Kerr, a local artist and writer, shot much of the film at Mill Swamp Indian Horses just outside of Smithfield. Named Best Short Film at the Equus Film Festival in New York, it will soon be seen in Ontario Canada after screenings from New York to Burbank, California. Kerr will be present at the event to discuss both the film and the book from which it came.
Croatoan was a wild stallion from Corolla on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He was removed from the wild because of his habit of taking his small band of mares from the area enclosed for the wild horses and out into traffic. At the time Mill Swamp Indian Horses was beginning to build a breeding program to prevent the extinction of these Colonial Spanish Horses, whose ancestors likely arrived in the New World over fifty years before the settlement of Jamestown.
Croatoan was gentled and trained and grew to love the attention and affection that he received at Mill Swamp Indian Horses, according to Steve Edwards, Executive Director of Gwaltney Frontier Farm, a 501 (c) 5 breed conservation nonprofit that administers all of the programs at Mill Swamp Indian Horses.
Croatoan lived nearly a decade at Mill Swamp before succumbing to old age. He sired many foals and his daughter and grandson still carry on his bloodline out at the farm.
The screening is part of an annual fundraising event for the programs at Mill Swamp Indian Horses. There will be live music from Joseph Edwards and students in the Mill Swamp music program. Food will be available along with a silent auction. Mill Swamp Indian Horses has no paid staff. All of the programs are administered by volunteers. Tickets are five dollars for adults and one dollar for children.
For further information contact msindianhorses@aol.com