The horses in North America today are not native to this country.
The large, prehistoric horse that originally inhabited the continent became
extinct12,000 years ago. However, in the 16th century, Spanish explorers
brought to North America a group of small, swift, and sturdy horses whose
forebears once roamed the sands of Arabia. Descendants of these Spanish "barb"
horses have roamed the North Carolina Outer Banks for more than 400 years.