Wild marsh ponies on St. Helena relocated to preserve herd

Five wild ponies left the safety of their home in the marshes of northern St. Helena Island, wandering through backyards and across roads.

They didn’t understand the boundaries of the developed world.

The ponies needed to stay in their isolated home, and the harem’s leader was identified and removed last year in an effort to nip the problem. But the other four just kept wandering out of their marsh.

Last weekend, one of those ponies was hit by a car at the intersection of Seaside and Horse Island roads and died.

Now, Lowcountry horse lovers are coming together to preserve this wild rarity.

The feral ponies live on the northern end of St. Helena in an area known as Horse Island. Their habitat is partially enclosed by a wood-and-wire fence along the edge of private property.

Local animal authorities say the ponies are direct descendants of marsh tacky horses, but over the years they bred with Shetland ponies to become marsh ponies. Marsh tackies are a Lowcountry breed of stocky horses native to the Sea Islands and said to have been left behind by Spanish settlers.

A wild herd of marsh ponies has been on the island since the 1950s, said retired equestrian veterinarian and St. Helena resident Venaye Reece McGlashancq. The fence has kept them mostly contained and safe. But once a horse learns to leave its area and finds the greener grass, it becomes a habitual offender, McGlashan said.

And it teaches other ponies how to leave.

“We identified the truant ones here,” McGlashan said of the three that were also out when the fourth was hit by a car.

Beaufort County Animal Control director Tallulah Trice said the county is working with Horse Island residents to quickly come up with a way to keep the ponies in their natural habitat without creating a public-safety hazard.

The first step was relocating the three ponies known to wander and hoping the others stay put.

One has been placed in a foster home in the Lowcountry where it will be treated for a leg injury. The other two are making themselves at home at Camelot Farms Equestrian Center off Coffin Point Road.

Anne Kennedy, horse trainer and owner of Camelot Farms, said her job now is to earn the trust of the ponies so she can train them. Kennedy estimates the colt is around 3 years old, and the filly is about 4.

“We want to make them productive citizens in the horse world, whether it’s pulling carts or becoming a family pet,” Kennedy said.

She’s unsure how long that will take.

“I just know I plan to be home for a while,” said Kennedy, who otherwise frequently travels to horse conferences across the region. “My job is to safely tame them and to ensure they have another life — a happy life — now they’re not running wild.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Wild marsh ponies on St. Helena relocated to preserve herd."