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The Banker horse is a breed of feral horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') living on the islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament. Descended from domesticated Spanish horses and possibly brought to the Americas in the 16th century, the ancestral foundation bloodstock may have become feral after surviving shipwrecks or being abandoned on the islands by one of the exploratory expeditions led by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón or Sir Richard Grenville. Populations are found on Ocracoke Island, Shackleford Banks, Currituck Banks, and in the Rachel Carson Estuarine Sanctuary. Although they can trample plants and ground-nesting animals, and are not considered to be indigenous to the islands, Bankers are allowed to remain because of their historical significance. They survive by grazing on marsh grasses, which supply them with water as well as food, supplemented by temporary freshwater pools. To prevent overpopulation and inbreeding, and to protect their habitat from being overgrazed, the horses are managed by the National Park Service, the State of North Carolina, and several private organizations. The horses are monitored for diseases such as equine infectious anemia, an outbreak of which was discovered and subsequently eliminated on Shackleford in 1996. They are safeguarded from traffic on the North Carolina Highway 12. Island populations are limited by adoptions and by birth control. Bankers taken from the wild and trained have been used for trail riding, driving, and occasionally for mounted patrols. == Characteristics == The typical Banker is relatively small, standing between high at the withers and weighing .〔 The forehead is broad and the facial profile tends to be straight or slightly convex. The chest is deep and narrow and the back is short with a sloped croup and low-set tail. Legs have an oval-shaped cannon bone,〔 a trait considered indicative of "strong bone" or soundness.〔 The callousities known as chestnuts are small, on some so tiny that they are barely detectable. Most Bankers have no chestnuts on the hind legs.〔 The coat can be any color, but is most often brown, bay, dun, or chestnut.〔 Bankers have long-strided gaits and many are able to pace and amble.〔 They are easy keepers〔 and are hardy, friendly, and docile. Several of the Bankers' characteristics indicate that they share ancestry with other Colonial Spanish Horse breeds. The presence of the genetic marker "Q-ac" suggests that the horses share common ancestry with two other breeds of Spanish descent, the Pryor Mountain Mustang and Paso Fino. These breeds diverged from one another 400 years ago.〔 The breed shares skeletal traits of other Colonial Spanish horses: the wings of the atlas are lobed, rather than semi-circular; and they are short-backed, with some individuals possessing five instead of six lumbar vertebrae. No changes in function result from these spinal differences. The convex facial profile common to the breed also indicates Spanish ancestry.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「banker horse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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