Corolla Wild Horse Tours

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GOLD Winner for Best Wild Horse Tour
in the 2026 BEST OF OBX Contest!

2026 Travelers' Choice for Top 10 Things to Do Worldwide!

Corolla Wild Horse Tours knowledgeable guides will ensure you and your family have a great wild horse tour!

Along the way the guides will stop and point out interesting sites and local history and details of the Corolla Wild Horses history. Be sure to ask them lots of questions and keep them honest! Call or book today and come see our living history!

Wild Horse Tours Focus on Family

Corolla Wild Horse Tours focuses on family. With our 15 passenger open-air safari style truck, you will feel fresh ocean breezes and soak in the salt sea air while experiencing the wonders of nature. Our wild horse tours are safe for any age and kids in car seats are always welcomed. Our expert tour narration will focus on the history of Corolla, the wild horses and the North Carolina Beaches.

The tours take two hours and will cover 25 miles of off-road cruising. We will take you behind the dunes into the neighborhoods where the horses graze. The horses have 7,500 acres to roam and are in small harems that will have 3-6 horses per grouping. Generally we see the horses out grazing or cooling off by the water. Currently we have around a hundred horses roaming Carova Beach.

Relax, unwind and have a good time, with Corolla Wild Horse Tours! With more than 20 years of experience we are great family fun!

A Brief History of the Corolla Wild Horses & How You Can Help Preserve Their Future

The Corolla Wild Horses have graced our beloved shores since the first Europeans landed in the 1500s. Arriving with the initial Spanish explorations in an area believed to be near present day Sandbridge, VA, they were "pushed off the boat" and then subsequently abandoned. Running into strong resistance from local natives, the explorers were forced to leave the barrier island in hasty retreat, leaving their livestock and horses behind. You can just imagine how hard it would have been to get these animals back onto their boat with arrows whizzing by their heads!

Traced though DNA research, the Corolla Wild Horses’ lineage has been determined to be from these original hardy Spanish Mustangs. Having remained largely undisturbed in this formerly remote location for the last 400 years, the herd was eventually threatened to almost extinction. As development in Corolla boomed during the 1980s and 90s, numbers fell to as low as 40 animals from rampant inbreeding, consumption of indigestible foods and being struck by vehicular traffic.

Fortunately, the herd was moved North beyond the paved roads from Corolla to Carova Beach in the Mid-90s, where numbers presently have risen to over 100 strong. But development once again is encroaching on these magnificent creatures, plus habitat closures from outdated Bureau of Land Management policy now threatens to restrict the herd to 60, thus causing more inbreeding.

Thanks to legislation suggested by students at Shawboro Elementary School in Currituck County, the Corolla Wild Horses were officially designated the "State Horse of North Carolina" in 2010. But there’s still much more work to be done to secure federal protection, preserving these "national treasures" in posterity. Please learn what you can do to join our ranks as a proud Supporter & Partner of concerned citizens overseeing the majestic herd at Corolla Wild Horse Fund.

Here’s what others are saying:

“Great Experience!”
Definitely recommended for all ages! Everyone in the group (10 including 3, 2 year old boys) loved seeing all the horses not to mention a 1 week old foal! Our guide couldn’t have been better as he very knowledgeable of the area/horses and has a great sense of humor. Thanks to everyone at Corolla Wild Horse Tours for making our vacation to Duck that much better!

Chad M
Austin, Texas

“Wild horses on the beach!”
Had a great experience and our tour guide was so knowledgeable and kind! We will share this memory with our friends and family forever! I can’t say enough about how beautiful it was! Especially seeing the horses on the beach ❤️

Erin C
Albion, New York

“Wild horses and a safari style drive”
The tour was 3 hours long with a tour guide who was very knowledgeable. We saw almost 30 of the 110 wild horses on the island and the ride up and down the dunes, through large puddles, and on the beach was worth the money even if we hadn't seen any horses. The scenery was picturesque and a lot of fun!

Kc H

"Y’all definitely didn’t disappoint"
Wanted something fun to do with my bestie visiting from Indiana, so we decided to take her to see the wild horses. We had so much fun, and Casey was the BEST guide. He is very knowledgeable and answered everyone’s questions. Y’all definitely didn’t disappoint. This was my third time, and I can’t wait for the fourth!

Lisa Givens