“NC Once Again Becoming Leader in Equine Sports,” a recent newspaper headline says.  The article reports that North Carolina is fast becoming a leader for all equestrian sports and that the state ranks in the top ten in the number of horses.  You can find this article in the North Carolina Collection at Joyner Library as well as much more about the horse and its importance to our area today.

     Horse racing is in our current state news, with the gambling controversy in Hoke County, for instance, but racing is not new to the state.  North Carolina was once called the “racehorse region of North America.”  In the 1700s and early 1800s, the northeastern part of the state was a premier location for breeding and racing thorough-breds.  Charles Blackburn, Jr., recalls the past in his article “Off to the Races” in the February 2004 issue of Our State Magazine.  Horse racing was so popular in colonial times, he says, the government made an exception to gambling laws for those who liked to bet on the horses. 

     The local popularity of the horse has been helped by the construction of the Senator Bob Martin Eastern Agricultural Center in Williamston, described as one of the newest and most complete equine facilities. You can find the center’s brochure in the North Carolina Collection’s vertical file or you can view a calendar of events at:  www.ncagr.com/markets/facilit/agcenter/william  Real horse whisperer Monty Roberts appeared here to demonstrate how to put a rider on a green horse in about 20 minutes with no bucking or kicking.

     Pitt County has its own equine claim to fame: a remarkable therapeutic riding program at the Rocking Horse Ranch.  Since 1991, children and adults with physical, psychological, and cognitive disabilities have been able to get unique therapy here. The story of the ranch’s founding and growth is chronicled in the Daily Reflector, available on microfilm or in the clipping file in the North Carolina Collection. 

     Riders who want to hit the trail will be interested in the book Horseback Riding Trail Guide to North Carolina, by Martha B. Holden.  Novice riders can read an electronic book: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Horseback Riding, available through the library’s online catalog.  Everyone, whether a rider or not, is interested in the wild ponies of the Outer Banks.  Their story is told in such books as Banker Ponies and Wild Ponies of the Outer Banks, both by author Jean Day.

     Those who take the business of horses seriously can find facts and figures about horses through statistics compiled by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. 

    Area residents and visitors, as well as the East Carolina University community, are welcome to “horse around” in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection on the third floor of Joyner Library.  For more information call 328-6601 or see our home page:  www.lib.ecu.edu/NCCollPCC/ncchome.htm.

    Nancy P. Shires is a librarian in the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection.