October 2016
D I G E S T
The Official Publication of the Kiawah Island Community Association
Carolina Marsh Tacky: Living Legends of the Lowcountry
The Chincoteague Ponies are famous…
but did you know South Carolina has its
own breed of once-feral Colonial Spanish
The Kiawah Cup features the rare
Carolina Marsh Tacky horse
horse? The history and preservation of the
critically endangered Marsh Tacky Horse
Tackies have an extensive history is important to all who love Lowcountry
in South Carolina and Kiawah
culture and United States history. These
living legends have survived over the last
At the Kiawah Cup, attendees will
500 years by adapting to the environment
have a chance to meet a Marsh
and developing an intuitive sense of selfTacky Horse, Molly
preservation.
Story Highlights
Marsh Tackies arrived with the Spanish explorers and settlers in
the 1500s. The Spanish colonies failed, but their horses braved
the harsh conditions and lived on by their wits, surviving on
marsh grass and forage. Feral Marsh Tackies sought refuge in
Lowcountry marshes and were captured and domesticated by
Native Americans, African slaves and European settlers.
The breed’s gentle disposition and tough constitution made
it the most dependable horse in the marshy Lowcountry. For
centuries, they were owned by rich and poor alike and were used
for everything from carrying children to school, delivering the
mail, hunting, herding cattle and plowing fields. Most Gullah
families had one or two Marsh Tackies in their yards or tied
outside their homes. The horses even have a history of military
use. They were reportedly used by the troops of American
Revolutionary War General Francis Marion, AKA the Swamp
Fox, to navigate swamps and marshes, and were employed by the
US Coast Guard’s beach patrol during WWII.
Once roaming freely by the hundreds through the South
Carolina Sea Islands and Lowcountry, their numbers neared
extinction as tractors, trucks and development took the place
of horsepower. Just a few years ago, there were but a hundred.
Today, thanks to the tireless efforts of CMTA, there are now
nearly 400 Marsh Tackies in the state, yet more must be done to
save this remarkable and historical breed.
Marsh Tackies on Kiawah
In the early 1950s, Kiawah was an isolated wilderness reached by
boat. It had just one permanent resident, Charlie Scott. Charlie
had been the head plowman for the Vanderhorst family, and
lived in a cabin on the Kiawah River. Charlie was the last African
American tenant farm worker on Kiawah, and reportedly owned
three Marsh Tacky horses that roamed the island and were used
in the infamous Thanksgiving hunts. Rod Welsh of SCIWAY
News remembers his grandfather surf-fishing from the back of
his Tacky. Brothers Ed and Arthur Ravenel rode their Tackies to
Kiawah to tend the family cattle. Beloved local historian Betty
Stringfellow remembers when the reliable, tireless Marsh Tackys
roamed the island. In fact, she owned at least one herself. Kiawah
pioneers will remember when wild horses roamed here. It’s likely
they were Marsh Tackies.
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