What Does a State Horse Look Like?

South Carolina legislators on the House Invitations and Memorial Resolutions Committee have been pondering House Bill number H.3044 that focuses on the adoption of a local horse breed as the official state horse.  When the committee chair, Herb Kirsh, was asked, why he would not support the bill, his response was, "I don't know what a state horse looks like." This is understandable and raises an excellent question.  In response I would like to offer the following observations as to what one looks for in a state horse. Perhaps this will be of some help to our legislators as they discuss this bill.

• A state horse would have a long history in South Carolina reaching back to the earliest days of the state's colonization and be among the first livestock breeds ever created in America.

• A state horse would have had a huge influence in the historic South Carolinian Native American and Gullah cultures.

• A state horse would have carried your forefathers through the toughest terrain the state had to offer in order for them to "out fox" the British and find victory during the Revolutionary War.

• A state horse would have impressed noted naturalist John James Audubon as such that he commented in his 1843 writings that the horses "stand the fire of the gun and not only go with tolerable speed, but are tough as a pine knot."

• A state horse would have been honored with a poem dedicated to it by the famous best selling author, Hervey Allen, in 1922.

• A state horse would be recognized as something special by scientists and the media which has published articles in newspapers, magazines, conferences, and websites across the United States, into South America, and oversees into Europe.

• A state horse is the horse of the common man and not too proud to take on any task required of it.

• A state horse would have met extinction in the eye and rebounded as people rediscover the amazing creature.

• A state horse comes in virtually any color imaginable and is a beautiful sight to behold in action.

• A state horse would recently have attracted a crowd of over 3000 people from all over the southeast who were eager to see the rare spectacle of a group of them together.

• A state horse inspires a new generation of enthusiasts into action with the prospect that this symbol of South Carolina history could be lost forever.

In short, a state horse for South Carolina would look exactly like a Marsh Tacky.

We realize that debating the idea of appointing the Marsh Tacky as the state horse is not the most pressing item on the government's agenda, but it is an opportunity to further distinguish the uniqueness of South Carolina. Thousands of people across South Carolina and the United States recognize the horses as something special and uniquely South Carolinian, a claim no other breed can make. Few states, if any, can claim such a cultural treasure of the common man as the Marsh Tacky has been in South Carolina for over 400 years. To recognize this amazing animal is to recognize the countless generations of South Carolinians that used these horses to construct the foundation upon which the state has been built.

Sincerely,

Jeannette Beranger