Marsh Tacky Magic: Back from the Brink

By Josephine Johnson

"Looks like you’re ready to ride,” says Erica Veit, executive director of the Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society. The young rider smiles. She is clad in purple helmet and bright crimson cowgirl boots. “Let’s get you set up on Roxy, and we’ll hit that trail soon,” Veit tells her. 

The young girl, seven-year-old Kyker Jones, of Jonesborough, Tenn., gives a thumbs up, another big grin, and waits patiently for her mount. She and her older brother, Kane, are about to go on their very first horse adventure deep in the Spanish moss, palmetto, and live oak wilds of Daufuskie Island, S.C.

The horses they’ll ride aren’t just any quarter horse trail mix. These animals are Carolina marsh tackies, native to South Carolina’s lowcountry with bloodlines reaching back to the 1500s and the Golden Age of Spain. 

Kyker and Kane are saddling up in the paddock of the Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society, a breed-conservation non-profit launched in 2015 whose mission is to promote these special horses within the lowcountry and beyond.

“The Marsh Tacky is a living piece of history,” explains Veit, “They are genetically unique and classified as a breed related to other colonial Spanish horses like the Florida cracker horse, North Carolina’s banker horse, and even Spanish mustangs out west. There’re about 400 marsh tackies in existence, and it’s only here on Daufuskie that you’ll find them in their native context.”

And then after minor girth and stirrup adjustments, Kyker and Kane’s horses are fully saddled, and Veit leads her two young charges into Daufuskie’s dense forests and marshlands.

The Carolina marsh tackies are the result of 400 years of isolation in South Carolina’s lowcountry islands. Their ancestors were drop-offs and runaways from the Spanish who once occupied St. Elena, now Parris Island, S.C. Time, seclusion, and unique genetics forged a breed specifically suited for this beautiful albeit hot, humid, swampy place. Marsh tackies are stocky, exceptionally sure-footed, cheerful, responsive, and very social. 

From the mid-1500s, a tenacious population of diminutive Spanish horses grew to become the lowcountry’s powerful working backbone. Chickasaw, Creek, and Chocktaw people were among the earliest to domesticate, use, and trade them. Marsh tackies were also the preferred breed during the Revolutionary War. General Francis Marion—the “Swamp Fox”—outwitted the Brits by successfully maneuvering through the South’s murky bogs on marsh tacky mounts. These horses were also indispensable to the Gullah community—from the Civil War and into the 1960s—as they were many families’ primary tool for pulling, plowing, and all things agricultural.

But with the advent of the car and 20th century technology, marsh tackies were used less and less on the islands. In the 1990s some believed them extinct entirely. But just enough of these unique horses remained so that some savvy scientists finally determined just how special the horses are.

In 2006, a research team from Virginia Tech began untangling the animals’ genetics. After a couple of seasons, they deemed the Carolina marsh tacky—at the time roughly 150 individuals—as its own breed descended from colonial Spanish horses.

And with so few remaining, the Livestock Conservancy and Equus Survival Trust quickly designated the marsh tacky horse a critically endangered species.

What makes these horses so extraordinary is that though their Spanish bloodline no longer exists in Spain, it does remain surprisingly pure among these horses in South Carolina. Essentially, marsh tackies are a genetic portal reaching back more than 400 years into equine breeding. That, coupled with the fact that these horses have been isolated and breeding together in a unique environment means that they have specific traits and adaptations for surviving and thriving in the swamps, pluff mud, and beaches of the sea islands. 

In 2010, South Carolina named the marsh tacky its official state heritage horse. Though still critically endangered, there are now over 400 registered Carolina marsh tacky horses in the United States.

In 2013, Erica Veit, a life-long equestrienne and trainer, was working for an equine organization on Daufuskie Island. She knew about marsh tackies and liked the breed but got her big opportunity to work with them when she stepped up to organize a race specifically for the horses on Daufuskie Island. 

“The Carolina Marsh Tacky Association was looking for a venue to host their 5th annual Marsh Tacky Beach Race,” recalls Veit. “It was this amazing convergence of marsh tacky riders and supporters from all over South Carolina. Some people came from Greenville, Rock Hill, four and five hours away, and then we loaded up the horses on barges and brought them and everyone over to Daufuskie. The island was packed!”

In just under two months, Veit organized and promoted the first-ever Marsh Tacky Beach Race on Daufuskie Island. Veit was smitten with the breed and the people dedicated to keeping the horses a significant part of American and South Carolina heritage. With a background in marketing and non-profit management, Veit was poised to launch her own organization in support of the breed. And so, within the Daufuskie community she found board members and benefactors. In 2015 she co-founded the Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society with her partner Tony Geyston.

“Pieces just began falling into place,” remembers Veit. “We were blessed to lease property from Wic Scurry right across from Freeport Marina. It’s where most visitors land when they get to Daufuskie, and we are very visible in this location. Plus, Tony is in construction, and he built the barn and all the fencing.”

In their founding year Veit and Geyston also purchased a couple marsh tacky horses. Lucero, a four-month old stallion, and Reina a one-year old filly. Since then they have grown a healthy herd of nine, with two more foals on the way. 

“My proudest moments so far have been the births of Mateo and Estalita,” recalls Veit. “During hurricane Matthew our little stallion Lucero got busy with two older mares we had. When Estalita was born, she was the first marsh tacky born on Daufuskie Island in at least fifty years. Mateo, the colt, followed six days later.”

As their herd continues to expand and the organization grows, they’re on the lookout for more space. Thanks to a very generous supporter, they may have just found the organization’s forever home. A couple years ago, Veit conducted a letter -writing campaign in support of the horses and organization. The Selmont family responded. 

“This is a great story,” said Veit. “Jesse Selmont bought a property on Zillow after a couple glasses of wine and dreaming of island life. It’s a traditional Gullah-type house, a very simple, one-story home. But he and his wife, who live in Florida, realized the wine did the shopping and that they wouldn’t be on Daufuskie enough to really use it and the seven surrounding acres. We now have a 99-year lease from them for the property, and it is the official headquarters of the Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society. It’s the horses’ forever home here on the Island.”

As Veit and Geyston move forward they acknowledge education as their primary mission. “We have an open-door barn policy, access for all,” said Geyston, “These horses are an important part of American history, and our educational component and awareness of our state is everything.”

The Daufuskie Marsh Tacky Society offers an array of opportunities for people—both locals and visitors—to get to know the horses. Veit teaches lessons and offers trail rides daily. Plus, there are opportunities for interns and volunteers. Some people even come to the barn just to pet and talk to the horses. 

“These horses are descended from the smallest Spanish horses that could fit within galleon ships and survive on the least amount of food. Tacky is slang for ‘common!’” And now, here on Daufuskie Island, they’ve adapted to our muggy, buggy, swampy, climate—with a happy disposition—and for that they are prized. They’re anything but common, though. Marsh Tackies are exceptional and embody the can-do, underdog spirit of Daufuskie and the sea islands of South Carolina.