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September 2016
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Horse Racing Has Deep Roots on Kiawah
Story Highlights
The Kiawah Cup Island Beach Race is
just around the corner, coming to the
Horses have been on Kiawah for
island on Saturday, Oct. 29. The event,
much of the 20th century
which is a partnership between the
Horse races were held on Kiawah Kiawah Cares Foundation (KCF) and
from the late '70s to early '80s
the Carolina Marsh Tacky Association
(CMTA), features a thrilling Marsh
The Kiawah Cup features the rare
Tacky horse race down Kiawah’s beach
Marsh Tacky horse breed, a native
in front of the Sandcastle.
breed to South Carolina
“Beach horse races are a thrilling, one-of-a-kind experience
for spectators and riders alike,” said KICA Chief Operating
Officer and KCF Board Chair Jimmy Bailey. “We’re excited to
bring this unique event to Kiawah.”
The Kiawah Cup isn’t the first time horses have been on
Kiawah. Horses were part of the Kiawah landscape for much of
the 20th century. They featured in island recreation, beginning
when Vanderhorst family members started a hunting clu b early
in the century to generate revenue from the island, and ending
in 1984 when the Kuwaiti-owned Kiawah Island Company
(KIC) ceased sponsoring The Great Kiawah Horse Race.
Bob Moore, former KIC marketing director, recalled that the
original Kiawah marketing brochure pictured horses on the
cover. “We were marketing the wild side of a newly developed
island,” he said.
When C.C. Royal purchased Kiawah from the Vanderhorsts
in the 1950s, Kiawah sported a pack of free-roaming horses.
Mark Permar, who with his wife Diana is Kiawah’s second
longest-term resident, recalls that perhaps 12-15 horses were
still roaming the island when he and Diana arrived in 1979.
In the meantime, horse races on the beach near the Kiawah
Island Inn had become a well-organized, highly anticipated
social event. From the late '70s to the early '80s, quarter
horses jockeyed by both professionals and amateurs competed
annually in the Great Kiawah Island Horse Race, which
featured several sprint races of 250-450 yards. In its final few
years, a children’s race provided additional excitement.
Mark Permar reminisced about the social aspects as well as the
excitement of race day: “Some people would dress up in unusual
apparel, with big hats. It was impressive to be so close to the races
in an idyllic setting with the backdrop of the beach, and to see
those horses take off so incredibly fast for a short distance.”
In 1984, KIC decided to end the races. Their interest in
Kiawah was waning and they would shortly begin trying to
sell the island. The Great Kiawah Island Horse Race went the
way of the hunting club and the “wild” horses. Now, 32 years
later, horse races are coming back to Kiawah’s beach with the
Kiawah Cup!
While the Great Kiawah Island Horse race featured American
Quarter Horses, the Kiawah Cup features Marsh Tacky horses,
which have a history on Kiawah as well. Brothers Ed and
Arthur Ravenel used to ride their tackies to Kiawah before it
was developed, to tend family cattle grazing here. Cattle would
wade into the surf to escape flies and biting bugs. The tackies
would easily go chest deep to round them up.
The breed is no newcomer to beach racing, either. In recent
years, CMTA has held races on Hilton Head Island and is
excited to partner with KCF on Kiawah. The Marsh Tacky is
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