A rambunctious young horse got the “zoomies” — and was seen racing around the Outer Banks.
The wild foal frolicked in circles while its mom just tried to have a moment’s peace, video posted online shows.
The mom appears to be unfazed by the youthful energy as she enjoyed a meal on Shackleford Banks, a North Carolina barrier island where over 100 wild horses roam.
“This foal had a case of the ‘zoomies’ and was running circles around its mother as she placidly ate the island grass,” Cape Lookout National Seashore said Tuesday in a Facebook post. “The foal is one of this year’s babies and was just doing what comes naturally.”
“Sure is a fast little baby,” one Facebook user commented on the post, which garnered more than 5,000 reactions as of Wednesday morning.
The footage from the National Park Service starts with the youngster darting across a grassy area. The foal is seen taking a break before it stretched out its lanky legs to take off again.
The three-minute clip ends with the foal slowing down to join its mother, who had been munching on grass much of the time.
“The ‘zooming’ foal was caught using a telephoto lens so that the photographer would not disturb either the foal or its mother,” Cape Lookout wrote on Facebook. “A tripod also helped the photographer get steady images of the moving foal as it raced back and forth.”
Visitors to Shackleford Banks are urged to bring binoculars to observe the horses “from a safe distance.” If you spot one of the animals, you should avoid feeding them or getting within 50 feet, according to park rangers.
There’s evidence that horses have lived on the Outer Banks for hundreds of years and that the Shackleford herd has Spanish ancestry, McClatchy News previously reported.
“Like the western mustangs, eastern horses were reintroduced to North America by European explorers and settlers,” Cape Lookout National Seashore said on its website.
