Veterinarians at North Carolina State University (NCSU) are boosting the survival odds for a Corolla wild horse foal found weak and underweight earlier this month.

Descended from horses brought to North Carolina by Spanish explorers more than 500 years ago, the Corolla herd resides on privately-owned land located in North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Corolla Wild Horse Fund Executive Director Karen McCalpin said the herd’s managers were in the field darting mares with contraceptive when they found the foal in mid-June.

“He was exceptionally small and thin,” she said