apache

Every year we get dozens of emails and messages from people asking us to take mustangs, who have ended up in bad situations or who just won’t or can’t adjust to domestic life. We do our best to either help them ourselves or try to find the right rescue or home for them.   The work is hard and never ending. It hurts that we are unable to save them all, but there are times when we cannot say no, as was the case when we read this email about a wild horse named Apache:

This is Apache.  He is 13 and was gathered as a yearling. From what I know he was purchased to remove him from a hoarding situation in Apache Junction, AZ.  The family who bought him has experience with mustangs and rescue. They did not have space to keep him long term. My 16 year old daughter purchased him from them in February with hopes of having him trained to use as a trail horse.

Apparently he was housed in a 10x10 pen for the 11 years since his capture. As far as we can tell was not trained during that time.  He did however receive plenty of instruction in reasons not to trust people based on his present reactivity. He is terrified of lassos, whistling, and being touched on his legs while under saddle.  I can only imagine what he actually experienced.

He has done extensive groundwork with our trainer and ‘gets an A+ for his try- he really wants to please’.   When he is saddled all of that goes out the window. He is very anxious once mounted and cycles through this anxiety.  For every step forward in his building trust he takes an equal step back.  We were hoping he would make progress during the course of 4 months with an experienced mustang and natural horsemanship trainer. He has, but at no point has he been safe for anyone to ride.  In the course of 20 years of training, he has had one other horse that he judged too reactive/traumatized to be ridden. Apache makes the second.  With another 6 months of intensive work he says the horse might calm down - or not.

Meanwhile the poor thing looks miserable. Prior to being ridden, in the photo attached, he was personable and relaxed. Now he is pacing his stall, avoiding human contact unless forced, and losing weight despite being well-fed. Our vet has done blood work and urine analysis to check for an underlying cause and he is quite healthy.  I honestly think it is the stress of what he likely considers regular torture that is causing it. We don’t have the heart to keep asking him to confront his fear in hopes that he will realize he is safe now - because clearly his definition of safe includes not being ridden.

We want to do what is best by this horse and we also want to make sure that he does not get passed around by people, who think a scared animal should be ‘broken’ into obedience.  I realize there are plenty of other horses out there equally deserving refuge.  I wish we had a big pasture and the means to keep him for years to come, but that is not the case.  If you could take him it would mean so much to our family, but most of all to Apache.”

We said yes to this wild spirit.  Ten years confined to the tiniest of stalls after being born wild and free on Wyoming‘s fifteen mile HMA.  It makes my heart hurt.  We can’t take all the owner relinquishment’s we are asked to take, but when we see that an owner has tried all they can, we know for sure they need sanctuary. 

We started Apache out in Malibu, where he and Cooper ran the hillsides together. They craved space and relished their new freedom, so we thought he would be happiest running with a wild herd in Oregon. He grew very tame and easy to handle and turned out to be what’s called a “hard keeper”. He needs extra feedings to maintain a good weight during winter. So we brought him back to sunny Malibu, where he’s a wonderful addition, spicing things up as he loves to play and soaks up all the pampering from volunteers.

#skydogapache

Mustangs and burros need your help 

In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and Senators and urge them to support these bills:

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2023 (H.R. 3475 in the House / S.2307 in the Senate). This bill will shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.

The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 3656) This bill will prohibit the use of helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft in the management of wild mustangs and burros on public lands, and require a report on humane alternatives to current management practices.

Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). To ​​ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.

You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121‬, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches, stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs, and defund the Adoption Incentive Program.