ARIZONA, Buckley & Paris

These mustangs, along with Snow White & Fig, were the first five we rescued in 2022, our Year of Special Needs. Some of them have issues that are normally grounds for euthanization by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), so we are super grateful to the Ridgecrest corrals for keeping them and kindly helping us adopt them. Now they have life-long sanctuary, freedom, and all the care they need. Once they had been treated by our vet and put on weight, all five were released into Sheldon’s Herd, where they integrated easily and remain today. The other horses don't care about Buckley's impaired vision, Arizona's missing eye, or Paris's broken withers. They set a sterling example for us all.

Arizona

Caroline Christie took the photo above of a wild horse from Arizona’s Cerbat Mountains:

This beautv is from the Cerbat Mountain HA in northeast Arizona. I only spent the day in the Cerbat Mountains where I hiked a good 4 miles up into the canyon, always intrigued by what was around the next corner. Deep canyons and precarious desert washes. Old juniper forests, creosote bushes and ancient boulders give the wild horses many hiding places, where they can stay quiet and protected from the wind or human eye.

That being said, I saw three wild horses. Two beautiful bays and another stallion that was black and tan with a magnificent tri-colored tail. Unfortunately, I saw way more cows in the area than horses. This is the sad reality that the wild horses of America are facing. Replacement.

Skydog Sanctuary recently rescued a stunning special needs Cerbat wild horse they named "Arizona". She has one eye but is still the prettiest Arizona horse l've seen!

At first, we called her “Fancy Pants”. Small, but spectacular, she ran with such grace and elegance. The fact that she only has one eye makes no difference. We changed her name to Arizona as she was our first mustang from that state. At that time, we also wanted to bring attention to the way the Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service was treating the Alpine Herd.

USFS does not consider these wild horses to be protected due to their distance from the nearest designated Wild Horse Territory. They treated them them as “stray livestock” to justify sending every one to a livestock auction for sale to the highest bidder and into the slaughter pipeline. That was just the beginning of a living nightmare for the Alpines. Many suffered starvation and severe neglect, some disappeared and have never been accounted for. They were innocent victims of the corruption of federal contractors and the underbelly of animal rescue, which is darker and more extreme than most of us could imagine. When authorities seized starved and neglected Alpines, a

But our Arizona is happy, healthy, and protected at Skydog, where she roams with Sheldon’s herd and is very bonded with Buckley.

#skydogarizona

Buckley

Buckley is an adorable buckskin, who was born at the corrals to a White River mare. Despite the wondrous gaze of this colt, he had corneal ulcers in both eyes, which limited his vision.

After he was treated by the vet and reached a good weight, he was released with this group of rescues into Sheldon’s Herd. There are many youngsters who have grown up together in this herd, which gives it a special energy. Moose is one of four babies we found dumped in a kill pen only weeks after being adopted and not titled. Maybe it’s a buckskin thing, but he and Buckley found each other and love to play, wrestle, run, chase, and have fun all day together, especially in the snow.

Moose and Buckley are both young and even though Buckley has vision issues it doesn't stop him having a blast with his friends. It always makes me incredibly sad that the BLM euthanizes all horses rounded up with any level of blindness, because it certainly doesn't mean they can't live a quality life. Perfectly healthy, gorgeous cremellos have been shot after South Steens roundups in a diabolical act of ignorance. It's an archaic belief to think horses have no purpose if they can't see. Killing them for being partially blind is barbaric. I celebrate Buckley and Arizona in this herd and am so glad that BLM Ridgecrest let us take them.

#skydogbuckley

Paris

Paris got her name because she looks so much like London. The white marks on her face would have been caused by a rope halter or bridle that was too tight. Her hair was rubbed off causing scarring. In the places where her hair grew back in, it was white.

Paris was rounded up from Devils Garden in Northern California by the Forest Service, again under pressure from local livestock ranchers who want the land for grazing their cattle. That 2021 roundup took 506 wild horses and killed 9. Even worse,  USFS offered them for $1, putting them at even greater risk of being trucked to Canada and slaughtered.

Paris was adopted out and returned to the corrals because her withers were broken. This usually happens when a horse rears up and falls over on to her back. It prevents her wearing a saddle on her back, but she is just fine without one. We receive so many emails from people asking us to take their mustang because they can't ride them for wildness, medical issues, injury, or whatever reason. I want to encourage people to think beyond that with their horses and see them for the sentient individuals they are, not objects to be used.

#skydogparis

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.