BELLA
Bella is one of three Amish work horses we rescued in May of 2022 together with Barnaby and Chester. Twenty-four years old, she had been worked nearly to death and discarded at a killpen to wring the last bit of money out of her suffering. We saw Barnaby’s BLM brand in a video of him and Bella being led around the muddy killpen in Oklahoma. Bella wasn’t a mustang, but Barnaby was - from Beatty’s Butte, Oregon - and we could see he wasn’t about to leave her behind. We saved them both and they called to each other all the way through the whole process.
Bella came to us so compromised, weak, and malnourished that we were super cautious with her. She started out at the vet clinic for tests to be sure her internal organs were not shutting down. When she had colic, we took her back to the vet clinic for treatment. She was unpredictable and understandably defensive and worried about what people were going to do to her, especially when she was haltered. With time, we got her feet trimmed and she put on weight. After a bath to wash away the mud and dirt, she looked ten years younger. We know that plain brown horses tend to fly under the radar, but “Bella” means beautiful and that’s exactly what this dark bay mare is. She’s stunning in motion. Her blaze makes a white cross on the her forehead, which is symbolic of her Easter rescue.
For a while, Bella was close to Freya, another horribly starved mare we rescued from that same Oklahoma killpen. They stood by the gate together waiting for food until, one day, Freya felt strong and wild enough to join a herd. That was not Bella’s desire. She moved to Malibu with Barnaby, who needed the sunshine, warm sand, ocean breezes, and all the extra love and attention offered in “senior assisted living” by our wonderful team of volunteers. Bella never left his side after she arrived in Southern California. She found love late in life that was very special.
When her gentle Barnaby passed in June 2024, Bella took it very hard. Like us, felt the pain of losing him all too soon. Bella has been surrounded by love to help her through her grief and, when she’s ready, choose the next chapter of her life at Skydog.
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.