Love

Love is a gorgeous, flea bitten grey mare from the Adobe Town HMA in Wyoming. She was one of the first five mustangs we saved as a sanctuary, and the very first I personally saved from a kill pen. It led to also rescuing Frankie, Johnnie, and Cassidy, starting the tradition of picking up a donkey or two when we rescued a mustang. From that one rescue, I learned so much about bailing a horse, quarantine, transport, and paperwork. Most eyeopening, it showed me the number of horses that needed help.

The kill pen where we found her in Waco, Texas no longer exists - I dream of the day when we can say that about them all. The photographs showed her standing in mud and manure, looking lost and scared. She was bleeding. There were cuts and bites on her face and body. She was filthy and her hooves were in terrible condition. She was described as being unhandled and dangerous, but in fact, she was terrified.  We sent her straight to Reata Equine Hospital as horses often come out of these horrible places with pneumonia or other illnesses that spread through the pens. This was before the ranch in Oregon was ready, so we brought her to the ranch in Calabasas.  

Love was terribly head shy when she arrived. She flinched when people raised their hands near her face. Once she knew she was safe, her fear dissolved and she began to blossom. One of her many charms is her love of water. When I filled a bucket, she would try to get me to hose her down. She would spin in circles to make sure every bit of her got wet and she can’t get enough of the ponds at the Oregon ranch.

A few years later, we rescued Faith from a kill pen, battered, her eyes caked with blood. She needed surgery to remove the bone fragments left in her face from beatings. When she recovered and was released, she and Love found each other and became best friends. Both incredibly beautiful, valuable, and loving.

The great moral powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light. (Ellen G. White)

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.