Bear’s Family

Aerial, Goldie, Whisper & Mariah

From Kill Pen to Skydog

Bear was found in a feedlot in Bastrop, Louisiana, one of the worst kill pens in the country. This 8-year-old liver chestnut BLM mustang was somehow still in tact. He came in with two beautiful mares. One was black with a blaze, Aerial. The second, Goldie, was a golden palomino.  The Mustang Rescue Network contacted us about keeping these bonded friends together. It was no surprise that the mares were pregnant as they’d been in with this stud. They were among our earliest rescues in 2016, the first official year of the sanctuary. When the babies were born, they became one of our first families.

A Family is born

Bear was a remarkably gentle stallion and halter broke. He had to be gelded before coming to Skydog and quarantined for two months. His mares were a little wild and didn’t like to be handled as much.

Aerial was the first of many magnificent Wyoming mustangs to come to the sanctuary. She was rounded up from Divide Basin, an HMA that the BLM is determined to zero out today. A few months after arriving, Aerial, gave birth to her foal, Whisper. He was the first baby to be born at Skydog and we learned so much from him. Born in the coldest January on record (-6° in six feet of snow), he entered the chilly world with a full, thick, fluffy coat to keep him warm.

In March, Goldie gave birth to Mariah, another fluffy foal, a beautiful sorrel filly, who looks just like her Papa Bear. The mares had each other to raise the kids, the foals had instant playmates, and they all had Bear, a most loving, devoted, and attentive father.

A Herd takes shape

Bear was such a terrific father that we decided to add other mares with babies to his band. Priscilla - our third pregnant mare rescued from a kill pen - came with her foal Dalton, and later her adopted foal, Shasta. Taylor & Swift, Winter & Wilder were welcomed. Misty, Kimmy and Missy joined the fold. Lupine moves in and out of this group with several generations of offspring. Bear still has some moves from the wild, like “snaking” his mares to keep the herd together so he can protect them - and don’t the girls just love it.

American 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 two Senators to urge them to support these bills. 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

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025 (H.R.1661 in the House and S.775 in the Senate). This bill would amend the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly known as the “Farm Bill”. There are several important provisions for animals in that omnibus federal law, including the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act. It is currently illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. The SAFE Act would extend the ban to equines and 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. 4356) The bill would eliminate the use of helicopters in rounding up wild horses and burros, and require a study into alternative methods for humanely gathering the animals.

Ejiao Act of 2025 (H.R. 5544). 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.

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at canned hunt ranches in Texas & Oklahoma, bringing an end to the BLM using Sale Authority to funnel wild equines into the slaughter pipeline, and stopping production of Premarin & other drugs made from pregnant mare urine.