Blue Zeus

SPECTACULAR PHOTOS BY JAMIE BALDANZA who donated these images for sale, so we could raise money for Blue Zeus and family - Incredible talent and incredible generosity……

The Journey To Skydog

Blue Zeus is an incredibly special horse to Skydog and the founder, Clare. For years she had followed and admired photographs of this stunning Wyoming stallion and regularly commented on photos of him. For Clare, as long as Blue Zeus was wild and free with his family there was something to fight towards. Keeping them free and together was Clare’s “North Star” and holy grail so it came as a horrible shock to find out in summer of 2020 that his herd was slated for roundup.

She made a silent promise to help him if he was captured and on October 16th 2020 Clare got the terrible news that he and his entire family had been run by a helicopter into a BLM trap and that day had lost their freedom and each other.

And that began the incredible journey of trying to find them, get access to them, and ultimately adopt them. At that time the facility they were taken to was Canon City in Colorado, which was inside a maximum security prison which was shut down due to the pandemic. There was no way to get inside and there were no adoption events planned due to Covid. But that didn’t stop Clare who constantly called, emailed and badgered in every way possible the staff at the facility pleading with them to adopt this old boy before he was sent to Long Term Holding and never to be seen again.

Blue Zeus and his lead mare Nike back reunited at Skydog Sanctuary forever.

After months of trying, good news was finally received that the head of the facility, Steve Leonard, agreed to put on an adoption event for the older boys who would be brought to an outside location and offered for adoption. Clare immediately made plans to attend and travelled there to set eyes on the horse she had loved for so long for the first time. Blue Zeus was one of the first horses she saw and that first morning was spent sitting and watching him just feet away from the horse Clare had followed for years.

The next day bright and early she travelled back to the park to bid on Blue Zeus along with six other older horses that people didn’t know as well. Around 10am, they reached BZ and he was offered for adoption and Clare bid $25 and won him with nobody bidding against her. He was loaded in the trailer and set off for Oregon and the 9000 acre sanctuary he would now call home.

Attention then turned to his mares and babies. Canon City organized for 9 people who had shown the most interest in these horses to come into the facility and find them. We had four hours to look at 2000 horses and find the ones we had come to get. Pen after muddy pen, shoes filled with filth and looking at horses as they ran by at top speed trying desperately to spot the tags to identify them. In the last final pen the dozens of horses took off at a gallop at the sight of people but one group broke away from the rest and it was Blue Zeus’s family. Three mares - one red, one dappled grey and one black and white mare ran past and we screamed with delight at the sight. Also with them were two newborn babies (Nyx & Phoebe) and the babies they were rounded up with (Flora & Juno). They were all there.

Paperwork was done and adoptions were completed as well as one for a mare foal pair that many thought had been with Blue Zeus as the baby was so similar in every way to him. So two more horses joined the family. Weeks went by until we were allowed to come and pick them up and then they were on our trailer heading to Oregon too.

The arrival of Blue Zeus and Family

Blue Zeus had been spending his time with Apollo and his family, Aslan, and Hermes, but tended to stand alone and eat alone as if he knew and was waiting for his family to arrive. He is an incredible, smart, deep thinking and calm wild horse. Once his family arrived and had settled together, been reunited with each other and Charlotte and Huckleberry were introduced we opened the gate for Blue Zeus to meet his family one again. Eleven months had gone by without seeing each other and BZ ran full gallop out of the barn and back to his family. Head high, ears forward, tail flagging, he was so proud his chest was full and wide. He ran to them and then took off leading his family on a parade to show them off to the world.

There was not a dry eye in the house as they met again.

REUNITED LOVE

And now a few months later Blue Zeus and his entire family live peacefully at Skydog side by side and happy after a year of being separated. Charlotte and Huckleberry have been integrated into the family and Blue Zeus takes particular pride in sparring with him and teaching him how to be a wild stallion. Juno, the daughter of Nike and Blue Zeus, looks the spitting image of her father and all the babies are friendly as can be. But the main love story is surely the one between Blue Zeus and Nike - his lead mare in the wild - who is now never apart from him and they eat their dinners together touching noses as they munch on good hay. This story is one of perseverance and determination by Skydog and staff to bring back together a family who was so loved by its founder and she has given them forever freedom and togetherness as her gift back to the family she loved for all those years.

#SKYDOGBLUEZEUS