Buddy
An OG of Skydog
Buddy was rounded up from Little Humboldt, Nevada when he was just a one-year-old baby. His first adopter had a trainer work on him, which consisted of hobbling him and leaving him on the ground while the man sat and stood on him. Then he “left him there to think”. I consider that abuse, not training, but Buddy got through it with his spirit in tact. The BLM ran him through a 3-month prison training program in Carson City - twice. He was nicknamed Birdie for Bird Man of Alcatraz as he spent so much time in prison. I renamed him Buddy.
I first saw him later at a riding ranch in California. He was just amazing. I told his owner that he was my dream horse. Shortly after, she asked me if I would want to buy him. Yes, I did! Buddy was my first beloved Mustang.
He was pretty wild, but I rode Buddy every day. He took such good care of me as we traversed every trail and hillside in Griffith Park. Trails with names like Suicide Trail, Rattle Snake, Cliff Top, Rocky Gulch… we rode them all. When we reached the top of hills, he would scan the horizon, looking for something in the distance.
Buddy is the smartest, most telepathic horse I’ve ever known. One day, as we climbed the trail, I heard him clearly ask me to find and help his family. Skydog Sanctuary sprang from this thought placed in my mind by this magnificent Mustang.
Laura Leigh
“Buddy brought us together. As it always is with developing a relationship that’s supposed to be, it’s a horse that’s asked you to do something. Buddy asked Clare to go on this journey. Of course, one of the first steps is who would know his family, who would know his herd. That would be me. We went to the BLM Broken Arrow facility in Fallon, NV. What I remember most about that trip was how hard it hit Clare. Being in Broken Arrow affected her so deeply that she wanted to run from the pain. It took a little bit of cajoling, but I got her to go out on the range. We found some wild horses. We took a walk into this little draw and sat with these mustangs to clean away what man had done to them — which is what we saw at Broken Arrow and the horrible conditions there -- by experiencing what the natural horse really is. They were Buddy’s descendants. That was a Buddy moment. (Skydog Horse Love Podcast S1/E5)
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.