CRICKET

Cricket is a black mare from the Paisley Desert, OR, Herd Management Area (HMA). She’s a very sensitive, beautiful soul. A special needs rescue, she suffered a lot being rounded up from the wild and adopted out. A victim of the now defunct Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), she was treated so terribly by her adopter that the BLM actually seized her back. She will never be able to tell us what she went through, but we know how fearful it left her. As the BLM put it, “Her mind is blown.”

If you have ever seen a wild horse with that description, you know exactly what it looks like. Totally wild horses who haven't had any negative human interaction are so much easier to gentle due to their natural curiosity. But the ones who have had terrifying experiences at the hands of humans, either during the roundup, at the corrals, or with bad adopters are so much harder to convince you're not going to hurt them. While picking up some geldings at the BLM corrals, we saw Cricket and knew we had to go back for her. We worried she was going to hurt herself because she was so upset in the chute. Loading was scary, but everything changed the moment she came to Skydog. She has all the time she needs to heal.

In just a few weeks, we could see the physical and especially mental transformation in her. She dropped the heavy rock she was carrying for so long. She breathed out a huge amount of stress, decompressed, and grew more trusting day by day. She dared to come closer, stopped jumping at every movement or sound, and held our gaze. She relaxed her head and shoulders rather than always keeping them on high alert. After having her world turned upside down so many times, she could firmly plant all four feet on native ground and stand in her grace and power, her divinity and dignity restored.

Cricket made fast friends with Cedar, another special needs mare, whom we rescued at the same time. The two of them stuck together even after being added to another band of mares - Wildflower and the Spice & Precious Stone girls. One day, Slash left his Boys Band and walked thru an open gate to try out leading this group of opinionated mares for one winter. Cricket and Cedar kept their distance and independence, while the other girls swooned. Come Spring, Slash chose to return to his boys.

Finally, we introduced them to Cruiser’s welcoming family and they live on 1800 beautiful acres. He’s a mellow leader, who lets his mares decide most things amongst themselves, which suits Cricket just fine.

#skydogcricket

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.

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches and stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs.

A bill from the previous 118th Congress that we hope will be introduced again this session:

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.