gracie & Legacy

As Maestro’s lead mare, Gracie is the Queen of Skydog’s second Royal Family and almost certainly a daughter of the first. They were all rounded up from Salt Wells Creek on the same day. She looks just like Goliath’s dark mare, who disappeared before the roundup and the curliness of her winter coat may be a genetic inheritance from her noble father. She ran wild and free as Maestro’s lead mare on the range for years. He had very few other mares. Gracie was his one true love.

Gracie was pregnant with her last foal with Maestro, when she was rounded up. She was adopted out to a woman who loved Maestro months before he was put on the Internet Adoption. When we were asked to take him by another rescue, we had no hope that his lead mare would be able to join him. When we inquired about her at the BLM, they told us the adopter didn’t want to give her up. The truth was the adopter had asked about transferring her to Skydog to reunite the family, but they said no. It is not in the bureau’s interest to acknowledge the fact that they form deep familial bonds as separating them is one of the cruelest things you can do to wild equines.

Then one day, we received an email from Gracie’s adopter, who had waited to get title before reaching out to us. She also had her foal, Maestro’s Legacy, and asked us to take them both. We didn’t hesitate to say yes, but had to wait until winter was over to safely transport them. 

Before they arrived, Maestro had been shy, sad, and very wary of humans. He would hide in the trees when we came with food. We rarely got a good photo of him as he would turn to walk away. When I saw him looking at the horizon with his head held low, I felt his heart was broken. All that changed the moment he saw Gracie and Legacy racing toward him. She was careful to place herself between the massive father and six-month-old foal so their introduction was gentle. The return of his family transformed him instantly into the proud, confident protector he’d been in the wild.

Legacy has the same dark, beautiful coloring as his mother. The family shares a 50 acre pen that is mostly flat and easy for him to manage. He has severe arthritis from a fracture he got on one leg before he came to Skydog. They are all content in their safe space, grazing harmoniously together.

Gracie socializes with Goliath’s family across the fence. Legacy gets his macho lessons by watching his dad paw, squeal, snort, and leave big stud piles when he meets Blue Zeus or Goliath by the fence. The former stallions love to act out this ritual, it no doubt makes them feel young again, while teaching their sons and impressing their mares to no end.

Gracie and Maestro had another son in the wild, David “Bo” Bowie, was two years old when the roundup separated them. Maestro had already started pushing him out of the band, as stallions do when their boys are old enough to fight for mares and establish their own families. They all saw each other over the fence when Bo first arrived at Skydog, but showed no interest in a reunion. Maestro, in fact, charged the fence a couple times, so putting them together would not have been safe. Gracie may have felt that her plate was full raising Legacy. Or perhaps didn’t want to disrupt the peace with Maestro.

It worked out for the best as Bo was turned out with his buddies, Gris and Whiskey, to join a very wild boys herd. They are happy and healthy running the hills on rugged terrain that would be impossible for Legacy. We gave the family the choice and respected their decision. They’ve all found their hearts’ desires at Skydog. What’s interesting is how welcoming Goliath’s family was of Bo. They were all rounded up on the same day from Salt Wells Creek.

Gracie allowed Legacy to nurse to two years of age. In the wild, the main reason one baby will stop nursing is simply that another foal is born, and even then they might go on sharing for a while.  Human decisions regarding the care of horses are often made with the owner’s convenience at the forefront. The BLM takes the babies away from their mothers at 4-6 months so they can adopt them out as soon as possible. This isn’t natural or best for mother or foal and don’t believe in imposing man-made rules on the horses. We listen to Gracie as she knows best how to raise a healthy mustang boy.

#skydoggracie  #skydoglegacy

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.