Henry

In Honor of Tulip

Henry was pulled from a kill pen to honor Tulip, a sweet mustang mare, who had been starved for so long that she did not survive quarantine. His story will always be linked to an old mare I never met or stroked, but I love her dearly. It broke my heart to lose her. There is no better way to respectfully honor the loss of a mustang than to rescue another in their name. I immediately scoured the kill pens to find a mustang in dire need, with foot or medical issues, that we could save. We found Henry.

Henry’s eyes were swollen shut and he was extremely lame on one of his hind legs. His feet were messed up and he appeared to have an abscess at the top of one hoof. He needed corrective trimming and lots of rehab. He seemed like a good old boy, so gentle and willing with people. At some point, he must have been in a good home or ridden. His life obviously took a terrible turn into neglect and starvation in the slaughter pipeline.

Henry was nervous, so we found a lovely 24-year-old mare to accompany him on the road to Malibu. Sunflower’s family discarded her in a kill pen in Oklahoma when she could no longer be used for riding. These two well-trained, sweet horses, betrayed by the humans they served, had so much in common. As soon as Sunflower loaded into the trailer, Henry settled down.

When they arrived, the couple checked in to private accommodations with ocean view in 5 star quarantine at our first ranch in Malibu. Henry had an arthritic knee, long, bent, and clubby feet, along with a divet in his flesh that tells of trauma. It appears he may have impaled himself on a T-post, which is why we cap all of them at the ranches. Starvation left him food aggressive, obstreperous, and kind of mean. He didn’t play nice with the other equines in senior assisted living, so we moved him up to Oregon with the wild guys.

We introduced him along with Wilson and Toby into Neo’s band. Henry was fearless in approaching Neo, even with Sinatra, Rango, Commander, and Memphis backing him up. He is best remembered for having his ears constantly pinned back at whatever enemy he imagined. It made me sad that whatever he went through made him this way, but I had faith he would mellow with time, love and patience. He did finally settle in, but never made a friend of his own. 

Then came Zee the Zonkey, a zebra / donkey hybrid, who had no equine manners and didn’t get along with anyone. It was a wild idea, but we thought maybe other social misfits would be to his liking. We hoped Boomer might see in him a kindred spirit, but all they did was try to bite each other over the fence. Next we introduced him to Henry and hit the jackpot!

Their first meeting didn’t look entirely positive. Zee tried to dominate, but Henry set good boundaries right off the bat. Every time I passed the pen, they were playing in a spectacular way, rearing, chasing, getting down on their knees to wrestle. There was no doubt that the two of them were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They’ve become close friends, very affectionate with one another. They also live happily with other horses now, it has changed their behavior entirely. There is someone for everyone. It took us a little while, but Henry finally got there.

#skydoghenry #skydoghenryzee

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 US canned hunt ranches and stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs.