Jorja & TUPELO HONEY

Jorja and Tupelo Honey were our last saves of the day on Giving Tuesday 2023. As many people know, Janelle takes part in the Oregon Trainer Challenge. For this, she’d chosen a 6-year-old mustang named Ryder (aka Hidalgo on the South Steens range). She adored him and kept him as her riding horse. Whenever we would go to the corrals, she would look for his family and tell me stories about his mother.

One day, I received a message from a lady who had been at the Burns corrals taking photos. She sent me a single picture of a baby colt missing an eye. She was worried for him and asked us to possibly adopt him. I sent the photo to Janelle, who wrote back, “That’s Ryder’s Mom.” What were the chances that out of the hundreds requests for horses I receive, I got this photo? We had to wait months for the pen to be sorted, for the babies to be weaned. Thankfully, Kayce at the BLM Burns corrals agreed to keep these two together and let us adopt them as he had special needs. It made me very happy to be able to do something special for Janelle, who does SO much for all the horses and donkeys at Skydog.

Jorja’s foal was her last baby with her stallion, Cruiser. Wildlife photographer Shannon Phifer spent a lot of time observing the South Steens horses.  She shared that Cruiser was in a big band, but was utterly devoted to Jorja, as she was to him. The great love of his life, he bred exclusively with this mare.

After seeing Jorja and Tupelo Honey arrive at Skydog, his adopter, Lela Pena, contacted us. She had loved him on the range, tracked him as he moved through the BLM system, and adopted him, even though she really wasn’t in a position to keep a horse. She wrote to us, “Every single prayer I’ve said for Cruiser, Jorja, and Tupelo Honey would be answered if they were able to live together at Skydog.” I got goosebumps when Ryder whinnied as the trailer carrying his father entered the property. Cruiser joined Jorja and their foal and the three of them ran together with joy. Father and son behaved as if they already knew each other. He and Jorja picked right up where they left off and are one of the great loves at the ranch.

Before Cruiser arrived, Jorja and Tupelo Honey had settled into Skydog with a group of mares, with whom they continued to socialize over the fence. We added them to Cruiser’s band, which was fine with him. He’s laid back and happy to let his mares make membership decisions. When Nugget - also from South Steens - and her baby, Jojo, were introduced, Tupelo Honey looked to his dad for tips on how to approach the pretty girls. There would be plenty of those in his future: Eden, Honor, Wildflower, Onyx, Pearl, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Lady Grey and Pip also integrated into the family.

Our vet checked Tupelo Honey’s eye and decided it was a genetic defect, not an injury sustained in holding. It doesn’t hold him back a bit. Like our other one-eyed mustangs, he lives a rich and full life on open spaces. He is very happy as he has everything a wild horse wants: Family, freedom, room to run, sweet grasses, streams and ponds, two fillies his own age to play with, and the very best care if he ever needs it.

#skydogjorja #skydogtupelohoney

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.