maia & minx

This gorgeous mare was much loved and photographed on the wild ranges of the Onaqui herd in Utah. She was rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management. While in the holding pen, she badly injured her face, resulting in a serious eye wound.

Thankfully, a kind lady who was on a tour of the corrals saw her and told the BLM staff. They sorted her and her baby, so a vet could remove her eye. Injuries are very common at the corrals. Usually, the horse is euthanized, so Maia was very, very lucky. Her baby was desperately upset about being taken away from her mother. The lady who found Maia actually adopted her baby.

Maia was pregnant when she was rounded up from the range. Fortunately, another sanctuary took Maia to be an ambassador for their organization. She had her baby Minx in safety, but sadly they were unable to keep them, so we said yes to mother and daughter coming to Skydog. They traveled to us in early 2021.

We wanted baby Belle Star to have a friend and for Blaze to have more mares and a bigger family. The timing was right for this ready-made family addition. Blaze took right to them. He is very protective of his band. They are among the most elusive mustangs at Skydog and having one eye has not diminished Maia’s very wild life one bit.

#skydogmaia   #skydogminx

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.