RISING SUN

If someone had asked me when I was a little girl what my dream pony would look like, it would be Rising Sun. With her mane blowing in the wind before she disappears from view, she's just divine.  Her graceful elegance and shy demeanor shrouds her in beauty. When Elvis Presley brought the mare of his dreams home to Graceland, he named the barn in her honor: House of the Rising Sun. To this day, it is still full of horses and there will always be a golden palomino in her honor. I adore it that our Rising Sun is named after the horse Elvis rode and loved.

I was sent a video of Rising Sun running terrified in a kill pen and saw a huge resemblance to Autumn and Swan. Thankfully, the girl held up a title, so I could take a screenshot and have it read by the BLM office. Sure enough, she was not only from the same small Green Mountain herd in Wyoming, she was rounded up the same day! As we made plans to rescue her, we were told of a broken, shivering, and skinny wreck of a mustang who needed help. Presley was running insanely back and forth in a kill pen video, desperate to find a way out. He was pressured horribly by a man trying to sell him by the pound. Quarantine and the haul are always easier with a friend, so we saved them together.

Presley was rounded up from Antelope Valley, Nevada. He’s gorgeous with all the dun factor traits - the dorsal stripe, leg barring, and two tone mane. He has the brooding dark shadows of his namesake. He was thin, but after a few weeks in quarantine, some feet trims, and wormer, he was good to go. There was a possibility that Rising Sun was pregnant (as kill pen mares often are) and she was looking pretty round in the belly area. She was so wild, we didn’t want to put her through the stress of an exam in the chute, so we waited patiently to learn that she was not carrying a foal.

We released these two into the big herd with Autumn and Swan. Rising Sun is so much like Autumn in her appearance, mannerisms and personality that we thought we might see a family reunion if she became a third Ballerina. But freedom is about being able to make your own choices and she chose to join a band of closely knit mares. She lives up to her name. She is the golden light we see every morning as the sun comes up.

Presley has blossomed as a wild horse. The change in his demeanor is spectacular as he regained his confidence. Every twitch of his ears and swish of his tail shows his senses are alive and working. He took over Renegade's herd with Cookie as his lieutenant. He's studdy and snakes his mares like he was still a stallion. He works hard to prove his devotion to his favorite, Dahlia, and keeps her close. Some days I think she just goes along with it to make him happy - and it does.

#skydogrisingsun  #skydogpresley

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.