rojo

Rojo went through the prison training program in Carson City, Nevada. His owner adopted and rode him until contracting Lyme Disease and couldn’t ride while sick and recovering. Rojo had a break from his training and he quickly reverted to being a very wild mustang. By the time his adopter was well enough, Rojo had some very strong opinions about being ridden or handled again.

This often happens with adopters for many different reasons. The prison-trained horses or Mustang Makeovers get around three months of intensive training and are shown by their handlers. If the adopter doesn’t have enough knowledge or experience to be consistent from the day they get them, it is possible they will become more wild - or test their owner. Luckily for Rojo, he came to Skydog to live out his life wild and free. Low-key and low-maintenance, this handsome mustang gets along with everyone in Buddy’s herd.

We have taken in wonderful mustangs from prison training programs. Some, like Reno, graduate and go to work in federal agencies such as US Border Patrol.  Some, like Rain, flunk out of the program as they need to be wild and free. Robert Redford produced a movie - The Mustang - set in the Carson City prison training program.

In 2025, we saw the closing of some BLM facilities due to budget cuts. This included the prison training program in Cañon City, Colorado. Close to 2000 wild horses were left in limbo with 60 days to find placement elsewhere. This has coincided with an increase in BLM abuses of Sale Authority (SA). More and more frequently, very young horses are sold as three-strike mustangs, bought for $25 (or less), and hauled straight to kill pens to flip for their meat price. These developments pose a grave threat to wild horses and burros in holding.

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.