rosa

In 2018, with very little warning, the Woolsey fire crossed the 101 freeway and was raging towards our Malibu ranch, driven by 50 mph winds. We successfully evacuated all our animals to our Mariposa ranch with three trailers and a crew of staff and volunteers.

Right after we evacuated, we received an email from a gentleman, who told us that he and his family had evacuated, but had not been able to take their two wild mustangs. The horses were still loose on the hillside. Unable to get into the area to feed or check on them, they asked us to take them as their home had burned to the ground.  We arranged for people to go feed them and assess the situation to see if they could be saved. There was no water at the property. When our hauler, Dana, arrived with her team, a propane tank was leaking and fire was still burning around the hillsides.

To this day, I am so proud of this group of incredible women. They literally saved their lives. They managed to win the horses’ trust and got a halter on them. Rosa was almost completely blind, but they loaded her into an unfamiliar trailer. They drove to Mariposa as the whole of Malibu was still under mandatory evacuation. Then we took on their care and brought them to Oregon.

The woman who owned them had adopted them from the BLM when they were babies. When she came to visit them at Skydog, it was an emotional experience for us all. The door has been left open to her forever, if she’s ever in a position to take them back.

Rosa suffered lasting eye damage that led to total blindness over time. Storm guided her everywhere, frequently calling out so she would know where he was. Then one day, Dani California - another vision-impaired mare -met them across the fence line. Storm fell head-over-hooves in love with her. She joined their little family, along with Clare, but Rosa lost her standing.

After Storm passed away, Rosa moved to the special needs pen with Lily and Dakoda, which is a gentle, nurturing band. When VIolet arrived, we introduced her to Rosa and she immediately took to caring for her blind friend. They became friends, watched over one another, and their neighbors. When baby Frost was born in the pen next to theirs, they looked like a pair of old ladies knitting as they advised his mother how to properly raise a mustang colt. Then Marjorie Morningstar arrived and the bond she formed with Violet was very deep. Sadly, their friendship pushed Rosa off. Once again, she lost her standing. We want the horses to have the freedom to choose their friends and respect their wishes. Still, it was sad to see this happen to Rosa again. We were determined for find her a perfect companion of her own..

Along came Constance, a small, senior mare we found starved in a kill pen. She has been the most incredibly thoughtful friend. While guiding Rosa on a careful, little run around the front of their pen, she led her along the fence line and through the trees, always keeping a short distance from Rosa. This was such beautiful proof of the emotional intelligence of horses. She wanted to run about, but didn’t want her friend to be left alone, so took her with her. Constance ran towards the front fence, but turned her body to make sure Rosa didn’t run into it. When she was successful, Constance gave a little buck of happiness.

It’s wonderful for Rosa to expand her world with a friend she trusts to follow and even break into a run. It brings a tear to my eye to see Rosa experiencing a fuller life now she’s entirely blind. Rosa has the sweetest, most melodic whinny of any horse I have ever known and she can sing her heart out. To see this joy from both of them, and for Rosa to feel so confident, is just everything we work so hard for.

This is why I have always fought so hard for the horses with “blindness issues” not to be shot by the BLM at trap sites or at the corrals. I am grateful to the Burns BLM for asking us, or allowing us, to take several horses with one eye like Tupelo Honey, Lacey and Blue Moon, who is living a wonderful life though she’s  completely blind.

#rosarescue #skydogrosastorm #rosadani #rosaliydakoda #rosaviolet #rosaconstance

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.