How it works
By committing annually to a $100/month sponsorship of a mustang or burro, you help us enormously by supporting our existing rescues so we can continue saving more.
SPONSORSHIP INCLUDES:
A personalized Certificate of Sponsorship with a photo of the horse or donkey you choose and your name.
A 60 minute one-on-one visit to Skydog Ranch to meet the horse or burro you are sponsoring, spend time hanging out with them, take photographs and ask questions of our staff.
If you sponsor more than one horse or burro, you will get one hour with each animal when you visit.
To visit your sponsored equine, you must be a sponsor for at least 9 months. Anyone who wants to see them sooner will have to pay for 9 months ($900) in advance of their visit. We regret that this has become necessary. We need to discourage those sponsoring for one month in order to visit the ranch, then canceling because they don’t actually care about supporting the animals or our work. These tours take up a lot of time from our staff and the important work they do caring for our rescues.
Choosing a Mustang or Burro to Sponsor
You can search for posts about individuals on Instagram or Facebook with a hashtag that combines the word “skydog” with their name (#skydogzebedee #skydognugget). You can also go to the Then & Now page on the website to see their photos and read their biographies. (Note: their pages are currently being updated.)
Sponsor a SKYDOG on Patreon
A great way to sponsor a Skydog is by becoming a patron on Patreon and signing up for the $100/month Lead Mare level. This automatically makes you a sponsor and gives you access to exclusive content that we don’t post on other social media platforms. Each new episode of the Horse Love Podcast is released there, as are special offers on merchandise, and breaking news.
Animals that need sponsors
Agnes
Agnes is an “A List” donkey - a group whose names all begin with the letter “A”. She is one of three senior burros, who were rounded up from the Nevada Range in December 2021 and came to our attention at the Burns corrals. The rescue of Agnes, Archibald and Alice launched our @skydogdonkeys account to highlight the terrible things being done to burros on public lands in 2022. At her age, Agnes surely raised multiple generations on the range. Mama donkeys bond even more deeply with their foals than mustangs do, tending to stay with their offspring their whole lives. The roundup was violent and the loss was devastating, so it is no surprise that she and her friends do not like humans, which we completely respect. As soon as we were sure she was not pregnant, we released Agnes with her friends onto a huge space of rugged, western terrain. When we see her these days, she’s with a wild burro herd, where she has found healing and happiness.
Midnight
One of our two new arrivals, beautiful Midnight is in her twenties, gentle, trained, and beautiful. Yet some how she ended up at a killpen in Texas. She joined Mr. Parker (age 28) as a travel companion to Skydog, where they wasted no time jumping out of the trailer and into their spacious, clean pen. Mr. Parker already knows he can rely on her and stays close. As she settles in, she will come to understand she will never again go hungry and will always have clean, fresh water. She will remember the taste of sweet spring grasses and how good it feels for her body to wander and her mind to explore. She will make friends and form bonds for a lifetime - in fact, she did right away with babies, Shasta & Frosty, who eagerly met her and Mr. Parker at the fence. She will know once again what it is to feel safe enough to sleep as others stand watch in soft dirt under a shady tree with the stars above them shining so bright in the sky. No more saddles, bits, or spurs no yelling or waving flags, only love, kindness, the best of care, and respect for the rest of her life. More About Midnight
Oakley
The best way to heal our broken hearts when one of our rescues passes away is to save another wild horse in their honor. On our vet’s advice, we gently released Oregon from the pain of the most extreme case of fallen pasterns (DSLD) we had ever seen. I looked on the BLM Internet Adoption and found Oakley, a senior from White Mountain, Wyoming. He also has DSLD and I knew he was the one. The BLM didn’t mention the problem, nor did they move him around much - exactly what happened with Oregon - but we could see it. We are hoping it will not be as bad as Oregon’s, that he can move comfortably and without pain. We’ll do everything we can to help him live the best possible life. Oakley is a diamond in the rough in his muddy winter coat. With proper care, nutrition, and the happiness that comes with freedom and a herd, he’ll soon be as healthy, shiny, and bright as he was on the range.
ZZ
ZZ is a zonkey: a cross between a donkey and a Grevy’s zebra, the largest of all zebra breeds. He was saved from shipping to a canned hunt ranch in Texas - a place where small people pay big money to shoot exotic animals that have no chance of escape. The wild instincts of the zebra prevail in this hybrid, which is why so many end up in kill pens. Zebras are native to African savannas, donkeys to the arid deserts. Zonkeys are always born in captivity as these two species never breed in the wild. They have no georaphic home, but ZZ certainly found his at Skydog, where he is free to explore the conflicting instincts of his DNA to find contentment and happiness. He’s in his glory racing up and down, all around the hills. He’ll push mustangs twice his size off their feed. If they won't budge, he throws more kicks per second than we thought possible - but he never seems to land one. It is all for show. ZZ loves to play and wrestle. Just as often, we find him grooming with his sparring partners, an act of trust and friendship.
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RESCUED MUSTANGS
THERE ARE OVER 250 HORSES AND 50 DONKEYS HERE AT SKYDOG
Click on any of the photos to find out more or read their stories on our Then and Now Mustang Page.
RESCUED DONKEYS, MULES, Minis, ZONKEYS & A ZEBRA
