Steve & Sterling

Steve, with his deep, soulful eyes, is a 13-year-old mustang from the Cold Springs HMA. He’s an Oregon boy with a very sad story. I was sent of post of two huge mustangs for sale, Steve and a grey mustang, his best friend, Sterling. They were bonded. Both semi-gentle, I thought they had a good chance of being saved. Then I learned Sterling had been sold and Steve was very distressed after he was taken away.

Steve is a kill buyers dream. They sell horses for their meat by the pound and Steve must weigh a ton. It was a hugely long way from Wisconsin, and a really expensive haul, but our donors were not going to take a chance that this would be his fate.  Meanwhile, we kept searching for Sterling. 

Steve Egner, our hero hauler, has a gentle, calming way with horses that wins their trust. He won the hearts of many Skydog followers who watched the way he unloaded Rooster, who was very sick and totally blind. On a chance, I sent him a message asking if he ever went to Wisconsin - I wasn’t quite sure where it was! He said he would be going through there, could pick him up, and bring him to Oklahoma. Steve has long deserved to have mustang named in his honor and this is the one.

That weekend, a lady reached out and said she had seen Steve’s friend. His new owner was trying to sell him. She asked if she bought “Ghost”, would we be able to take him. Of course we said yes, but the trail ran cold as the owner literally ghosted us. We were concerned as Sterling had lost an enormous amount of weight since being bailed. His mane and tail were completely matted with huge burrs. Once again, he was lost and we feared the worst.

Months later, a girl left a comment on Sterling’s original kill pen post asking if anyone had history on him, as she had just bought him at a livestock auction. She was so moved to hear about his bonded friend, Steve, that she offered to sell him to us for what she had paid. We were over the moon.

Thanks to the fastest fundraiser we’ve ever done, Steven Egner headed back to Wisconsin. Sterling was picked up and hauled to Oklahoma for quarantine. He’ll travel with Jake to be reunited with Steve in Santa Ynez, and meet Elwood. It looks like the Blues Brothers are forming a new band.

#skydogsteve #skydogsterling

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.