Taylor & Swift
One of the most important missions of our sanctuary is to promote adoptions of mustangs from BLM holding facilities. We want guide people through the BLM process and prepare them for having a mustang or burro of their own. We decided to film a video of the adoption of this young mare with her foal to show exactly how the whole thing works. Everything from filling out the paper work, to picking the horse up and bringing it home.
We found this photograph of a mare, who had just given birth to a sickly blue roan baby at BLM Burns corrals in Oregon. Taylor was only one year old, a baby herself, when she was rounded up pregnant from the South Steens HMA. Her baby was sickly and weak, so we couldn’t wait to get the two of them out of there and bring them back into health. We named the mother Taylor, and her baby Swift, as the music of their namesake has been such a big part of our lives at the ranches, singing along as we work. Tickets to see her in concert (two fifth row seats!) were a star prize in one of our online fundraising auctions.
Taylor is wild, but very approachable and curious. She raised her filly to be confident and strong. Swift is healthy with the beautiful coloring that changes with the seasons on a blue roan Appaloosa. Like all the babies at Skydog, she was gentled early so that we could handle her for farrier care, loading, and shots. These horses truly get the best of both worlds at Skydog.
Taylor & Swift joined Bear’s herd. He has two mares with babies of his own, but has always been welcoming to other mares with offspring and a great father to the youngsters. At that time, it included Goldie & Mariah, Arielle & Whisper, Priscilla & Dalton, Winter & Wilder, most of whom are still in this herd today. I feel these horses with my heart and see evidence every day of their familial ties and love for each other.
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.