Atsa

Atsa was rounded up from the wild. According to his brand, he was 20 years old, but the vet who sedated him to trim feet and float his teeth put him closer to 30. Another casualty of the Adoption Incentive Program, he was adopted out to a person in Missouri via the Internet Adoption. The next two years he spent in a small round pen inside a barn with his still tag around his neck, standing in 3 feet of filth (left photo above). He was rescued by a wonderful trainer who realized just how severely traumatized and abused he had been. She asked us to take him. We were happy to restore his health, freedom, and happiness and let him retire in peace, far from the people that terrified him.

Atsa was the most traumatized horse I had ever seen. It took him hours to muster the courage to step out of the trailer at Skydog. We didn’t put any pressure on him and gave him all the time he needed. We brought in gentle Gabriel to be his first friend, which was so important to calm his nerves. Then we released him into a wooded pen with two very wild boys, Pegasus and Rocky. The comfort of belonging to a herd is essential for healing a wild mustang.

When we turned them out onto open spaces, Atsa quickly became the leader. His friends Metolius, Rogue, and Ariat helped him reclaim his wild ways. One day, he appeared on a ledge. We gazed at each other for a good while before he disappeared from sight. I felt he understood I had something to do with the change in his circumstances and gave me the gift of letting me see he was happy, wild, and free.

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.