blue zeus

Blue Zeus is an incredibly special horse to Skydog and the founder, Clare. For years she had followed and admired photographs of this stunning Wyoming stallion and regularly commented on photos of him. For Clare, as long as Blue Zeus was wild and free with his family there was something to fight towards. Keeping them free and together was Clare’s “North Star” and holy grail so it came as a horrible shock to find out in the summer of 2020 that his herd was slated for roundup.

She made a silent promise to help him if he was captured and on October 16th, 2020 Clare got the terrible news that he and his entire family had been run by a helicopter into a BLM trap and that day had lost their freedom and each other.

And that began the incredible journey of trying to find them, get access to them, and ultimately adopt them. At that time the facility they were taken to was Canon City in Colorado which was inside a prison that was shut down due to the pandemic. There was no way to get inside and there were no adoption events planned due to Covid. But that didn’t stop Clare who constantly called, emailed, and badgered in every way possible the staff at the facility pleading with them to adopt this old boy before he was sent to Long Term Holding and never to be seen again.

After months of trying good news was finally received that the head of the facility Steve Leonard agreed to put on an adoption event for the older boys who would be brought to an outside location and offered for adoption. Clare immediately made plans to attend and traveled there with Carol Walker who knew the Wyoming horses well and could identify them. Blue Zeus was one of the first horses she saw and that first morning was spent sitting and watching him just feet away from the horse Clare had followed for years on the range.

The next day bright and early she travelled back to the park to bid on Blue Zeus along with six other older horses that people didn’t know as well. Around 10 am they reached BZ and he was offered for adoption and Clare bid 25 dollars and won him with nobody bidding against her. He was loaded in the trailer and set off for Oregon and the 9000-acre sanctuary he would now call home.

Attention then turned to his mares and babies. Canon City organized for 9 people who had shown the most interest in these horses to come into the facility and find them. We had four hours to look at 2000 horses and find the ones we had come to get. Pen after muddy pen, shoes filled with filth and looking at horses as they ran by at top speed trying desperately to spot the tags to identify them. In the last final pen the dozens of horses took off at a gallop at the sight of people but one group broke away from the rest and it was Blue Zeus’s family. Three mares - one red, one dappled grey, and one black and white mare ran past and we screamed with delight at the sight. Also with them were two newborn babies (Nyx and Phoebe) and the babies they were rounded up with (Flora and Juno). They were all there.

Paperwork was done and adoptions were completed as well as one for a mare foal pair that many thought had been with Blue Zeus as the baby was so similar in every way to him. So two more horses joined the family. Weeks went by until we were allowed to come and pick them up and then they were on our trailer heading to Oregon too.

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 Senators and urge them to support these bills:

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2023 (H.R. 3475 in the House / S.2307 in the Senate). This bill will 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. 3656) This bill will prohibit the use of helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft in the management of wild mustangs and burros on public lands, and require a report on humane alternatives to current management practices.

Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). 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.

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

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches, stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs, and defund the Adoption Incentive Program.