Bowyn The Great

“Bowie”

Bowyn the Great - “Bowie” - is a stunning dappled grey from Adobe Town, Wyoming. He looks like the rocking horse I had as a child, my very first horse, Dobbin. Mustangs are painted by God with every color in his palette and what a magnificent artist he is. He was our second save of the day on Giving Tuesday 2020 and I introduced him with the following letter from a woman who loved him dearly:

I am inquiring about a space for a very special BLM Adobe Town gelding, Bowyn. He's 8 years old and tahandsomest dappled grey. I adopted him in Summer of 2018. He was failed by an adopter/trainer, who he attacked twice. He was more than just wild: he was terrified and completely unable to relax in captive life. I offered to take him. I have rehabilitated several horses and I figured the least I could do was give him peace with us.

Within the year, I was able to lead him. But, he still is not a happy horse 100% of the time. He is a different horse every day. Some days, I can halter, he can mostly breathe, and we enjoy walks together. Most other days, he is terrified and reactive and unreachable. I can still handle him, but it's not enjoyable for him at all. I keep everything low pressure all the time. I have no goals for him except his relaxation and happiness.

His heart is enormous. In the 2 years I have had him, he has NEVER hurt me. He will do anything to avoid harming me, even in the middle of panicking. He doesn't kick or bite. Ever. He is the sweetest soul, trapped in a life not right spirit.

I have worked hard to gently and positively socialize him over time, but his stranger danger is the most extreme of any Mustang I've ever encountered. Strangers can't even get near him. Not even after multiple positive visits with no pressure. He has been evaluated by other trainers and two different farriers who agree he will always struggle in this life.

When does he seem happiest? In a herd. He adores other animals of all kinds. I don't have the ability to give him land and a herd here, and my heart aches to give him what makes him flourish and thrive. This precious soul deserve happiness. I have tears in my eyes writing this. His welfare is all we care about. He is safe with us. But to see him thrive as he once did in his homeland would be a dream for us."

We were impressed by the efforts of this woman to help him, including a selfless desire to do right by him, even if it meant parting with her heart horse. Bowie didn’t want to live in the human world. He longed for the life he was born to, speaking his own language with other horses instead of being forced to learn ours. Bowie was a mustang who could not accept training and found captivity too terrifying to ever relax and be happy. Bowie is the kind of mustang who truly needs sanctuary. 

Bowie is a natural born leader and raced to reclaim his freedom with the wild boys herd.  He made friends easily with Koa and Rain, with whom he shared the experience of being a trainer relinquishment. Curious but wary, he keeps his distance from humans and we respect his wishes. He focuses his ears on other horses in the herd and his eyes on any people nearby.

It's always good to see his herd in the distance, looking like pin dots up on a hill, far from anything Bowie fears. To reach them up there is a 30 minute hike straight up steep and rugged terrain. Step after step, your muscles start to complain as you place one foot in front of the other, head down into the wind, hat pulled over your face to shield from the beating sun. Then vou break out from the gully and on to the most beautiful grazing: blue bunch, wheat grass, Idaho fescue, Thurber's needle grass, basin wild rye and bottle brush squirrel tail. Eagles soar overhead. Deer, elk, coyotes, rabbits, badgers and bobcats all share this land. If you keep walking, those tiny pin dots in the distance grow larger and take shape. The most beautiful and marvelous shapes and colors imaginable. This is the world Bowie belongs to. 

#skydogbowie

Mustangs & 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.