CHAMP

Champ is a stunning Salt Wells Creek horse who was rounded up at the same time as Goliath. He and five members of his family were driven by helicopters into a trap and we sadly have the photographs of every moment of that last day of freedom for this family. When Goliath was in the BLM corrals for months before he was put up for adoption, he was inseparable from Goliath and Maestro. In every photograph of Goliath you could visibly see one or the other close to him - keeping together for comfort. We focused on Goliath and were happy to hear than another rescue was taking Champ and Maestro to keep them together.

A few months later that rescue asked us to take them both to give them more space and freedom as they were huge horses and they felt that Skydog would be the right place to give them that. We were happy to say yes and in the spirit of the re-wilding that they support and advocate for we took these two incredible older geldings and both now have mares to keep them warm in their old age. Sadly, although we looked in all the pens they might be, we were never able to find Champ’s beautiful family. We have done our best to right the terrible wrong that was done to him by giving him back freedom and wildness. He has a new family of beautiful mares, whom he keeps so happy that other girls have jumped the fence to join his band.

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 Senators and urge them to support these bills:

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”, this omnibus federal law includes several important provisions for animals. Among them, the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act, which makes it illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. This SAFE Act would extend the prohibition to equines. Specifically, prohibiting a person from knowingly slaughtering an American equine for human consumption; or shipping, transporting, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donating an American equine to be slaughtered for human consumption. 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.

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.

You can also tell your Rep and Senators that you want these bills from the previous Congress introduced again this session:

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.