CISCO & Feather

Cisco and Feather were driven to Skydog over 4th of July weekend in 2018, a poignant day for wild mustangs, whose freedom and happiness were stolen from them. We found them in a killpen in Louisiana when we were working on a campaign to pass the SAFE Act to stop shipping American horses across our borders to slaughter. Why either of these horses were dumped there I will never understand.

Cisco is a buckskin with the dunn stripe. He’s a perfect example of how incredible, colorful, well-trained, and healthy horses can end up in this precarious situation. He had been someone’s riding horse, but sat there for a month looking frightened and forlorn without anybody taking any interest until we stepped up. We launched a rescue for him and sent our trusted hauler, Carla, to pick him up. 

The feedlot told her they had another mustang that they hadn’t bothered to list. They were just going to ship him to slaughter direct. Carla waited while they went to get him from another location, but I told her to load him without even setting eyes on him. He was an 11-year-old bay from Nevada. The shoes on his hooves point to his use on a ranch, which he left for several years before being dumped in the killpen. He was terribly thin and emaciated, his face covered with scrapes and wounds. Cisco and Feather had a stopover in Colorado, where they rested for a week to build up strength. They did quarantine together and, during this time, they formed a deep bond that endures to this day. 

Cisco appeared to be in relatively good physical shape for a killpen horse, but mentally, he was traumatized. There are many little signs we looked for to determine if he had known love and kindness or only cruelty and abuse. Cisco obviously wanted to connect with people. He was happy to be stroked and petted. Even so, he was wary. There was worry in his eyes that something bad still might happen.

I have found with horses like Cisco that time, consistency, and love are what ultimately cure that fear.  His best friend, Feather, was his security blanket until they were ready to be released into a big herd of strong horses that rely on one another for safety.

You’ll find 50 shades of bay in this herd, but Feather is distinguished by the double BLM brand on his neck and a blaze on his head that looks like a feather. Ever since making his bond with Cisco, he has been one of the most gentle, well balanced, slow and steady horses we have. 

Cisco is my secret love. This beautiful buckskin with the dun stripe is incredibly special to me and I feel a deep connection to him. He’s perfect in every way a horse can be perfect. If I were a mare, I would certainly follow him.

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.