Finn, Tristan & Hemingway

Survivors of ROAR

After an incredible Giving Tuesday in December 2024, we said we’d take no more rescues ‘til Spring 2025, but many of you were aware of a crisis brewing behind the scenes for more than a year. We really wanted nothing to do with this mess, but had to step up when nobody else did for these horses and donkeys. Finn, Tristan, and Hemmingway are lucky survivors of the cruelty and greed of multiple players, who profited off their suffering while pretending (and fundraising) to help them.

The story begins back in December 2023 when we saw a senior black mustang in a kill pen. We were about to bail him when we saw he’d been “saved”. This was Finn and I so regret not having been able to spare him the living nightmare he was bailed into.

Various rescue groups fundraised to send over a hundred horses and donkeys to ROAR, a new, unqualified, unvetted rescue in Texas run by Jessica Moreland. It was concerning how many wild horses she was taking to turn out on a 100-acre parcel. Red flags were everywhere. Real rescues do not breed their rescued mares and let ungelded stallions run loose. Real rescues do not deny medical care to compromised horses and donkeys that have just come out of the slaughter pipeline. Real rescues do not add kill pen animals to a herd without quarantine, exposing already weak equines to strangles. Real rescues do not sell their rescues. All of this was going on at ROAR.

By Spring 2024, video emerged of starving horses wandering aimlessly on the property without any food in sight. Law enforcement was called by concerned people. Many had donated for animals to go there, including a large number of mama and baby donkeys. Some people thought it was safe when ROAR was vouched for by another rescue. Now they were desperately trying to get the horses and donkeys back, but Moreland refused to release them

In July 2024, the local sheriff told Moreland to "get rid of a lot of her animals or she'd be in trouble". She sold 25 donkeys and sent them to Kansas, but continued promoting ROAR as a rescue, as if nothing happened.  She contacted her hauler, Stephen Steitler, and told him she needed to get horses off her property. She asked him to move 64 of them to his place, feed them, and find homes for them, but she wanted 15 "famous" ones back. When Stephen saw the poor health and weight of the animals, he could not in good conscience return them.

Animal Control arrived to inspect the them. A veterinarian documented their condition as emaciated, needing medical and farrier care. The Sheriff’s Department was involved to oversee the situation. Most of the mares were now pregnant by four Alpine studs let loose at ROAR.  A foal, who was sent to Moreland as a weanling, was so weak and thin that he collapsed and was immediately transported him to the hospital. We saw Finn and Tristan in the photos at that time.  

Moreland then made a bill of sale for 80 of her animals for a total of $25 to Jackie Hughes, a horse trader/flipper, who works for the US Forest Service. While months of dispute over ownership went by, Skydog raised funds to help Stephen take care of the animals. We paid the feed store directly for hay and grain, as well as dewormer, hoof trims, teeth floats, and rehabilitation of 64 severely compromised animals. I donated my personal funds to cover the hospital bills of the malnourished foal, who did pull through. Their needs were great and the costs were astronomical.

Stephen did an incredible job of caring for the horses. He chose to help them and us by charging a fraction of what a quarantine would normally charge daily per horse. By December, he had not heard anything from Moreland or Hughes. When the animals were in good weight and health, he placed many in good homes and sanctuaries for free. This is when Jackie Hughes chose to claim custody. She could have let them stay where they were. l assured her that we would find good homes for all of them. I asked her to let some remain where they were, but she refused. Instead, she filed a police report for horse theft and the sheriff complied with her demand that they all be picked up on Dec 31st. In January 2025, she started selling them in groups at auction, plunging them back into the slaughter pipeline.

One of the donkeys had been placed in a family with an autistic boy,  who loved dinosaurs and named his donkey Rex. He was heartbroken to have him taken away.  Hughes sent Rex to Arizona. Twelve donkeys had been at a wonderful donkey rescue managed by DeeDee Darnell. When they were run through auction, she went there in person to get them back. She was bid up as high as $1600 per donkey, which is insanity. A donkey is usually around $300-$500. One of those donkeys was our boy, whom I renamed Hemingway as I don't want any of them saddled with names they had at ROAR. When he was at Stephen's last year, he had the worst feet. We paid for his trims and treatment. He's club footed and could really benefit from extra care, so he's coming to Skydog.

Behind the scenes, I organized the re-rescue of as many as possible and quietly asked other mustang organizations to help. My dear friend Ann Cunningham in New York helped and four incredible rescues on the East Coast said yes: Rosemary Farm, Mending Hope Equine Rescue, Mustang Valley Sanctuary, and NWPA Equine Sanctuary. These rescues are heroes for 11 pregnant mares and two geldings. Sadly, 2 of these mares had their babies taken away before auction. At auction, the first 10 mustangs were bought by a kill buyer. Thankfully, we were able to buy them and other ROAR victims back and return them to Stephen's ranch. Many of the animals had disappeared at this point. Some bonded pairs were separated and we have no idea what happened to them. It’s such a tragedy and was totally unnecessary and heartless.

This was truly one of the most awful cases as so many people involved had good options, but always chose to make money off the cruelty and suffering of these animals. So many horses and donkeys died at ROAR, but Moreland refused offers of help. For Hughes to pull the survivors our of good homes and take them back to auction was a final act of cruelty after all these animals had been through. Now these survivors are finally heading to a new life, where they will be cared for properly for the rest of their lives.

Finn, Tristan & Hemingway will come to Skydog to put this ordeal behind them once and for all. I named Tristan after Brad Pitt’s character in Legends of the Fall for his messy, blond forelock. Finn is named for Huckleberry Finn, a coming-of-age story about a boy who runs away from a restrictive life and floats down the Mississippi River with Jim. With the addition of Hemingway to donkeys we traditionally name after mobsters (or actors who play them), a literary giant joins their ranks. They deserve the very best of lives as their survival tells the story for the dozens of donkeys, who suffered and perished at ROAR.

#skydogfinn   #skydogtristan   #skydoghemingway

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.