Flower Moon

Flower Moon is from Spruce Pequop HMA in Nevada. She was 8 years old when we saved her along with Hyas on Giving Tuesday 2024. She is one of 13 survivors of an unimaginably horrific hoarding case in Michigan, where 26 out of 39 horses starved to death. She was found belly deep in mud with her skin rotting off. She had a body score of 1, meaning skin and bones.

The survivors were removed from the property and placed in the care of a wonderful mustang trainer, Cady Lapoint, who told us she had been in three private homes, but never gentled. "Still untrained and uninterested in people, she needs sanctuary."

Cady asked if Flower Moon could join Hyas at Skydog as the two are extremely bonded. Hyas’ mare from the wild perished, but these two pulled through, found love, and are a comfort to each other. We absolutely would never separate them. They both deserve a wild and peaceful life now and all the healing they can find.

I think their ordeal was the darkest of any animals we have rescued. Flower Moon looked so sad and defeated when she was saved. Her body language screamed desperation. Seeing her turned out with Hyas into a pen with space and trees and Sheeps Rock in the background was deeply emotional for many to witness. Their short tails made me wince as starving horses will eat hair to survive, but we have to leave that energy behind us and focus on their bright future. 

Flower Moon looked glorious as she led Hyas through the trees. The body language of a boss mare, she threw her neck and mane to the wind, bucking while she ran. We are seeing the strong beauty that she really is, born to be wild, refusing to surrender her birthright to anyone.

The details of this hoarding case are extremely disturbing. We know many people won’t want to read them. For those who do, we are sharing a post by Cady Lapoint farther down the page.

#skydogflowermoon

Background story posted by Cady LaPoint:

On 7/30/2024, Kody and I were alerted to an ongoing animal abuse and neglect situation in northern Michigan. Animal Control has been amazing in their prompt and serious handling of the situation. On 8/3/2024, the surviving horses came into our care. We are no strangers to assisting in cases like this with mustangs, but what unfolded is the most horrific thing I have ever heard of. This story is not easy to hear.

Kody and I were informed of 14 equines, mostly mustangs, seized on a property with 25 dead horses onsite. Within the first 24hrs another went down and had to be euthanized. Now there are 26 dead and 13 surviving, barely.

12 equines scored a body score of 1, and 1 scored a body score of 2. If you are not familiar with this scoring system they are hide on bone. Not only are they starved, but they have also been standing belly deep in mud and dead carcasses. So many of the survivors are suffering from extensive skin wounds from the moisture and filth they were living in.

In October of 2023, animal control was on sight at the property and everything was in acceptable condition. In May of 2024, one of the horses got loose and was running around the area for 2 weeks before capture. That was the first sign something was wrong.

These horses stood in tiny mud lots with no access to shelter, food, or water for MONTHS! They were surrounded by their dead and dying herd mates. There was hay on the property but the owner chose to watch them die, even though she had enough to continue to care for them properly.

There were untitled BLM horses (yes, the BLM is aware), titled BLM horses (none were AIP), sale authority horses, Forest Service horses.

The pregnant mustangs she bought out of kill pens that foaled at her place had to watch their babies die. Every single baby born there is dead except for one foal, who was buried so deep in mud he could not even move around. Imagine waiting and hoping your mom walks by close enough so you can nurse.

There are two horses on the property that were sold to this woman by a party that knew darn well she already had too many horses and did not properly care for or train them. They didn't care, they just saw a financial opportunity. If you know the original owners of those horses, the animals will not be returned to them if they are even alive, or survive, as they knew what they were doing. No one should ever support a hoarder.

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.