Little Girl
Little Girl was born in 2004 in White River, Nevada. She’s incredibly fast and strong. Her wild herd was zeroed out by the Bureau of Land Management, so her family is lost to us forever.
We saved Little Girl from a horse trader in California after being used in a Mexican rodeo (Charreada). This pretty palomino was petite and lithe, the kind they like to use as a tripping horse. A galloping mustang is startled out of a chute and into a ring, where cowboys (charros) try to rope her by the front legs to make her fall to the ground. The horses are frequently injured and discarded when they’re no longer of use. The rodeos prefer smaller horses for this event as they’re easier to bring down.
We were alerted to a mustang in a kill buyers pen, who was shipping straight to slaughter. In the only video we saw of her, she was being ridden by a horse flipper, whom Little Girl flipped right off her back! For that alone she deserved to be rescued and she has my undying respect for her cheekiness.
We bailed her an hour after we learned about her and she was in Malibu the next day. She arrived with respiratory illness and a heart murmur, so we had to keep her quiet as she healed. With time, she grew from strength to strength back to the incredibly athletic, sinewy, muscled up, and spirited horse she is today.
Buddy played a foundational role at Skydog and his herd includes some of our very earliest rescues. Little Girl, his lead mare, is as loyal, true, and bonded to him as he is to her. For one so diminutive, she’s all boss mare, spectacular and in charge. She eats first, keeps an eye on the youngsters, decides when the herd should to move to water, rest in the shade, or shelter from the elements. If she thinks there is any danger, she leads them away from it with Buddy protectively bringing up the rear.
We had to bring Little Girl in for treatment of eye ulcers. She spent months in the barn to be given daily drops in her eyes. She’s happy to be touched and petted. She is the living embodiment of being able to heal and come back from trauma to live a good and fulfilling life no matter what might have happened in your past.
When I asked my husband, Chris, who his favorite Skydog horse is, he had to think about it as several came to mind. “Little Girl,” he said. “She was a pistol.” In fact, it was Chris who named her.
Jamie Baldanza, a Skydog board member, described the moment she took the photo on the right above:
I'll never forget the first time I met Little Girl, a pint-sized Palomino with big boss energy. It was Fall 2018, and I was out with @spirit_horse_woman, exploring Buddy's herd.
The day was draped in fog and rain, the kind of weather that makes everything feel a little more alive. The scent of wet sagebrush filled the air and lingered in our senses. The horses were electric, galloping and playing, their spirits wild and free. This is the magic of Skydog Sanctuary.
As I soaked it all in, a horse caught my eye. I spun around just in time to see Little Girl charging in!
Who was this fearless little dynamo, demanding attention with every stride? I was instantly smitten. This snapshot, one of the only clear shots I got, captures her mid-flight. I remember the moment like a slow-motion scene in a movie.
She galloped past us, rejoining her herd as if to say, "How dare you have fun without me!
Little Girl currently has a sponsor
By committing annually to a $100/month sponsorship of a mustang or burro, you help us enormously by supporting our existing rescues so we can continue saving more. To learn more about becoming a sponsor and see which animals need them, please click the button:
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.