Mustang Adoption Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Want to Make A Difference?
Sponsor A Mustang in the MOS Veterans Program
$250 PER MONTH - $3,000 PER YEAR
This is the cost to feed & care for 1 horse in the MOS program.
PARTIAL SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE
As a Mustang sponsor, we will list you or your business on our website and send you regular photos & stories of your mustang of choice.
THANK YOU for helping us to keep our equine therapists happy & healthy so that they can continue their life-changing work.
Looking for other ways to donate?
Whiskey
Our Honorary Mustang - He is an ex-bucking horse with a badly healed broken pelvis, who came to us after being rescued not once, but twice out of the same Kill Pen. He is now 13 years old and had 7 different owners before coming to us.
From the story we could put together, several trainers gave up on him in less than one hour of work. Whiskey had become very aggressive towards humans and also did not want to interact with other horses. He just wanted to be left alone.
When he arrived at the MAA, he was the most traumatized horse they had ever worked with. He has improved greatly since then and can even be seen playing with herd members or lying down in the pasture for an afternoon nap. He had a breakthrough moment in our Mustangs of Service Veteran Program when he and a Veteran made that important step together to re-enter civilian world. A great moment for both Whiskey and the Veteran. You may see more about this story in a Facebook post pinned to the top of MAA’s Facebook feed.
Partial sponsorship still available!
Partially sponsored by 2 incredible anonymous donors
Pesado
In a 2 week period of time, we were Pesado's 4th home.
Try to find safety in that!
He is a five-year-old from Conger, Utah. He was picked up from the BLM by a trainer, who gave up on him within days. He was then advertised as haltered and adopted by a couple who understood this as horse that could be caught and haltered, when in actuality, he slipped his halters and could not be caught. Realizing they were in over their head, they reached out to Sky & the MAA and transferred adoption to them. He affectionately became known as “Pain in the Ass” during the gentling process for his penchant to steal Sky’s hat. As it came time to name him on the day he made that big step into the domestic world he finds himself in, he became known as Pesado, which roughly translates back to “pain in the ass.”
He is a horse that Veterans in the MOS Program find interesting, as he is senstive & reactive, but also at times incredibly stubborn, mischievous and a boundary pusher.
Interested in his unique color? He is a rarely seen coloring called a Gruella!
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Koda
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
He is a 5-year-old Mustang who had 2 previous adopters before coming to the
MAA. Koda's previous adopter contacted the MAA and donated Koda to our program to ensure his ability to be successful in domestic life.
During Sky’s first meeting with Koda, and on the first request to stand still at the end of the lead rope, he reared up on two legs and protested greatly. He has since found safety in most things and is progressing really well despite having some strong neuropathways that has had to be overcome. He will make someone a great horse one day soon. He is loveable and ornery at the same time. He loves to jump and conquer new things and will need an adopter that can match his energy and yearning to learn.
Koda is used often in our Mustangs of Service Veterans Program as well and has helped several Veterans learn that they can ask for space and boundaries in a firm but kind manner.
Mateo
He is a 9-year-old gelding from Oregon, but his exact HMA is unknown. He was rescued by Suzanne Kopp-Moscow out of a Texas kill pen and was sent to the MAA for education and gentling. His DNA testing shows two unique gene traits not normally seen in most horses, that show that he is more skeptical than curious. This makes it even more important, and more difficult, for him to find safety.
After initial gentling, we have allowed him to be more of a horse and find safety out with the herd. He is now showing a bit more curiosity in humans than before. He is a horse that has been difficult to find connection with as he often “checks out.” However, he is showing more and more every day that, by us allowing him to take things at his pace, he is now ready to start to slowly engage in domestic life.
He is used in the MAA’s Mustang of Service Veteran Program
in more advanced sessions on connection.
Sponsored by Suzanne Kopp-Moskow
Bella
She is a 6-year-old mare from Sheepshead-Heath Creek, Oregon, captured on 11-3-21. She had been adopted from and then returned to the Ewing Illinois facility as a failed adoption.
Bella is full of trauma but is slowly releasing it. Based on our estimation, the human interaction she had was not good and possibly worked by two people with very different traits - one over-using pressure without release and one that was very scared of her. We have let her just be a horse for a few months and allowed her to choose when she wants to interact with us.
Recently, she has allowed some head touches and expresses extreme curiosity when observing the other Mustangs being worked with.
Bella is currently only worked with by one of our more advanced Veterans in the MAA’s Mustang of Service Veteran Program, until she tells us she is ready to safely engage with more people.
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Star
She is a 5-year-old mare from Sheepshead-Heath Creek, Oregon, captured on 9-13-21. She entered our gentling program in the Spring.
Star is a favorite here, used often in the MAA’s Mustang of Service Veteran Program. She is still wary of the halter, and is affectionately known as the "Queen of Avoidance", but loves to get scratches, have her neck muscles massaged & her mane braided.
She is gentling out nicely and will be ready for a successful adoption to her forever home in the coming months.
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Beatrix
Bea is an 8-year-old from Four Mile, Idaho, captured on 9-14-2021. She has a calculating mind and thinks through every move in detail. She is very curious and wants to connect, but just can’t seem to find enough safety yet to take that step. She is used often in the MAA’s Mustang of Service Veteran Program. Many of our Veterans can relate to her calculating and at times over-analyzing mind and how that has created a strong neuropathway to help her find safety up to this point in her life.
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Sammy
She is an 8-year-old mare from High Rock, California, captured 10-3-21. Sammy is full of trauma and is learning to slow down and think first, rather than going directly to an amygdala response. Her noise of choice when not liking something is a loud "dragon" snort or blow like a buck deer.
Sammy will be a long-time project. Trauma of this level does not give up easily. Brain-Based Horsemanship is helping her, even when her herd could not. She now has the ability to find safety for a longer time frame than when she arrived, although she still has a long way to go.
Sammy is used often in the MAA’s Mustang of Service Veteran Program, as she teaches the importance of having a handle on reading and applying pressure to create connection and response. She also has a way of drawing in those who have also experienced trauma in their lives - as one of our Veterans put it, they feel like she attracts those who share a "bond through tauma".
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Valley Girl
Valley is a beautiful 7-year-old Mustang from Salt Wells Creek, Wyoming, captured on 11-17-2021. She spent three years in BLM facilities until being chosen & adopted by a veteran that graduated from our Mustang of Service Veteran program.
She is a sweet, but skeptical girl. It appears that she has had human interaction as her paperwork had a name on it and that previous interaction with humans has caused some trauma associated with the halter and with people in general.
Recently, she has made a big leap in her progress - she has discovered that humans give great scratches and that brushes feel really nice!
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
DonKee & Ishmael
They consider themselves the Royalty of the 3E Ranch. They are hardly ever seen apart - causing us to question whether we count them as 1 or 2 animals...however their often mischievous and stubborn natures sometimes make us feel like they take the same effort as 10 horses! We wouldn't have them any other way however.
The burros add an interesting dimension to the MOS Veteran sessions. Previously wild and adopted from the BLM, they have since been gentled by our program founder Sky. This, plus their size makes them approachable for those who may not be quite comfortable yet around the horses. They are also ornery enough to create a challenge for even the most experienced horse-person! We feel honored that they choose to participate and are grateful for their teachings and the laughter they bring!
** SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE **
Easy & Leo
These 2 are the babies of the Mustang Adoption Academy.
These two were picked up by the MAA in Paul's Valley OK and got their initial start at a 3 day Mustang Summit gentling event (check them out at www.mustangsummit.com) in Albuquerque NM.
They were quickly adopted by a private individual and brought home to the MAA for further gentling. They are currently being boarded at the MAA and often used in the MOS program and outreach events. They are cute & cuddly & mischievous and do a great job of challenging our Veterans as they learn to go up & down the pressure scale within tolerance.
As fate would have it, their adopters are currently establishing a Veterans mental health program of their own, where Easy & Leo will one day be the founding furry therapists!
Sponsored by a donor of their future Veterans program