Red Birds Trust

05/14/2026

A quick update on this pretty little Onaqui lady that we rescued from Kaufman K*ll pen at the end of April before she was shipped to a horrific fate in Mexico. She's still in quarantine in Texas as is standard procedure to make sure that they have a chance to unwind and show any signs of serious illness or respiratory distress from their time being shuffled through less than desirable situations in these auctions and direct ship lots.

Initially an individual posted publicly this was her mare, along with information regarding training level and a name. As it turns out that was a incorrect ID and one of her actual owners came forward and provided us with a lot of information, photos and training videos during part of her past life. Her adopted name is Cleopatra and she'll be keeping that - it fits her. And she's been through an awful lot in a very short amount of time.

She was adopted from the Internet Adoption back in '21, then shipped on BLM transport to TX and picked up in January of '22. Then in September of '22 BLM took her back (details unclear as to why) and she was subsequently taken along with a couple others to be used in a 100 day TIP challenge in March of '23. During that time she was so scared she ran through a barbed wire fence and still has scars to show for it.

She didn't end up competing in the event, however was reassigned from the TIP trainer to a private adopter in July of '23. Then when family dynamics changed due to no fault of her own she was sold in spring of '25 and found almost exactly a year later in the k*ll pen.

Never will she be bounced around like that again. She showed up at the k*ll pen with new slash marks on her legs and hips, but those have now healed, however mentally there's no doubt she has a lot to unpack with all the transitions in her short time out of the wild.

We still need to raise about $3,600 to cover the transport costs to get Miss Cleopatra to her final forever horse heaven landing where she'll be reunited with 3 other Onaqui mares who were also dumped in a TX k*ll pen back in '24 after being adopted by a private TX Game Farm located in Waco, TX.

The fundraiser in Gabriel's honor to reunite these three lovely ladies is pinned to our Red Birds Trust page and any amount or share would be very greatly appreciated. We have 2 more weeks to gather the funds to make sure these 4 Onaqui never have to worry about anything aside from what blade of grass is greener ever again.

Cleopatra has already gained noticeable weight since arriving at her quarantine location and we can't wait to see what the months ahead have in store for her.

Direct donations can be made to:
PayPal: [email protected]
Venmo:
Mailing Address: 772 Main Street #273, Tooele UT 84074

05/07/2026

Gabriel (aka Peanut)

A week ago today the Onaqui lost one of the best. I've struggled to even find words that will do any sort of justice to describe the depth of character that this stallion displayed. I have taken countless images of him over the years and despite how strong and fiercely protective he could be of family, he was still just so kind.

He was only 11. And he shouldn't have died. And he did because of humans. That's the bottom line and that's what makes all of it even more not okay. Gabriel suffered deep lacerations to the area of his coronet/fetlock of his front foot (in laymen's terms directly over the back of his hoof). Slices don't come from fighting, they come from contact from something very sharp like metal, fencing, beer bottles, etc. All of which have been removed from the area where he died both recently and consistently over the years.

What made it worse is that he was observed standing out there, alone, separated from the herd calling for them and unable to move, by multiple photographers who said nothing aside from to me in passing after the fact. Two days went by before BLM received a video by a concerned onlooker and hurried out to assess his condition. At that time it was decided to give him a couple more days to see if he would be able to recover, but after going to check on him early the following morning I found him in dire condition on the side of the road. Again while watching multiple vehicles drive right by him and do nothing.

No animal deserves that. And especially not this one.

At one point while he was atleast still standing I, along with clients, observed a photographer very familiar with the herd walking in the middle of the herd, right up in front of countless horses to get "the shot" before sitting on the ground and taking selfies with Gabriel's family band while he stood out there by himself slowly dying. This is NOT okay.

Gabriel gained his wings shortly after I found him on the side of the road that morning and tried to think of what you can possibly say to such a pure soul who is now no longer able to help itself. It was absolutely awful. He had traveled with band stallion Sunstar for years and was a tremendous help in making sure the mares and babies were protected and safe. Now Sunstar is having to fight his own battles and although he has one Lieutenant left in stallion Orion, the dynamics definitely aren't the same and Sunstar's strength and perserverence are already being tested daily.

This is a huge loss to the herd and to those of us who have enjoyed watching and learning about them over the years. I don't know what it's going to take for people to simply do better. Pick up trash, respect the WILDlife and stop harassing them and encroaching on their lives. Gabriel certainly didn't deserve that ending and his family didn't deserve to serve as props for selfies or photos to be posted on social media while all of this was occuring.

I found some favorite images of Gabriel over the years and hope his memory lives on for a very long time.

If you see an animal in distress in the Onaqui HMA you can contact the BLM wild horse and b***o specialist at (801) 419-4552 or Tooele County Sheriff (435) 882-5600 to make a report. Be prepared with your GPS location and/or the GPS location of the horse.

05/06/2026

We have had some incredibly hard losses on the range lately, but last night the north herd gained a brand new member as "Harit" became a first time mother 1 week shy of her second birthday.

It was scary for a while as the little one had the umbilical cord wrapped around it's back legs for a while keeping it from standing, but finally it managed to get untangled and by sunset was up figuring out how to use it's feet and taking much needed time for it's first milk and colostrum from momma Harit who had gotten her milk in 2 days ago.

She was surrounded by family and protected by band stallion Skywalker, stallion Bolt and bachelors Ziggy and Lokum. Ziggy has been protecting Harit for the past 2 months as she was heavily pregnant and often fell behind her family. It was Ziggy who never left her and would push her back to join her family and he continued to try to protect them last night during the labor and afterwards.

I have a ton of images I need to edit, but here is a video taken from the car of shortly after water broke to some time later when the little one finally got up.

1 week shy of her second birthday, the Onaqui's north herd mare "Harit" gives birth to her first baby surrounded by her mother, grandmother, great grandmother and aunt.

04/24/2026

A HUGE thank you to everyone that jumped in immediately and helped to raise funds to bail our sweet 8 year old Onaqui mare out of the Kaufman direct ship lot on Wednesday! She has a lot of groceries and R&R to get back to the shape she should be in, but she loaded up like a saint onto the trailer and is headed to quarantine to eat, sleep, relax and unwind.

We'll post more images and updates as time goes on, but for now the biggest celebration can start as she's out and no longer headed to Mexico.

04/11/2026

‘Tis The Season

It’s that time of year again when the temperatures begin to rise and nature enthusiasts, photographers and wild horse admirers alike hit the range in an effort to find our local Onaqui herd. This herd is incredibly unique and special in that they are more tolerant than most to human presence and it gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn about wild horse behavior and family dynamics all while capturing memories via our phones or cameras.

With that tolerance unfortunately brings out the Bison Petters and with that leads to harassment, feeding/petting, drones, range degradation and even beloved horses being shot and killed. All of this behavior is against federal law.

Utah just came out of the driest winter on record and numerous articles have been published regarding concern for local crops, the health of the Great Salt Lake and pending severe drought conditions. That also means a great impact on the Onaqui Herd Management Area.

Already new tire tracks are lacing the cracked soil, driving over precious grass which is barely there to begin with. Recently a photographer carrying 2 cameras and a cell phone was witness running through the herd, approaching within 10 feet to take “selfies”, squatting between stallions to get “the shot” without any attempt whatsoever to give the herd the 100 foot minimum distance requirement. He even ran past a small family with an injured 3 week old filly who was sleeping, trying to rest her swollen back leg; completely oblivious.

Numerous photos and videos have shown up on social media of photographers standing inside watering holes again to get “that” shot, with little or no consideration to the stress the herds, especially in the south, are already under with a lack of resources currently available.

Although it may seem like the Wild West out there, rules, regulations and legal requirements are in place. Some of the most critical include:
1) Maintaining 100 foot distance from the herd. If they approach you, take the path of least resistance and least disturbance to back away to 100 feet, or to your vehicle.

2) Maintaining 200 foot distance at watering holes and from new foals. Watering holes are already areas where the horses experience stress with so many trying to get water from a small area and the horses are on edge without us contributing to that or preventing them from watering. New foals are also susceptible to harm and the bands are increasingly protective of the little ones often causing fights over space and boundaries – give them the space they need to stay safe and work it out.

3) Travel by motorized vehicle is prohibited off established roadways. This means DO NOT drive off road. Seeing tire tracks where someone else destroyed precious habitat doesn’t mean it’s legal or right. Established roadways are obvious and they aren’t someone else’s tire tracks. Most of the established roads will show up on your car’s navigation map. If you are in doubt that is a good resource to use.

4) Drones are not permitted. This is a closed air space and drones are illegal. Because they sound like helicopters, they also terrorize the horses. Unfortunately, several have already suffered injuries, even leading to death, after the launching of drones by photographers.

If you observe people driving off-road, entering watering holes or blocking the horses access to watering holes, petting or feeding the wild horses, chasing them with vehicles or dogs, launching drones or other flagrant behavior please take the following steps to document and report it.

Steps To File A Report:

1) In an emergency call 911 or Tooele County Sheriff’s Office (435) 882-5600
2) For a severely injured horse call or text the Range Specialist (801) 419-4552

3) To File A Report:

a. Capture photos and video of the behavior, the vehicle and the license plate. Cell phone photos are helpful to be able to access the GPS coordinates off the photo later.
b. Email a summary of your observations including the location, time and date. GPS coordinates of the incident can be pulled off of an iphone photo to be included in your report.
c. Remove any apples, carrots or other food left on the range.
d. If a drone is launched, video the drone, the operator and the herd.
e. Email your documentation to: [email protected] and [email protected]

This is going to be a hard year for the Onaqui, and other wild herds across the west and we hope people will do better and give them the space they need to stay wild while still enjoying all they have to teach us.

01/03/2026

Happy 4 year Mustangversary to my boys!

4 years ago today it was finally time to get the boys out of the BLM holding facility where I'd been visiting them two hours away 2 x week for the past 4 months. They'd gotten lots of love and scratches and handfuls of hay during those visits so by the time I got them home I was already able to scratch them all over and give them hugs and kisses and the only difference was that we weren't separated by bars anymore.

The night before I was arriving to haul them home they were put into the same small holding pen together to make it easier to get them onto the trailer the coming morning and that was the first time since they were rounded up 5.5 months before that they'd seen each other. While Teton spent those months in a pen with his lieutenant and protector Stetson, and fellow yearling Half Moon and Red Bird before he was euthanized, Dreamcatcher was in a pen full of weanlings where he knew no one. The only babies he was friends with were either fillies or had been re-released so he didn't take the time in the holding facility well.

From the minute they were reunited Dreamcatcher stuck to Teton like glue and Teton has the patience of a saint having a cling-on of an 8 month old insisting on never being more than 5 feet away for the first year and a half at least.

Although Teton was only a year and a half he was always the leader. Calm, confident and watchful over Dreamcatcher and Cheyenne Grace. Letting them explore and meet other horse friends and only intervening when necessary. He's always been an old soul that way. Between his father, Goliath, and protector Stetson, he had the best teachers.

Although it's been overwhelming many times trying to figure out how to give them the best lives they can have in this new domestic setting and perpetually weird registering that they're behind fences (even if it's my fence) versus out on the range they've been troopers and we just keep working through whatever each day may bring.

They've come so far already, and trustingly love all the new humans they meet. I can only imagine what the next 25 years will hold for us all.

01/01/2026

A 2026 Challenge for all that love our Onaqui and want to make their lives a little better on the range ...

12/31/2025

Last Surprise Onaqui Save

Waiting to share one last feel good story of the year has been hard to do and it’s been a long time coming for this sweet 11-year-old mare who was removed from her home in the north herd on the Onaqui range in the 2021 roundup.

Part of the story can be found on our website Success Stories page where we posted about 3 Onaqui we helped to rescue out of a Texas killpen – 2 mares and a yearling c**t.
(https://redbirdstrust.org/ #/page/success-stories/) This is how it all began – with a title posted by the kill pen said to belong to one mare who I realized was much too young to be a match with this particular title and so the search began to try to find the actual Onaqui who went with the paperwork hoping that we weren’t too late and she’d already been shipped to slaughter.

While pouring through posts on kill pens looking for a grey mare that looked to be 11 (at this age she would be nearly white, not dark grey like the mare pictured with the paperwork) two were found that only had microchip numbers in the description, no titles.

After running the microchips with BLM sure enough one of them was the 11-year-old Onaqui who matched the title paperwork said to belong to the young, dark grey mare with a yearling c**t on her side. I had reached out to the kill pen at the same time asking for the microchip number for the young, dark grey mare and let them know that the title posted was not attached to the correct horse.

In the meantime, a private horse savvy placement was found for the 11-year-old Onaqui mare who was listed as “Cheyenne” in the kill pen and transportation was arranged to pick her up. Red Birds Trust covered the bail for Cheyenne and her new caretaker got on the road to go get her out of the kill pen.

All while waiting to see who the other young mare actually was and from what HMA.

As it turned out, the young mare (confirmed 4-year-old) was from the East Onaqui herd and was also rounded up in 2021. A successful fundraiser was launched by Salvation Wild Mustang Sanctuary to pay the bail on the mare and c**t pair while Red Birds Trust fundraised for the cost of the haul and they hopped on their freedom ride headed to upstate NY to live with Ann Cunningham. Upon arrival they got new names – Ruby and Cardinal and have both turned into very friendly, treat loving mustangs.

Fast forward several months and I received a text from the caretaker for the 11-year-old mare and due to circumstances beyond the mare’s control, they were no longer able to keep her. The mare had been living in a pasture with several opinionated quarter horses and was said to get along with all the horses, be very quiet, and would let you approach to about 5 feet to take treats before quietly asking for more space. She had not been worked with during this time, was just wandering around being a horse for the past several months.

Jumping backwards in the story to May when all 3 were in the kill pen there was one more twist – the 11-year-old mare “Cheyenne” was being kept in a pen with another grey gelding and they were advertised as a “bonded pair”, but the photos and videos said differently if you know anything about horse behavior. Those two horses didn’t even want to be near each other let alone did they act like a bonded pair.

Turns out my gut instinct was correct about them and after investigating the situation further it turned out to be just a story spun which is a common sales tactic used by the kill pen to try to sell more mustangs. The mare “Cheyenne” and the gelding weren’t from the same owner and had never seen each other prior to entering the slaughter pipeline.

However, the unexpected twist to this story was that although “Cheyenne” and the gelding weren’t from the same owner, you know who was? Ruby and Cardinal. Hence the mix-up in the titles. Because those 3 (Cheynne, Ruby & Cardinal) were from the same adopter who got them after the ’21 roundup and online adoption event.

So, when I received the sad news that due to personal circumstances the 11-year-old mare “Cheyenne” would need to find a new caretaker many options were seriously considered – including bringing her home to Utah.

In the end, after much thought and consideration of what would be truly the best for her and in the time constraints we had to work with, Ann stepped up again with a generous offer to bring her to her house in NY where she could be reunited with Ruby and Cardinal, make new mustang friends with her rescued herd, and begin the process of becoming used to regular human touch and attention and go from there.

She has been renamed Roseali. A new name to carry with her in her new beginning.

We want to send a special thank you to our donors, because without support, none of this would have been possible. We received a few surprise year end donations which covered the cost of the transport, meaning that we didn’t have to start a fundraiser and wait to get her on the road, we could make arrangements and simply get it done.

Below is a photo of Roseali when she boarded up to begin her journey north to NY.

12/30/2025

We love seeing updates from Dreamchasers of our lovely Onaqui who were adopted by them after the '21 roundup! This 4.5 year old mare is Clover and she is Silver Star's only offspring (south herd stallion who lost his band in the roundup and has been a bachelor since that time). Clover was Dreamcatcher's best friend from the time they were born (pic in the comments) and after her mother, Lady, was left standing alone in the BLM pens after the adoption event Dreamchasers stepped up immediately we worked together we raised funds to transport Lady back to Missouri to be reunited with her daughter and the rest of the friends she knew from the range. If you're looking for a reputable, hardworking sanctuary that's taken great care of our Onaqui (and countless other domestic horses) check them out! Donations are very much appreciated and tax deductible.