Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary envisions a world in which all wildlife live free and thrive within healthy ecosystems.
Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary’s mission is to create healthy ecosystems for wild horses and other wildlife while giving refuge to vulnerable mustangs where they roam free forever.
— Sanctuary – together, we’re restoring freedom for additional vulnerable mustangs by bringing them to Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary forever.
— Ecosystem Balance – together, we’re sustaining wild horses at numbers healthy for them, other wildlife, and the land across over 100,000 acres of range through herd planning and by safely limiting herd size with immunocontraception.
— Land Conservation – together, we’re conserving sanctuary lands for wild horses and all wildlife who share them.
— Building Community - together, we’re sharing funds with sister organizations working for underserved communities, animals, and the environment, connecting humans, wildlife, and the planet.
Sanctuary Values
— Freedom - We value freedom and work for wild horses roaming wild with their family bands throughout their natural lives.
— Wildlife & Wildlands - We value a whole ecosystem approach and work for conserving wildland to sustain wild horses, all wildlife that share it with them, and the environment.
— Humanity, Science, & Technology - We value the most respectful and humane treatment for wild horses joined with scientific and technological innovation and work to translate these into action for healthy wild horses and healthy wildlands.
— Collaboration - We value building strategic, respectful collaborations and work for continuous learning and action to achieve larger gains for wild horses, wildlife, and wildlands.
— Community - We value inclusive sanctuary and environmentalism and act for wild places and our communities to protect wildlife, humans, and the planet.
— Ethics - We value integrity, strategy, gratitude, and sustainability, and direct efforts toward what we stand for while living our values in all of the sanctuary’s work.
The Sky Mountain Mustang Band & the Sanctuary
The first mustangs of the Sky band after one year in sanctuary.
Sun, the first lead mare of the Sky band, roaming with Fire during their first year of sanctuary.
The mustangs who inspired the creation of Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary were rounded up and removed from public lands in early 2007. Sun, Moon, Fire and Luna were adopted based on their poor health and apparent family band connection. These mustangs were gaunt and ragged from starving during a bitterly cold, snowy winter out in the forest, and their future looked bleak. Luna, pregnant at adoption, gave birth to Starlight three weeks later. Wild horses roam together in family bands and form deep bonds, and the sanctuary was created with the commitment to keeping this band together and restoring their freedom. Today, wild horses who become part of Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary run free together for the rest of their natural lives. The sanctuary is a no-kill, non-breeding refuge committed to an ethic of life-long protection and freedom for mustangs.
At the heart of all that is the sanctuary is the vision of wild places where wild horses live free and thrive as part of a healthy ecosystem. Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary collaborates with diverse partners including the Sky Community, tribal communities, students, scientists, personnel from federal and state agencies and other organizations working for wild horses to protect them and their freedom. Through connecting wildlife, wild land, and humans, a more just world is possible. The sanctuary is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, inspected and licensed annually by the New Mexico Livestock Board and registered in good standing with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Learn, join, give freedom for more mustangs and protect the wild places they roam by joining the community of supporters of the sanctuary ~ the Sky Community.