Red Birds Story

This organization is named after a small Onaqui colt known as Red Bird who was born in late August of 2020. 

Red Birds band consists of 11 other members and his gorgeous band stallion is well known to many worldwide as Goliath. With age Goliath has gone from grey to nearly white but still retained his unique dark grey stripe on the left front side of his face.  Red Bird was the last foal to be born to this band in 2020 and therefore the smallest.  He was quite lucky to have 2 other colts and a little filly also born into the family a month earlier to learn from and play with. 

As a baby his coat was so dark it was almost black with a nearly imperceptible star on his tiny forehead.  He had no markings on his feet, but showed off patches of flashy chestnut colored hair inside his ears, his flanks and in a little line that circled his nose perfectly. 

Red Birds’ dam is a sweet tempered grey mare that is as pretty as she is patient.  He is a total momma’s boy never far from her side and is  often seen running to her for comfort. 

Between his red highlights and his shy nature he gained the name Red Bird as he approached the world with careful consideration. When the world got to be too much he would then waste no time in flying back to mom like a little bird.

Red Bird Resting with his mom OQ344gM in January of 2021 

On January 13, 2021 five month old Red Bird was found in one of the remote snow covered valleys of the West Desert.  His band was enjoying time with several other members of the south Onaqui herd playfully skirmishing, eating snow and dried grass and resting just below a small embankment that blocked the howling wind.  He was completely sacked out dead to the world and his mom came and peacefully laid beside him (see image above). 

Images captured of this sweet moment later showed what could have easily gone unnoticed as a slight bit of swelling in his left lower lip.

By February 22, 2021 the swelling had become much more noticeable but the cute little fella was still in great physical condition - eating, nursing and playing with thehis other little 2020 foal friends.  The assumption at this time was that he possibly got kicked while playing, had a baby tooth that was impacted, or that he had some inflammation from a piece of cheat grass that had become stuck in his lip.

 

Red Bird in April of 2021

Fast forward to March 2, 2021 and the Utah BLM held a public meeting to announce that beginning on July 12^th of 2021 400 of the 475 Onaqui would be rounded up via helicopter and removed from the range.  The shock, outcry and heart break ran deep.  Members of the wild horse community began to come together in droves to try every means possible to Save the Onaqui before it was too late.

Around this same time Jen Rogers made the commitment to adopt little Red Bird to save him from potential euthanasia due to his injury and a BLM adoption application was approved. It seemed cruel to only take one horse so plans were made to also adopt other members of his band as well if the 2021 roundup could not be stopped.

Once the plunge was taken to personally adopt Onaqui from the upcoming roundup, plans began to quickly take shape to form Red Birds Trust with the intention to bring a dedicated group of like-minded people together for the betterment of the Onaqui horses for many years to come.  This turned into a monumental project involving coordination of adoption of the 300+ horses in the Delta BLM holding facility, finding sponsors to support sanctuaries and follow the lives of adopted horses, conducting regular range cleanups and acting as a support for both private adopters and sanctuaries providing homes to Onaqui horses over the years.

On September 13, 2021 Red Birds life was cut short as he was euthanized by the BLM before he could be adopted from the facility.

Many tears have been shed and more of his story can be read by clicking here.....

Red Bird striking a pose in April of 2021 under overcast skies

About Red Birds Onaqui Family