Kiger Mares to Germany

[barbhorses]

I would be very curious if she really is a purebred. She is very atypical looking for a Sulphur.

[hhf40]

I guess it depends om what you call a full bred Sulphur. She is freeze branded and was gathered in the last Sulphur gathering. I got her from Eric Reid at the corrals at delta, Utah, and Eric sent her to me. So I guess she is as pure bred as any wild horse can be.

Bill

[barbhorses]

Oh, last gather they gathered the entire HMA. Which means that it wasn't just the Spanish type that was gathered. The drafty stock to the south (which doesn't even come in the dun color) as well as the mixed bred ones towards the Nevada border that get crossed with the Nevada stock were gathered as well as some Spanish type horses. It is genetically proven by Dr. Cothran that there is a Spanish group, and then there are other distinct populations on the HMA that are not the same as the Spanish horses. The Spanish horses are pure enough to not have been able to detect any other breed in their genes (not saying that they are totally pure, just pure enough).

You really gotta be able to pick out classic looking Spanish type Sulphurs when buying them. Nearly all of the stock that they had on the internet adoption was off type save a few. They put up 60 horses. At the 2003 adoption, there were only 3 horses (I was at the adoption) out of 75 horses that were classic type Spanish Sulphurs.

When I asked about Spanish type from Lisa Reid regarding that adoption she started going off on the horses that had stripes. I said no, SPANISH TYPE horses at the corrals. Is there a jet black Spanish type horse. She couldn't tell me. Seems that the BLM thinks that Spanish = stripes... *face palm* That would be why they turned back many inferior horses back to the HMA as the "best" from that adoption as well. If they were really trying to follow Dr. Sponenberg's recommendations on how to manage the herd then they should hire a person that knows what they are looking at in regards to quality Spanish type Sulphurs. www.boblangrish.com/bob%20langrish%20travel.php?id=85

There appears to be a grulla in the bunch that looks descent, but the other horses....

How old is she?

[Michelle Clarke]

In my mind...what it gets down to is this and this is what it has always been in regards to the Sulphers for me. It is obvious that there are plenty of Sulphers that are not of Spanish type; actually seems that in the wild, there are very very few. If this is the case, then how can you know, by picking out a spanish looking sulpher - that it will reproduce true to the spanish type?

You can't. So again, in my mind, how can you claim any "purity"? If in the link you provided, there is one horse that looks decent, then what about the rest of the family herd? They are related - why does only one, once in awhile, show up spanish? Throwback is what comes to my mind. Honestly, it is no different to me than how they are developing the modern day Sorraia; by picking type and only breeding that.

I have no problem with these facts and I am not putting the Sulpher down at all. I am sure they are very nice horse in their own respect.

This is true of pretty much any breed. There are different types within the breed and some people fancy one over another. However, it does not make them any more "special" or more true to that strain...or less. Genetic variance is what keep species alive.

This is true in the Kigers even. There are different types and I honestly don't know anyone in the breed that claims their Kigers are "more Kiger" than the next one. They are all Kigers.

[barbhorses]

The genetic data is of a Spanish HERD. No throwbacks! If they were throwbacks then they wouldn't have shown up to be the most Iberian herd of any feral horses that have been tested to date and only displayed the ancient Iberian/Barb mtDNA pattern (D1 and D3). Nor would they have a genetic mutation that is not seen in any other horse due to their singular Iberian foundation of the herd or the fact that they have old Spanish genetics. Nor would they reproduce in a consistent pattern when bred in captivity (due to the consistency that they reproduce in the wild. Granted, I am only talking about the Spanish type horses). Here is a photo of a group of Sulphurs out in the wild. Photo was taken by Ron Roubidoux in the mid ninties:



There is consistency among the Spanish type horses. Also, who is to say that was a family band that they turned loose? The BLM only picks and chooses from the horses with no regard to whether they came from the same family band. They just pick among the horses the ones they think are the best.

I also have video of wild Spanish type Sulphurs that Ron Roubidoux took.

I think that the question you might be wondering is the same question that any serious Spanish type Sulphur preservationist and enthusiast is asking. That is, are there any more Spanish horses or herds out on the HMA or has the BLM mucked them up so bad that they are now just mixed bred dun mustangs? I would love to go look at the HMA and take video of the horses to see what is left. What I do know, is that the video I have of horses out in the wild and from early adoptions are not the same type that we are now seeing coming off the HMA. Could be that the BLM (through ignorance and a lack of care) has exterminated the last of the wild Spanish horses that descend from the California vaquero stock and that all we have left is the small gene pool we have in captivity. Which to me, is an extremely sad thought. That prospect runs on the same line as saying that the PRE or PSL is going to go extinct if nothing is done to save the last remnants of their kind.

My friend that I made the SM video for that I linked in the Kiger history section is suppose to be sending me back my videos and I am going to transfer all of those old tapes to DVD. So, if you are interested in seeing the herds of wild Spanish type Sulphurs then all you have to do is ask. I also have one of Rick Littleton's old video on the Kiger when he use to promote them.