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Post by sbutter on Jul 29, 2011 13:45:04 GMT -5
That is very interesting to hear! Dianne and I were looking at #1192 and wondering how much of that is stress or conformation. She did look uncomfortable in a lot of the shots that I took of her, but she never limped or bobbed her head. Her stride was shorter though. Maybe everyone who adopts should plan on some chiropractor work when they are tame enough. You may get a whole new horse  |
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Jul 29, 2011 14:02:17 GMT -5
It has been quite a journey for me with learning about structural work and how much it influences the body. Most of what we see is posture vs. conformation. A world renowned chiropractor told me the more he works on horses (and people!) the more he believes genetics is only 30% of conformation - the rest is environment, nutrition and stress. Today in class, Reina was being ridden and a gal that bought two horses from me comes up from Corpus for lessons. She was saying some really nice things about Reina and her nice round movement, great head/neck carriage and calm way of going forward. I mentioned Reinas' name and she did not believe it was the same horse she used to see with her head up, no topline and short choppy movement. She even asked if she was for sale...quite a nice boost for someone to notice all the hard work that has gone into that horse; not to mention she looks like a different animal.
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Post by sbutter on Jul 29, 2011 19:25:10 GMT -5
That is such great stuff and I am glad you pass the information on to other people! I happened to find some more pictures of #1128.    |
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Jul 29, 2011 21:32:18 GMT -5
He sure is a cutie - in the growing stage even! There are some nice pictures of him on the BLM site.
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Post by mystickiger on Jul 29, 2011 23:29:13 GMT -5
Michelle, I mostly agree with your Dr. Mary. Classical riding requires relaxation. Relaxation is foremost important in the "nature of the beast", hence warmblood, QH, and thoroughbred. None are the known to be the brightest, most aware, strongest survivalist in the horse world yet they are all "dumbed" down enough to do their jobs. Kigers as a whole, are not dumbed down. They are intelligent, aware, survivalist; head up alert. Classical teaching greatly focuses on the nuchal ligament as it equates to relaxation. With that said, Kigers have always had a propensity toward high headed introverted necks. A horse coming from the wild that shows the dip in it's neck may in deed be due to life style. Here's where I disagree...
Add this tension to a straight shoulder, and tight, small muzzle try as you may, you have a sewing machine, hell to ride, tense horse that may or may not reproduce itself. If you really study the bloodlines out there in the Kiger world, taking into account most have never been ridden before they reproduced, you will see this as very prominent. What people say is beautiful moving is actually, introvert, high headed, overdeveloped under the neckline, horses that do not use their back ends. Pretty picture; hell to ride and alot of correct riding to change. Breeders need to be very careful IMHO unless they plan to prove the horse under saddle. Under saddle has variations in meanings too. A horse that is intended to be a trail horse may never really need to be put to the test. I personally question the breeding value of such horses for the long term future of the breed.
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Post by DianneC on Jul 29, 2011 23:44:37 GMT -5
With all the banged up eye sockets and faces I hope those horses will get some body work too. Chinook got clipped by a hoof above his eye and his whole face needed adjusting.
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Jul 30, 2011 6:32:53 GMT -5
Karen...I surely agree with you - bad conformation is bad conformation and no amount of good living is going to correct it! Kind of like a lot of Arabians - nice to look at but heck to ride with that head up, back dropped and hindend prancing out behind! Lots of work to make them correct!
Dianne - I bet you will not be surprised when I tell you that most horses I work on need poll and face plate adjusting; lots of uneven eyes, torqued skulls and headaches.
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Post by nrly on Jul 30, 2011 16:51:14 GMT -5
all i know is Stormy seemd to have her head down, not up right after Jim trained her, and she has been that way from the get go. i take it I am lucky, she was calm cool, collected from the first time she accepted me..now was I nope...I am trying to post a picture of her first trail ride and Jim had just finished training her. when i get the hang of it I will get it up..granted this was 3 years ago.
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Post by pepper on Jul 30, 2011 23:13:56 GMT -5
Oh dear Michelle...I can't ignore your comment about Arabs movement...maybe you're refering to show Arabs but the arabs ridden all over the world in distance races are the best moving equines on earth.No other breed has been as sucessful at covering long distances at speed.They are true athletes and a joy to share the trails with.My little fellow is like a BMW ,smooth & quick,sure footed & fun.The on-lookers actually applauded him when climbed over Cougar Rock on the Tevis but he'd never be happy in an arena or a show...he & lots of his breed love the open road..me too for that matter :>)
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Post by Michelle Clarke on Jul 31, 2011 6:37:19 GMT -5
Pepper - don't get me wrong, I used to breed and show Arabs and it just took a lot of training to get them comfy. Many can be uncomfortable with that nose up in the air. Chillis' dam, Red Horse, was one of the worst Arabians I ever rode but turned out to be the best - I loved that mare! They sure can cover ground.
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Post by DianneC on Jul 31, 2011 16:33:23 GMT -5
I think I may have a pic of the light grulla mare with the star. Its from last year on the Kiger HMA in the large herd with two stallions, the dark grulla some call VanGogh and a dark dun. I thought sure the dark dun was just a lieutenant, but her foal from 2010 and this year is dun, so the dark dun was the dad.  Here is the next shot, I believe the dark dun in the background is the stallion  ![]() [/img] |
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Post by sbutter on Aug 5, 2011 0:56:21 GMT -5
To meet the demand, I am uploading photos. So if you have hours to kill, you can look at my BLM kiger album on photobucket. As I type, I am uploading photos to it. It might actually take a couple days lol. It looks like the order is from my very last photos (boys) to the first. s451.photobucket.com/albums/qq234/sbutter061789/BLM%20Kiger/If it asks for a password, I think it is "ginger." I can't remember if the "G" is capitalized. The only way for me to check would be if I logged out, but I don't want to since the pictures are uploading. |
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Post by stormyranch on Aug 5, 2011 7:14:02 GMT -5
Kevin and I have done 4 Extreme Mustang Makeover hores and adopted 36 mustangs. We try to get the Chiropractor out as soon as they are able to be handled. It is a lot harder to train a horse "right" when they're in pain. I always suggest anyone adopting a mustang have the chiropractor come out and work on their horses as soon as they can. Every one of the horses we took to the chiropractor needed adjustment and they were so much easier to work with afterward!
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Post by kigercat on Aug 5, 2011 10:19:21 GMT -5
"If it asks for a password, I think it is "ginger." I can't remember if the "G" is capitalized. "
It is Ginger with a capital G...just tried getting on to look!
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Post by kigercat on Aug 5, 2011 12:21:45 GMT -5
So....many.....pictures...
Do you know how hard it is to NOT get caught looking at over 300 pictures and ooohhhing and aaaahhhing...trying to take notes on favs.
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