Kiger Stallion influence

[sbutter]

After looking through the list of stallions I was curious of what types of foals do they throw. What are your experiences with different stallions? What types of mares would compliment them in temperament, ability, and conformation? Feel free to go in depth, but I don't want this to become a stallion bashing. If you are the stallion owner tell us what you have noticed in the stallion and his offspring and how the mare complimented or detracted the offspring's potential.

[Michelle Clarke]

I think this is a great question...one of the reasons I use JP's stallions is that he can tell me what they throw and what the will put over the mare. For example, one of his stallions will put a nice trot on a flat moving mare, but won't take away movement if she has it. I always have him look at my mares and let me know which one of his stallions will be the best match.

So far, we have had 20 Charro foals. There are a few traits that he is pretty consistant in throwing on most mares; such as his sweet temperment and eagerness to work. Charro has an extreme flex in his hindend that comes from the joint between the lumbar and sacrum (sacroiliac joint). This puts his hindlegs very much underneath him with alot of power and pull - I have only felt this on one other horse and some of his get (a lusitano from Portugal). Charro puts this flex and power on almost 80% of his foals.

He seems to often pass his large, kind eye too.

I have noticed that somewhere in Charros' background is alot of height. Some of his foals are reaching and exceeding 16 hands and some of his grand-foals too. I wish he would throw this more, along with his great neck, which many foals seem to get from the mare...

The more I breed, the more I see the importance of the mare and just how much influence they really have. Chilli, for example, has a HUGE influence over her foals in both conformation and temperment. She is very dominant, as was her dam - so strong maternal line there. Hipo (lusitano stallion), has a super strong influence in his fillies especially, as we have seen (we have four of them).

We only have five Desi foals (so Charro grandfoals) and what we have seen so far is consistancy in height, bone, easy going temperment and his big 'ole head! Honestly though, they just don't have that classy look that the Charro babies do.

BTW, some of my best foals are out of Sycha, who is a Charro daughter. I belive his fillies are really going to produce and I can't wait to get more of them into productin over the next few years.

[stormyranch]

This is a Great thread!
Dino tends to pass on his sweet disposition also. His foals are all very kind and sweet. He has had 6 offspring and the colts have all been bigger that him also running 16+ hands. He also passes on his smooth gates, he has a fluid trot.

Lui has had 3 foals. 2 duns & 1 grulla. Lui is very, very smart and he passes this on along with an instinct to figure out how to get out of things. Not fences, but situations were he doesn't want to be. His first colt was opening stall doors at three days old and to his mothers dismay was going to visit the neighbors 1/2 a mile away. Lovely is his daughter and although she doesn't seem to try to get out of things she is more like, "I don't know what you want me to do, I think I need to go do this"
I sold his other filly, but I do now she was smart as we saddle trained her.

I find it very fascinating that the most significant trait I seem to notice is the mind!!!

[Michelle Clarke]

Four foals for Lui, right? Don't forget the one we have out of Leza! She is also smart as a whip and has a definate opinion on what she needs to be doing or not doing!

Here's a pict of her a few months ago "helping" fix the fence...she wanted to use the pliers Hunter had in his back pocket:

[stormyranch]

OH YA! ;D Duh.
She is gorgeous! I could kick myself for letting her go!

[DianneC]

It is a good question, and really made me think. What is common to most Kigers and what is special about the foals a particular stallion. In this case, Chinook. I have seen several different mares produce different types of foals, its like Chinook has enhanced the mare's qualities without obliterating it.
There are some common qualities that I've seen all Chinook's foals, and now a couple of his grandkids out of Bravo. The first that comes to mind is that quality I call substance. The athletic ability to do most anything. The ability to run over very rough ground with ease, their heads hardly moving and their backs moving only a little that makes them look like they are floating along with no effort. What a wonderful ride that makes when they are grown! There is a courage I see in both the fillies and colts, a calm confidence that makes them steady and not skittish. There is a presence about them, the ability to come up with brio and fire and then settle just as quickly to easiness. There is an elegance about their movement that makes just watching them a joy.
Like many Kigers, there is a need for relationship and desire to please that makes them a pleasure to train. If one of the them gets into trouble with me they come up to make sure we are still OK. I love that. There is someone home between the ears and a mind that tries to figure out what you want.

[sbutter]

Dianne, have you noticed anything that is different between Bravo and Chinook? Did Bravo get something from his dam that he is passing on to his foals or are Chinook and Bravo's foals "identical".

Has anyone noticed anything in particular between colts and fillies? In the TB industry certain stallions are known to be really good broodmare sires or a good sire of sires. Has anyone noticed anything like this with kigers? Do certain stallions throw better fillies than colts or is it a pretty even playing field?

Are there certain kiger stallions that are known to produce a certain look consistently, even in grandkids?

[DianneC]

Not identical, you can definitely see Cedar in Bravo's foals. I do think the maternal grandfather effect is strong in Kigers. That's what makes having the best mares to the best stallions really important. I can see Geronimo in Calista's foals, but more so out of Chinook than Bravo. But I see more variation between between the foals of different mares than I do between Chinook and Bravo's foals out of the same mare.

We don't have the number of foals that TB sires do, and certainly not the number of generations, so hard to say about broodmare sires and sire of sires. Proof is in the pudding there, and there's not enough pudding!

I definitely can see Steens Kiger influence in his grandson, Bravo. I think a lot of SK line's colts look alike, maybe not as high a percentage in his fillies but also there in many. I haven't seen a lot of SK's grandkids, and great grandkids, except my own. They all seem to have a similar head and be pretty compact in build.

I guess what I think is that you have to look hard at the mare you are breeding and judge from that what you want in a stallion to complement that particular mare, depending on what activity you plan to use the foal for.

[lindad]

Bolero who is my avitar, is a Steens Kiger grandson and he has the SK look. Chica is a great granddaughter to SK and she does not resemble him as much. She isn't as compact, is tall, and has a longer head that looks like Spring's head.
My daughter's mare is a SK daughter and she has his head and has a family resemblance. She is a compact little mare with a strong mind and will and is alpha despite her small stature.
Linda D

[fantasykiger]

Fantasy is a almost a duplicate to her sire. While she did recieve some fine tuning from her dam, she is Big Indian right down to the stripe on her face. Big Indian has passed on with few foals on the ground, I have not seen the others fully matured to see if he had the same influence on them as well.

Big Indian