A season of kigers

[vaquerotraditions]

I thought I would put a post of the kigers that I have worked with and started since last fall. Some owned by me, some by friends and/or clients.
Raven, ready to work

Yurok, being ridden by my nephew

Chiquita, halter breaking

Missy in the snow

Coyote on mountain

Fierro, stretching out

Smokey on lil knob

[fantasykiger]

Thanks for posting all the pics, so who is lucky one that gets to join you on the rides that is behind the camera ? on some of the pics
I think it is great to see all the Kiger Mustangs you have worked with, in pictures.

[vaquerotraditions]

Thanks,

a few pics weree taken by my nephew who is riding the dun stallion in one pic, a couple taken by my friend who owns the bay filly and my brother took one too.

I did have one more Kiger a few years ago and have worked other mustangs and Spanish Mustangs but wanted this to only be Kigers that I have worked since October. Been fun.

[fantasykiger]

Have you enjoyed your experiences with the Kiger Mustangs you have worked with? have you noticed a differance between the colts and fillies? I just have fillies and mares here but have heard the boys are much easier and such a joy to work with. I have rarely come across a sour Kiger Stallion. I would love to hear more about your thoughts here or on another post.

[lilnagy]

can you tell me more about Raven? is he yours? was he adopted? or domestic born? I like him alot! Lil

[vaquerotraditions]

Fantasy,

I have worked with some nice mares and fillies of many breeds and do not think there too much difference between them and the boys. I know some mares/fillies are tempermental and they always get called that, but what do they say when a gelding is being difficult??

To me its in the individual horse and you dont really know until you spend the time with that horse in working situations. Is he/she tempermental, wishy washy, resentful, pushy, spooky, grumpy etc?? I'll take a nice mare over a mediocre gelding any day. I do really like how stallions are so honest with their emotions, so true to life but not always practical to keep.

The spanish stallions I have been around have mostly been very nice minded and good ambassadors for the breed. The same is true of another of my favs, Old Tyme Appys.

I do like Kigers a lot but I have never been a real breed specific person. Ive always had 4 or so fav breeds. I like Spanish Mustangs a lot and in the course of playing with them have ended up playing with Kigers too. A few have made great impressions while in training with me this year, the wild caught dun stallion of Circle S; Yurok, is one of them. He's a real nice horse as is the bay filly Missy and I have great hopes for my red dun colt Fierro. I also think Chiquita is going to be a real sweet horse pretty quickly.

Lil,
Raven was bred by Manford and bought as a 3 yr old. I got him at 6 last fall as a project horse that had groundwork on him but some time ago and no rides. Yes and no. A real nice horse in a lot of ways but had PTSD about being mounted and was going to kill me or somebody else at some point. After a few months work I gave up, it didnt work out. Never could get on from the ground, from the fence, rock, truckbed etc yea, but not the ground. Broke my heart as I really wanted him to make it.

[Michelle Clarke]

My first Kiger, Zorro (aka Midnight) was like that....you could stand up in the stirrup, make eye contact out of his right eye, pet him, pat his butt, move the saddle - but as soon as you tipped forward to bring your other leg over, he would bolt. Could get on him from other things, like your Raven, but the ground was difficult. I had so many bad experiences, that my heart would be in my throat every time I went to get on him. Spent years working on it; finally found a clinician from the east coast (Dave Seay), that helped Zorro (and me) alot. At the end, Dave was at our place for a few weeks and we got Zorro doing really good. We did an Open House, and I worked him at liberty, then mounted him bridleless with a flag and rode him around. However, due to my fear, I sold him the next week; I just could not get past it.

[fantasykiger]

Thanks for your reply.
I am a lover of many breeds myself, my riding horses consist of a Kiger Mustang, Morgan and Clydesdale. I think everyone should ride a big ol' draft it is just plain fun. Of course all my horses are mares, I like my girls but all has changed sense the birth of my mule a John. For first time I will find myself in the future riding a gelding of sorts. I never had a need for a Stallion to many nice ones out there being kept by others. I can take my pick from them to match with my mares in the past. I do however admire the nice ones and owners commitment to them.
I too have a foundness for the Appy and have had one of some sort in my pasture sense I bought my farm, at present I have one left a 5 yr old filly.

[vaquerotraditions]

Michelle,
sounds like you had quite the horse too. Raven never bolted per se; he bucked like crazy and way before you got mounted. Very accomplished bucker! I found out after I bought him that he had been ridden and bucked off folks as a 3 yr old. Seems he developed PTSD about it.

I did all sorts of simulation drills to prepare him for being mounted with stirrups but it didnt help near enough. I could stand him next to the corral, have a foot on a rail and one in the stirrup and step up and climb on and he would be fine, go ahead and climb on from the top rail, or the back of that flatbed and he'd be fine, get on bareback from a high point and he would stand there hipshot all day if you felt like it BUT stand next to him, put a toe in the stirrup, lift ANY of your weight and the clock starts now and your hopin for 8. I was hoping all the work would allow him to calm down and realize he was ok, it was just me and just stand there. NOPE. I loved him but he wasnt worth my life. In three months work, I never was able to mount him normally. For whatever reason he had decided that was never going to be ok with him.

Oh ya, here is the first kiger I owned, back in '03, a 4 yr stud colt. A grandson of Steens actually. Dam was wild caught i think. His name was Se-sey-yo-wek which means "I whisper" in Yurok.

He had major trust issues but I got him green broke. I had him for over a year and I sold him to some folks who wanted him as a pack animal. They liked each other and seemed a good match. I was gonna cut him but he sold before that.

Fantasy,
I dont need a stallion either. I just kinda like em. I have had a few nice ones for a while and had one that got cut within 5 days of moving here haha. Id like to keep Fierro in tact but if he gets to hard on himself I will have do something. He is soo sweet and nice that I have thought about selling him to a home where he would stand a herd of mares rather than cut him if it came to that.

I have layed in the pasture next to him while he feeds and listen to him walk around me munching grass. There are not too many 2 year olds of any breed and any sex that I will allow to do that.

[fantasykiger]

That is the way I feel about my herd of mares, I have had them for so long, they are a pretty nice nerd.
If I layed down in the pasture I would not be alone for 10 seconds, I would have several noses in my face, wondering what the hec' I was up too....LOL. The young horses are just far to curious to let something like that go unnoticed. Especailly Wickee the Kiger Mustang she does not like anyone further then a whisker away, so Fierro is special.

[angelsdream]

Thanks for posting the pics! Sounds like you do a lot of riding and it looks like you're having fun doing it Wonderful scenery in the background as well.

I agree with Tiffany - Im a mare person as well. Altho I haven't been able to be around a stallion yet, but I have heard a lot of trainer's that prefer stallions or mares over geldings, but geldings are also nice. They are the same everyday for the most part - which is good. I've only had one kiger gelding and he was smart beyond words - had a great mind on him.

[DianneC]

I think I remember seeing a picture of Raven as a weanling. What was his breeding?

[vaquerotraditions]

Dianne,
Im not for sure on his breeding but I seem to remember the name Alpha Bit being one of them. He was not registered so Im not sure.

Fantasy,
As for spanish mares vs gelding vs stallions as successful saddle horses, here are a few of my thoughts:

I have worked with some spanish mares that were everything some people accuse them of that were just great riding horses. Some of my best horses were mares. Yea they could be a lil this or that but were worth it in spades. Even tho I have worked with fewer SMR or Kiger mares than geldings or stallions my success ratio was much higher.
Of the stallions I have worked with of these breeds I have been very fortunate to work with some really nice ones. Horses that would earn their keep under saddle and/or breeding as well. They would of course make great geldings as well. The few stallions I worked with that did not work out were not going to make it as geldings either as they had poor minds and cutting them affects the wrong end.

So after thinking about it, I have had the best luck with stallions and mares of this breed. It seems I have run into more geldings that were inferior than those others. Interesting!

[fantasykiger]

All I can say is I am pleased you have run into more geldings with bad minds. Apparently owners recognized a horse with issues as a colt, thought removing the family jewels might solve the problem. While it did not as you mentioned, it was the other end with the issue, still they prevented reproduction by gelding said horse.

There is good and bad in every breed regardless, I just like to hear stories and experiences of those who have the opportunity to spend time with more horses then I. As I am limited to my group of half breeds