Kiger History

In 1971 Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act protecting all wild horses and burros on public lands. The Bureau of Land Management was given the responsibility to protect, manage and control these wild populations.  Round-ups are held periodically in order to keep the herds at manageable levels.  The horses are then counted, branded, examined and excess animals are offered up for adoption to the public.  The rest are then returned to the range.

It was during one of these routine round-ups in 1977, that a small band consisting of 27 horses were discovered in a remote area of Beatty's Butte in Oregon.  While inspecting the herd, BLM Wild Horse Specialist E. Ron Harding, noticed these horses were similar both in color and conformation. Mr. Harding arranged for these particular horses to be separated from the rest and held at the Burns district facility in Oregon.

After BLM had completed all the gatherings for that year, a suitable area was chosen to release these horses back to the wild.  In order to prevent the possibility of losing the entire herd to natural disasters, the band was split and placed into two seperate Herd Management Areas (HMA's).  Twenty of the primitively marked horses were released in the Kiger HMA, and seven in the Riddle Mountain HMA.  These were the horses that made up the foundation base of the Kiger breed today.

Kiger Mustangs are thought to be descended from the horses brought to North America by the Spanish explorers in the early 1600s. They have been linked genetically to the Spanish Mustang as a result of genetic testing conducted by the University of Kentucky. 

Kigers are predominately dun in color including: dun, red dun, grulla, claybank, bay, roan, and black. Markings for dun factor include dorsal stripe, jack stripe, zebra stripes on the legs, arm bars, bi-colored mane and tail, ears with dark outline and fawn colored interior, face mask and cobwebbing.

Kiger Mustangs are slightly smaller than most domestic breeds. Their ears are finely pointed and slightly hooked at the tip. The head displays a broad, flat forehead, wide, prominent eyes and fine muzzle. Their chest has good depth and width, and their back is short, broad and well muscled. Dense bone, compact hooves and a well-crested neck round out this unique horse.

KMA Breed Standard of Perfection
(All horses must pass inspection to be registered by the KMA)

HEIGHT:
13.2 to 15.2 Hands

CONFORMATION:
Good saddle conformation. In general, the Kiger Mustang should be compact, light to moderately muscled, smooth and stylish in appearance.

QUALITY:
The Kiger Mustang should have clean, dense bone with sufficient substance, well developed joints and tendons, and with a fine coat.

TEMPERAMENT:
The Kiger Mustang should be tractable, but with good spirit.

COLOR:
Variations of the Dun Factor: Dun, Red Dun, Grulla, Bay, Black, Claybank, and Roan.

HEAD:
Medium in size, clean cut and tapering slightly from jaw to muzzle. The profile side view can be straight, concave, or slightly bulged, as the Tarpan. Wide, clean cut lower jaw, medium fine muzzle with small and firm lips and medium nostrils. Ears should be medium in length, hooked at the tips on the inside, set wide apart and carried alertly. Cobwebbing and masking are highly desirable.

NECK:
Medium length, well crested, clean cut at the throatlatch, smoothly jointed to the shoulder and deep at the point of the shoulder. Mane and foretop full and bi-colored. (Some may tend to be upright mane, Tarpan type.)

FOREHAND:
Shoulders of long length and at 45-50º slope, blending into smooth, well defined, but not too high withers. The withers should be slightly higher than the point of the hip. Wither stripes, crosses, shadows, bars and stripes on chest and legs are highly desirable.

FORELEG:
Forelegs should be moderately spaced with an inverted V appearance, when viewed from the front, where they connect to the chest. Viewed from the front, the legs should be thin and must be straight; viewed from the side, legs should be wide and sinewy.
Cannons short to medium, wide flat and free from muscling. Fetlock joint should not be round, but rather wide. Pasterns should be clean and strong, of medium length, the slope to correlate with the slope of the shoulder. The hoof should be of medium size, round to oblong, with thick walls. Kiger horses tend to be mule footed.

BARREL:
The body conformation of the Kiger Mustang is distinctive, with chest of good depth and with short back, broad and moderately muscled. The barrel, oval, with well sprung ribs and full flank. The sternum should not protrude. Withers are well defined, but not prominent. Dorsal stripe is mandatory with herringbone stripes desirable.

HIND:
The hind legs should be squarely set and so placed that the horse turns on his hindquarters with legs under the horse. The hips should be well rounded. Croup should be rounded gently with medium-low set tail, well carried. The tail to be full with light colored guard hair. Muscles in the hip and thigh should be long and sinewy; not heavy as characterized in draft horses.  The hocks should be wide, deep and clean. Viewed from the rear, the hind legs are usually closer at the hocks than at the fetlocks. Stripes on the lower legs are highly desirable.

CANNON:
Short to medium, wide, flat with tendons standing well out from the bone and well defined.

PASTERN:
The hind feet should resemble the forefeet and should be round, medium in size, smooth and dense.

HOOVES:
Dense, compact, recessed sole and frog, tending to be oblong or mule footed.

ACTION:
Lively, light, tending toward higher than average front leg action.
Some tend to be Paso gaited.

For information contact Kim Kellogg