Re: RC: Re: kiger mustangs

[Laney Humphrey <laneyh@mbay.net>]

Hi Kris,
    I've just forwarded (I hope!!!) to Ridecamp my reply
to Heidi's original query.  I'll just add a bit here.  In my
book Spanish Mustangs, including Kigers, are the ultimate endurance horse. 
They will go forever, recover quickly and are sensible.  They are
not as fast as Arabs and they aren't horses you can push around but, well
treated, they love to work and are extremely adaptable.  They make
perfect multi-day horses and would probably do well in 100s.  My Spanish
Mustang, Dino, and I have done 250 miles this year and he's asking me 
to take him out of vacaction mode.
    A great source of info about Spanish Mustangs is
the Spanish Mustang Registry website:  www.spanishmustang.org.
    A big problem is finding one old enough to ride! 
I got Dino when he was 2, most are sold as weanlings and are rarely resold
because they are so much fun and can be used by the entire family. 
Many are used for ranch work but some do dressage and hunter/jumper as
well as polo.  They aren't large, 14.2 is big but they are sturdy. 
Right now there are a lot of registries, such as the Kiger registry, that
only deal with one type of Spanish Mustang, either a specific color or
horses originally collected from a specific place (Wilbur Cruce for example). 
There is  also a Spanish Barb registry and a Jennet registry I think. 
If you ask me, all these horses are essentially the same.  The Spanish
Mustang and Southwest Spanish Mustang registries are the biggest and oldest,
formed many years ago by 2 friends who later had a falling out so each
started his own group.
    As you can tell, I really like these horses! 
It's tempting to think of crossing them with arabs, and it has been done,
but I think they have so many special qualities that it would be a shame
to dilute them.
Cheers, Laney
Kris Hazelbaker wrote:

I've looked at Kigers and wondered about their endurance abilities myself.
Pretty horses, and they must be pretty tough too, with their immediate feral
breeding.  So, has anyone tried them?

Kris Hazelbaker
Idaho