North American Horse Encyclopedia

Kiger Mustangs, no other horse today is quite like the Kiger Mustang, in fact or legend. Stunning beauty and spirit. Primitive markings. Beautiful dun factor coloring. All add up to an equine that stands out in a crowd.

In 1971, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed by Congress to protect, manage and control these wild populations. In order to keep the herds at manageable levels, roundups or gatherings are held peiodically. They are still being held today. At this time they are counted, branded and examined. Excess animals are offered for adoption to the public, and the rest are returned to the range.

Kiger Mustangs are a type of horse that were discovered in 1977, during a roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Beatys Butte, located in southeastern Oregon (Harney County) in the United States."^[1] During the roundup, it was noticed that among those horses collected from the area, there was a group with similar color and markings. Testing was done at the University of Kentucky and the DNA showed close relation to the Spanish horses brought over in the 1600s. It was agreed that these horses would be separated from the other horses and the BLM placed two groups in different Horse Management Areas (HMAs) to preserve the breed. Seven horses were placed in Riddle Mountain HMA and twenty in Kiger HMA.

The Kiger Mustang is an "established breed", that is, breeding true for generations to a certain type. Many of today's existing Kiger Mustangs can be traced back to a single stallion named "Mesteño", whose name means "stray" or "feral" in Spanish (see etymology at mustang (horse)).

Kiger Mustangs are primarily dun in color and have primitive markings, including zebra-like stripes on the upper legs and shoulders as well as stripe running down the middle of the back into the tail—this is called a dorsal stripe. Typically a dun horse is a shade of muted tan or a light brown-gray with dark brown or black manes. A dun colored horse may have many, but not all, of the primitive markings which include the dorsal stripe, two-toned manes and/or tails, zebra-like stripes on the upper legs and shoulders, dark color around muzzle and ears with dark outlines and lighter interiors. Dun horses are generally identified as simply duns or grullas.

Kiger Mustangs, as a rule, are agile and intelligent, with the stamina and surefootedness seen in many wild horse and feral horse breeds. Bold and with lots of "heart and bottom" (a term for courage and determination) but gentle as well as calm, they are ideal for pleasure riding as well as trail, performance, endurance, driving, and many other situations that an athletic horse is desired.^{[citation
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Relatively few mustangs qualify as true Spanish Mustangs. In some herd management areas (HMA's, as the government calls them), considerable non-Spanish blood has been introduced over the years -- often, by deliberate choice. The Kiger Mustang herds in Oregon, for example, have considerable Thoroughbred, Arabian, Coach and Draft blood. This makes the Kiger mustangs exceptionally tall, racy or big (which makes them highly marketable, since so many riders prefer bigger horses). No one can argue with the success of the Kiger breeding program for creating animals that are beautiful, athletic and enormously popular, with a great deal of Spanish flair. However, the percentage of Spanish blood in relation to other bloods has diminished to the point that rare breed experts do not include Kigers on the short list of breeds that qualify as Colonial Spanish Horses.