Horse Talk

[Bunnylady]

I looked up a kiger mustang stallion and started comparing pictures, and I do see where she's coming from now. He has the neck/mane that comes far down, deep chest, short back, big feet, feathering, and although he's not dun, he does have a stripe down his back. I still think it's a long shot, but it's kind of fun trying to figure him out!

It's funny - when I compare the pictures, I see little similarity at all. The horse on the left has a narrow chest, narrow rump, shorter back, smooth muscling, cresty neck with a big jaw (even for a stud) - it has a very "Spanish" look about it (and rather than big feet, I see long feet that need a trim). The horse on the right has a broad chest, wide butt, massive muscling on relatively large bones, almost no crest on the neck at all and half again as much back (particularly in the loin) - other than them both being relatively small horses, they don't have a lot in common.

 

[abigalerose]

Oh I don't take offense, I was just comparing some similarities, but I definitely don't see it as much as the lady who runs the rescue does. She was sure that he's kiger. But I highly doubt he is. I will say he definitely didn't look like the other mustangs she had, there were about 14-15 others and they just looked like.. Horses. Then he comes out with his big ole feet and pretty color and split mane, and I was like "wow, he's different than the majority of the ones I've seen!", although I haven't seen any in person from Oregon until now, so maybe that makes a difference. But, I don't understand why people don't like the big feet, I think they're adorable! And his back is weird. It looks 10 feet long in all those pictures, but in person it looked crazy short. No matter what he is or where he came from, he's one of the more interesting horses I've owned. And he was a very comfy ride. It's killing me just to wait for Saturday becuase I'm ready to start working with him. And should I be worried that he can easily jump a fence? Lol

 

[abigalerose]

Maybe I'm just not good at comparing! I thought their bodies looked the same, but their heads looked totally different, and that's about it. But I've never been good at looking at a horse and seeing "correct conformation" and stuff like that, so I could definitely be totally off

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

And his back is weird. It looks 10 feet long in all those pictures, but in person it looked crazy short.

Horses are incredibly difficult to photograph. You can have a beautiful animal with near perfect conformation, and a bad camera angle can make that perfect horse look like trash. By the same token, a good camera angle and the right background setting can make a even the ugliest horse look photogenic.

 

[abigalerose]

That's true. I use to have a seriously beautiful, pretty much perfect cremello quarter horse, but I didn't have one good picture of him

 

[Talithahorse]

It you really want to compare Spanish bloodlines, look at an old time Sorria (from Spain). They are the origin of most Spanish Breeds. Most of the modern breeds are more refined due to the Arab bloodlines that were infused into many breeds during the 1800's when they felt that Arab blood could improve ALL breeds. The old Spanish blood had thicker builds and were a great deal shorter than the modern Spanish breeds (14.2 is about right) The Spanish breeds come in a variety of primitive colors, most but not all have the dorsal stripe and so his color is not out of the range. Also, as you look at pictures, look for Wild Kiger's not the ones that were bred from Kiger's. The reason is that the pasture and conditions during the time they are young can have a significant effect on their final look. Research indicated that a horse can grow up to one hand taller on good pasture compared to a genetically similar/ identical horse on poor pasture. (Thus the reason Spain was invaded so often in the Middle Ages). Interesting research if you want to know more.

 

[abigalerose]

Looking at the wild ones, I don't really think he looks like them. So, what is it that makes some mustangs look draftier than others?

 

[Talithahorse]

The old Spanish lines were more of a "draft" breed because they originated from the forest breeds. They were favored due to the fact that they were "easy keepers" and could live on less forage then your desert breeds. Remember the old Spanish breeds were war horses. The ancient method of "training" war horses were to bleed them, starve them and then run them though a series of rough terrain. If that didn't kill them then the trained them, fed them well and sent them off to war. The draft shape also comes from the fact that a stockier build meant improved chance of starving through the winter (think surface area ratio). There is always the possibility that somewhere in his past, someones draft horses were released into the herd and since they are well suited to survival, were passed along. Also remember that the old bloodlines were genetically more diverse than the modern breeds (case in point, icelandics have the most genetic diversity of any breed even though they have been isolated since the 900's. That diversity combined with wild selection would produce a fine horse. Mustangs are in essence mixed breed horses with wild selection refining them more so than other breeds. Human breeders tend to breed for horses that look the same. Wild selection breeds for animals that survive similar situations so there tends to be more variability in looks but less variability of function. (example a horse with bigger hooves might be more sure footed than a smaller hooved horse but not as fast as a smaller footed horse. The bigger hooves would survive because they fall down less, the smaller hooved horse would survive because they turned faster, both resulted in successful escape from the predator therefore that variability would remain constant but on the other hand a tall lanky horse would not survive the harsh winters and so over the years, only the short, draftier horses would make it to breed. The end result is that they typical mustang is sure footed, easy to keep (not needing a lot of food), good solid hooves, very aware of their environment (read sometimes skittish) and extremely loyal once you "prove" to them that you are worthy of that loyalty. Of course each animal is different but in general.

 

[Bunnylady]

Part of it is that they could be described as the "all-American mutt-stang." Most feral horses are of mixed blood, and some have little if any actual Spanish ancestry at all. Here on the East coast, we have a number of populations of "Banks horses;" those from Chincoteague probably being the best-known. The legend is that they were shipwrecked or otherwise abandoned by early Spanish explorers, and DNA seems to bear that out for some of them. Others have intermixed with other horses that were probably brought from the mainland by people who were farming on the islands, and those horses had ancestors that came from more northern parts of Europe. In some cases, animals of certain breeds were deliberately released with the hope that they would interbreed and "improve" the local horse type, and others were just incidental, but if the horse could survive the conditions, it would have a chance to make a genetic contribution to the population.

 

[abigalerose]

Ah okay. And yeah, my last mustang was very loyal to me, he was my favorite horse and it totally broke my heart to sell him. I'm still upset about it. And he definitely was an easy keeper. We had him and two quarter horses and if they all got fat in the summer and we quit feeding hay and grain and just let them live off the pasture (3 horses on 60 acres) the quarter horses would get real skinny real fast, not skin and bones but they'd lose all their fat. But he would stay very very fat no matter what. And he was actually kind of tall for a mustang. He was one of the shortest ones when we got him as a yearling, but then he got pretty big, maybe 15.3 hands, I never measured but that's my best guess