For those who do not know what a Kiger Mustang is, I will give you the short version. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has two management areas for a small herd of Mustangs that stood out from the rest. Kiger and Riddle HMA's. These horses are well known for their dun coloring.
Ever see Dreamworks animated movie, Spirit? That movie's main character, Spirit, was based on the Kiger Mustangs.
Anyway, every 3-4 years the BLM gathers horses from these two HMA's and offers them for adoption to the public. This past October a gather was done, and in that gather, a stately gray, Kiger Mustang stood out from the rest. He had been seen years before in previous gathers, but had been turned back out. He now was 17 and offered for adoption. An adoption was held in Burns, Oregon and people from far and wide came to bid on the Kigers. Old Gray or Big Gray as he came to be known as, was looked at and photographed, and passed over for adoption. From what was said, people were worried about his age and being wild, some worried about his color, which years ago was probably thought to be claybank dun, and now is showing to be gray, and others yet probably did not recognize the absolute regal beauty of the stallion standing in front of them.
What was in store for Big Gray? Long term holding pens. Thankfully, people at the Burns facility watched him and recognized his calm demeanor, and offered him in a special e-mail bid adoption.
I had seen pictures, people had taken when they were at the adoption, and his eyes spoke volumes to me. I himmmeedd and hawwweeeddd for weeks thinking about what the impact would be if I were to put in a successful bid. I sent in my application to adopt and was approved. I thought some more, talked to friends who had Kiger Mustangs, those who had come from the wild, the captive bred ones and I looked long and hard at the one standing in my field, who is owned by a friend. My mind was made up and I placed my bid.
Well, I won the bid. Then it kinda hit me what had just happened. Holy Cow! What was I thinking? Well, when my sanity returned, I thought through it as logically as my non-logical brain can and calmed myself down. I have handled and owned stallions for years, even though I realized this would be different from anything I had experienced before. Shipping was arranged and now the wait started.
Well the day finally had arrived and Argo came from Oregon across the country to Western Pennsylvania. I cannot thank the BL M people enough who helped with my many questions and inquirys, sent me pictures when I requested them and dealt with my hectic schedule.
Ever see Dreamworks animated movie, Spirit? That movie's main character, Spirit, was based on the Kiger Mustangs.
Anyway, every 3-4 years the BLM gathers horses from these two HMA's and offers them for adoption to the public. This past October a gather was done, and in that gather, a stately gray, Kiger Mustang stood out from the rest. He had been seen years before in previous gathers, but had been turned back out. He now was 17 and offered for adoption. An adoption was held in Burns, Oregon and people from far and wide came to bid on the Kigers. Old Gray or Big Gray as he came to be known as, was looked at and photographed, and passed over for adoption. From what was said, people were worried about his age and being wild, some worried about his color, which years ago was probably thought to be claybank dun, and now is showing to be gray, and others yet probably did not recognize the absolute regal beauty of the stallion standing in front of them.
What was in store for Big Gray? Long term holding pens. Thankfully, people at the Burns facility watched him and recognized his calm demeanor, and offered him in a special e-mail bid adoption.
I had seen pictures, people had taken when they were at the adoption, and his eyes spoke volumes to me. I himmmeedd and hawwweeeddd for weeks thinking about what the impact would be if I were to put in a successful bid. I sent in my application to adopt and was approved. I thought some more, talked to friends who had Kiger Mustangs, those who had come from the wild, the captive bred ones and I looked long and hard at the one standing in my field, who is owned by a friend. My mind was made up and I placed my bid.
Well, I won the bid. Then it kinda hit me what had just happened. Holy Cow! What was I thinking? Well, when my sanity returned, I thought through it as logically as my non-logical brain can and calmed myself down. I have handled and owned stallions for years, even though I realized this would be different from anything I had experienced before. Shipping was arranged and now the wait started.
Well the day finally had arrived and Argo came from Oregon across the country to Western Pennsylvania. I cannot thank the BL M people enough who helped with my many questions and inquirys, sent me pictures when I requested them and dealt with my hectic schedule. He is setteling nicely. He is an absolutely amazing animal.
I will post more tomorrow when I am not so tired
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