Crossbreeding

Purebreds and Crossbreds in our Breeding Program

Charro, purebred Kiger Stallion

Here at Rancho Bayo, we utilize both Purebred and Crossbred breeding. Most of the purebreds we breed are marked for our breeding program if they prove to be superior individuals and meet our strict standards. We have eight non-negotiable points that each horse must meet. In our purebred horses, we prefer line-breeding techniques to solidify the desirable traits in our horses, so when we do crossbreed, there is a much higher percent chance of passing these traits along to the offspring. Only individuals that have inherited these traits are then considered for the breeding shed.

I picked our foundation stallion Charro (Geronimo), sight unseen because I saw some of his offspring that were incredible horses, even out of mares that were not breeding quality in my opinion. It took me a couple years of phone calls to convince the owner to sell him to me. Charro often produces better than he is, stamps his foals with his great disposition, balance and incredible hindend. His fillies are proving to be wonderful producers across the board. We have based our purebred program on him and do variations of linebreeding for fillies with high percentages of Charro in order to crossbreed them to other stallions, such as Lusitanos.

Nesa, purebred Kiger mare

The mares that we have chosen of other breeds, such as our high percentage foundation Quarter Horses, are line-bred along with some percentages of in-bred. We are using these condensed genes to then crossbreed with Charro (and some previously to Desierto) to produce foals of wonderful hybrid vigour. Many of these crosses are large, well-muscled, even-minded and are balanced in their energy output. It has even amazed us that these foals are all very similar in mind and body, even though they have to potential to have many different combinations of genes.

Why the Kiger Mustang?

After dealing with so many types and breeds of horses, I chose the Kiger Mustang to be the foundation of our breeding program. Firstly, I belive that the spanish type horse has so much to offer owners in many areas. Countries that breed horses, tend to breed them in reflection of their society to begin with. Being that Latins are such a passionate, proud people, they have looked for these traits also in their horses.

Consider first that the Kiger Mustang is a wild horse, their sole purpose in life is to survive. Only the smartest, the strongest and the bravest go on to produce the next generation. They endure harsh conditions, sub-standard nutrition at times and danger. They are quick to think, emotionally sane and have bodies that are designed to stay healthy and adapt...truely survival of the fittest. Weak genetics would not flourish in these environments. Wild horses are considered the healthiest of all the equine species; and this health lasts many generations into captivity.

We have found that being highly intellegent and adaptable, this makes the Kiger very trainable. Of course, some individuals choose to retain their wildness and not overcome their fear of man. This is understandable considering how they are rounded up and their first experenience with people...however, even the first generation from the wild makes a huge difference. I have had foals from very wild mares, that no matter what the mare does to keep that foal away from me, they dodge them until they can come up and see what I am all about. It has always amazed me and shows me that true charactor of the breed.

Besides being superior in health and very trainable, Kigers are highly bonding to people. I have raised other breeds, such as Arabians, Andalusians (PRE's) and even Pasos'; but the Kiger is on a whole other level when it comes to the desire to be a part of that herd, even if it is human. They are capable of giving so much when the human is an understanding and fair leader.

Desi, purebred Kiger stallion

As far as riding goes, the Kiger is extremely balanced and tries very hard to stay so, even if the rider gets in the way. I remember once starting a young Kiger mare under saddle and she got scared and started to canter. While I was settleing myself in the saddle, she started swaping leads to stay underneath me when I moved left or right. It was incredible! This was only her fourth time being ridden and I was hooked at that point!

Kigers also exhibit what is called "soft gaited". This does not mean they are gaited, however, it means that their trot and canter are very smooth and easy to ride. Many owners comment that their Kiger "makes them look good"!

With their versatile conformation, it allows them to easily adapt to many riding disciplines. Kigers perform in ranch work, reining, trail, dressage, endurance, eventing and even pull carriages. Kigers give their owners the chance to be able to pursue many venues of riding and have the ability to do it well.

Morgan, Quarter Horse mare

Why the Quarter Horse for a Crossbred?

We decided to use the Quarter Horse in some of our crossbreeding programs for a few reasons. Firstly, the spanish horse and especially being a mustang, are not genetically well-muscled. They will develop great muscling with good work, but in general they are light muscled for survival and not having to carry around lots of extra weight. You can liken them to a long distance runner.

The Quarter Horse tend to be very well-muscled and even heavy muscled at times in certain lines. We wanted to add more muscleing onto our horses for a few reasons. Firstly, we wanted more muscleing across the back in order to carry a saddle and rider well. Quarter Horses are known to be able to carry alot of weight for long periods of time because of the heavy muscle strapping down the back, protecting the spine. The balance of this is too much muscleing, which will lock the back during movement and not allow a horse to relax and collect well.

Next, we wanted to add a wider chest and larger hip. The spanish horses in general tend to be narrow in the chest which can limit lateral movement at times. This will also affect reach in spins and turns. A larger hip is also desired amoung many breeders of spanish horses. They are even careful where to brand their horses so the hip does not appear smaller than it already is. Again, this can be developed with good work; but our goal is to produce a ready-made hip that is stronger and more muscled genetically.

In picking our Quarter Horses, we stayed toward the foundation horses and away from the Thoroughbred influence in many of the bloodlines. This is because we wanted our Quarter Horse mares to be very even tempered and even very laid back on the emotional side of things. We hope to balance out the over thinking and over acheiving of the pure Kigers to develop a horse that did not constantly need to be busy to keep its' mind satisfied.

Hipogrifo, Lustiano Stallion

Why the Lusitano for crossbreeding?

We then choose the Lusitano for some of our crosses for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the Lusitano has been bred for hundreds of generations to be a saddle horse. They have been bred to do a job such as ranch work and bull fighting from the begining. This means not only do they have a superb work ethic, but they actually desire to be ridden and used. While the Kiger has many great attributes, it's main goal in life is to survive, which means to oppose predators and predatory behavior. This means that a saddle and rider is about the most unnatural thing for them. The Lusitano, on the other hand, is bred to trained; to partner up with a person and do a job.

It has amazed me that when we start our Lusitano crosses under saddle, they act as if they have always worn a saddle and revel in carrying a rider. They seem to finally be satisfied in something they know about, like a missing link in their life, and can't wait to work. They retain what you teach them and can be such pleasers that they anticipate your next request and eagerly give much of themselves. We have also found that the Lusitanos thrive on praise and desire to do well in order to get a soft pat and a kind "well done" from their rider.

We also hoped that using the Lusitano would bring size to our herd, as many riders do prefer a larger horse. However, it has been interesting over the years to see our Charro foals, can easily reach and exceed 16 hands, even being purebred Kigers. Our Lusitano crosses tend to draw the more english crowd and those interested in dressage and jumping.

Gringo, Lusitano/Kiger stud colt

Final Goals...

Where is this all going? Ideally, we want to use a mix of all three breeds and utilize the best qualities of all combined. We are choosing our next generation of breeding horses that already have the traits we are looking for and devleoping a horse that has the best of that their parents have to offer.

After doing years of reseach on hybrid vigor and crossbreeding, I have learned that the combination of three breeds, done correctly, will give the both of best worlds: solid desirable traits and the burst of vigor for health and well being. We are excited about the possibilities that lay ahead...