04/24/2022
The flashy Mustang herd of the South Steens Mountains of Oregon known as the Painted Mustangs of SE Oregon, believed to be Kiger foundation related.
When you come to this area of the state of Oregon, adrenaline begins to bubble with excitement on the possibility of seeing the famous Kiger Mustang or in this case, a derivative of. According to BLM, this herd is known to have the most diverse color phases of any in the state of Oregon.
The true Kiger Mustang herd is one of the most magnificent, discovered in 1977 in the Steens Mountains, the BLM moved the horses to Kiger Gorge in the Steens Mountains in Kiger and Riddle Mountain HMAs and gave them the name Kiger Mustangs. The Kiger Mustang horse is believed to be the descendants of Spanish Mustangs brought to the New World by conquistadors in the sixteenth century.
DNA testing has shown that the Kiger horses are direct descendants of the original Colonial Spanish Horses brought to California in the 1500s to 1600s. But the South Steens herd, about 50 miles away from the Kigers, is a bit of a mix. Here in the Steens we also see the remnants of Colonial Spanish Horses as well as appaloosas, palominos, and the famous pinto horses. The horses here are not "pure" anything, but that fact, and natural selection, makes them incredibly hardy. It's known that the Spanish Horses once roamed here too but over time, local ranchers, cavalrymen, trappers, and Native Americans let other breeds of horses loose to mix in with the Spanish. Over the last few centuries, locals have used this South Steens mixed herd as a source of stock for their ranches, and today, the Bureau of Land Management is managing this herd for its famous pinto colorations.
This specific area (S. Steens HMA) today is managed by BLM for pinto colored horses with above average conformation which as I understand it, their foundation includes the traits of the Kiger Mustang. The colors of these wild mustangs as you can see range from flashy pinto and paint colorations to buckskins, chestnuts, sorrels, bays, grullos, palomino, gray brown and black. The horses in this herd average anywhere from 14 to 16 hands but considerable numbers of them were Kiger mustang types, indicating a possible mixing with the Kiger herd just to the north in Riddle and Kiger HMAs. Because of their prominent white markings, they aren't eligible for registration as a true Kiger Mustang. "South Steens is one of those really special herds that ought to be national treasures" Nancy Kerson from Mustangs 4 Us.
If you look closely at some of these pictures, there are Kiger characteristics in the herd, like the grullo stallion present in some of the images, he's hard to see as he blends so well. There were also dun marking factors present in the herd such as a dorsal stripe, some leg barring, mask on face, fawn color inside the ears, black outline on ears, bi-coloring in mane/tail as is in the true Kiger.
In April, the gates to the Steens loop drive are closed due to snow still covering the mountains. The hope of catching a glimpse of this famous herd is quite rare. On this day in April, however, I only had one day and just a few hours to visit the area with, of course, grand hopes of catching just a glimpse of the herd. To my surprise, travelling less than a mile from the entrance of the South Steens loop, there they were! Could this be one of the famous Kiger Mustang herds? The excitement was overwhelming reaching for my large lens to begin photographing. They were on the move, the lens was too big to get their entire bodies in the frame. Quickly reaching for my smaller camera, I hopped out of the truck and began capturing them with this lens as they crossed the road in front of me to join the other part of the herd that I hadn’t noticed.
There were literally hundreds of them scattered on the south side of the road as they made their way to the ravine and on the far hillside beyond that reached to the cloudy black/blue sky. Out of view, I could hear a pair going at each other, screams of a fight! Staying put, I waited with much anticipation, hoping they would join the others on the far side of the ravine so I could see what the scuttle was all about, if they would come out of the ravine. Three young stallions finally appeared on the other side of the ravine and the paint began to kick at the bay. The bay, having enough of being kicked, reared up with the paint and threatened to take a chunk out of his neck. Clicking away, I had great hopes of getting something out of the display in front of me. Just a few frames of the fight that only happened once, a hard one to imagine having captured….. as I began to look through the images… to my surprise, I have a few…. A rare moment indeed. Feeling rather blessed to have witnessed such a display in such a short period of time. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I enjoyed watching and capturing.
