It's All About Brego

~A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do.~ 

~Minnie Cody 1901~

October 6-8 was the "Kiger Kraze" wild horse extravaganza and adoption at the Burns Wild Horse Corrals here in SE Oregon. With my crazy schedule of clinics, hay, Pendleton, moving cows...blah, blah, blah...the adoption took me by surprise. It was my intention to be there with a pile of fliers of Brego...he really needs to go to his new home...wherever that may be.

Probably my fav photo of Brego.

Well, I'd just got back from my week-long clinic with Colt and was committed to help move cows for Rancher Dan...so, there I sat the day after the adoption weekend with Brego grazing quietly on the hill...not down the road like I had intended.

Then came the results of the adoption via email to me:


-       Total people in attendance: 200
-       Total number of competitive bidders: 69
-       Number of Kiger/Riddle horses offered: 117
-       Number of Kiger/Riddle horses adopted: 88
-       Total adoption fees from Kiger/Riddle horses: $76,550
-       Highest bid: $8,750 (for a 2 year old dark bronze/dun stallion from the Riddle HMA)
-       Average adoption fee for Kiger/Riddle horses: $869
-       Number of horses from other HMAs adopted: 5

Notice the highest bid horse? Well, some guy bought this stud colt and a bunch of prospective young brood mares (to the tune of $30K) to breed them in captivity...which I think is the stupidest thing with the poor shape of our horse industry right now.

IMHO...shame on the BLM to allow stud horses be adopted out without being gelded...any HMA studs should be gelded...even the Kiger/Riddle. But, then the BLM would not be making the $$$ they did at this adoption. They say these Kiger's are "special"...so special that they're considered a breed...not in my book. They're just another wild horse...then after being gentled they're just another horse.

And, if you're a horse person at all, you know that in today's economy, you can't give a horse away...but let's breed some more of them!

Yep, see the soap box I'm standin' on...shouting at the top of my lungs!!!

I've been trying to sell Brego for 4 years...and not ONE "Kiger person" has showed any interest in purchasing him. My friend Andi made a statement the other day on FaceBook that pretty much hit the nail on the head "Because Brego is a gelding, he is of no use to any of the Kiger people." So much for these "Kiger Krazed" people taking care of their own.

Yes, I'm pretty miffed to say the least. I have $1200 invested into Brego (not including feed and care for the last 4 years)...I'm talking cash. I'm down to asking $500 for him...have still yet to see much more than a bunch of tire kickers from FaceBook and CraigsList. Thanks to all my friends on FB, he is getting a lot of hits...something is going to come of this.

So, with this trail of events, I've been on a rant for the past week...vowing the Brego will be gone, one way or another, before winter sets in.

This is Brego in mid-April of 2007...the day he was gelded,
and the day he arrived here at the Rough String.
He was wild...couldn't touch him. I suspect that
the vet put the halter on him when he was
under sedation from the gelding procedure.
Pretty pathetic looking~

Here he is in mid-July just 90 days later. I put a lot of hard
work and hours into this horse.

The owners who had hired me to train him realized after 30 days that he was not going to make a "family horse" for their pre-school children...I knew that before he ever arrived, but I did the best I could for both them and Brego.

After trying to sell him for the next 60 days, there were no takers. I put him out to pasture with another gelding and he got to be a horse again for the first time since he roamed the range with him dam.

I brought him back to the barn and into training again to prepare him for the 2007 Kiger adoption (yes, they had gathered that HMA again that year). I took him and did demos and advertised him as for sale at $1200...you guessed it...no takers. But, the highest selling horse that year was $7000...I've got a gentled, under saddle Kiger for $1200 and some idiot person paid $7000 for a mare...well, of course they were going to breed her *rolling my eyes into the back of my head.*

The owners only option for a place for him to go was to a boarding stable in Portland Oregon, where his sister boarded her horses...where no one knew a thing about him or how to help him if he got fearful...

So I bought him for $1200...stupidly thinking that I could sell him in the spring for $1200...what's a lil' bit of hay through the winter.

Time marches on...now it's October 2011...and Brego still lives here...

The photos and video below are from yesterday...day 3 of Brego back into training...day 2 of riding after being off for about a year. All I've been doing with him is worm him and trim his feet.

I'm on a mission...as I said before, he's going to be gone before winter sets in!

I like to take the rein from the opposite side of the horse, put
it around the back of the cantle, pull to arc the horse and double
him back around, and pull him through to face me again.
It's an exercise I use all the time with young colts before I mount.
I do it both directions.

Mounting from both left and right hand sides.

So, this is where all my energy is going these days!!! Feel free to pass this along to anyone that might be interested!!!

But, it's supposed to be 68 degrees today and my apple tree is loaded with nice apples this year. I've got to get out there and pick a bunch of them...I think My Man will like a nice apple cobbler!

Then, I'm going to go ride Brego again~