To register your horse with the Kiger Horse Association & Registry, you must complete the following steps:
1) Complete an application for registration.
2) Complete a DNA kit for your horse. (Or include a copy of your horse's DNA results if it has been DNA
tested previously.)
3) Include copies of your horse's sire and dam DNA results if they are available. All horses born after
January 1st, 2007 must have DNA from sire and dam on file prior to registration.
4) Take photographs of your horse showing conformation and markings.
5) Send in your application with the appropriate fee.
WHAT HAPPENS TO MY APPLICATION & MATERIALS FOR REGISTRATION?
When your application is received at the office of KHAR, your application will be reviewed for completeness.
The DNA kit or copy of DNA results will be sent to our DNA analysis lab. The pictures that you have sent will be
reviewed to ensure that the necessary positions are there and that the horse can be visually inspected from the
available photos. If the application is incomplete or if the photos are of insufficient quality, you will be
immediately notified with a request for additional information or photos. The KHAR will attempt to obtain the
necessary information or photos twice and if unsuccessful, your material, less 50% fee, will be returned to you.
If your application is complete and photos are inspection ready, then your horse's photos will be presented to
inspectors for evaluation. At least two inspectors will evaluate your horse for common conformation faults and
breed specific faults. Your horse must score at least an 80 to be placed in the registration category of either
Traditional or Appendix. If your horse scores 90 or higher, it will be recognized with a STAR next to its
registration number.
WHAT ARE TRADITIONAL AND APPENDIX DIVISIONS?
The Traditional Division is for those horses and offspring that are from Kiger or Riddle Herd Management Areas
(HMAs) and those horses that have 39% or less of the "Kiger-type" blood. The "Kiger Type" blooded horses will
have the percentages & origins noted on their registration certificate and in the stud book.
The Appendix Division is for those "Kiger Type" blood horses with 40% or more "Kiger Type" blood. The "Kiger
Type" blooded horses will have the percentages & origins noted on their registration certificate and in the stud
book. Offspring of an Appendix and Traditional Division horse may be registered in the Traditional Division if
they are 39% or less of "Kiger Type" blood.
WHAT IS A "KIGER TYPE" HORSE?
During the development of the Kiger horse in the wild under BLM, additional Kiger type horses were discovered
during round ups. As these Kiger type horses were found, they were released into the Kiger HMAs and offered to
the private breeders to preserve these special horses and keep a viable gene pool. The KHAR defines the
"Kiger-type" horses as those horses gathered from other Oregon HMAs during the period of 1988 through 1996
that exhibited the Kiger characteristics that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Kiger Management Plans
specified. No NEW "Kiger Type" horses will be brought into the registry; only horses that were previously
registered with other approved registeries are allowed.
HOW IS THE PERCENTAGE OF KIGER TYPE BLOOD DETERMINED?
This percentage is the mathematical percentage based on where in the ancestry the "Kiger Type" blood is found.
Theoretically, 50% of the genes come from the dam and 50% of the genes come from the sire. Looking further
into the ancestry, 25% comes from each grandparent on each side, 12.5% from each great grand-parent, and so
forth. If more than two ancestors on different branches of the family tree are "Kiger Type", this creates an additive
effect as there is now two or more contributors passing on the portion of genes.
Looking at the below pedigree:
Sire- Kiger HMA
[
Horse A Dam's Sire- Riddle HMA
[ [
Dam- 50% Kiger Type
[
Dam's Dam- 100% Sheepshead HMA
Horse A would be 25% Kiger Type blood and 75% Kiger blood. This would qualify Horse A to be included in the
Traditional Division. Horse A would have a notation of 25% Sheepshead HMA blood in the studbook and on the
registration certificate.
Looking at the below pedigree:
Sire's Sire- Kiger HMA
[
Sire- 50% Kiger Type
[ [
[ Sire's Dam- 100% Palomino Butte HMA
[
Horse B
[
[ Dam's Sire- Riddle HMA
[ [
Dam- 50% Kiger Type
[
Dam's Dam- 100% Sheepshead HMA
Horse B would be 50% Kiger Type blood and 50% Kiger blood. This would qualify Horse B to be included in the
Appendix Division. Horse B would have a notation of 25% Palomino Butte HMA blood and 25% Sheepshead
HMA blood in the studbook and on the registration certificate.
WHAT CAN DNA TELL ME ABOUT MY HORSE?
At the present time, there is no "Kiger" gene or for that matter any other breed specific gene. As science evolves
there might be a time that laboratories could differentiate the difference between an Arabian and a Paso Fino and a
Kiger; but that time isn't here yet. Currently, there are markers which helps group horse breeds/types together, but
these markers are in a wide range of breeds and aren't breed specific. Kigers share these markers with Lusitanos,
Andalusians and other Spanish type breeds.
DNA is currently used to establish parentage. As with any horse breed, proving parentage is essential to keeping
pedigrees valid and presenting an accurate image of the breed. The laboratories can only verify one sample to
another sample, therefore it is imperative to submit your horse's DNA sample with its parents DNA sample (or
results if already tested). Unfortunately, the laboratories are not set up to blindly compare your horse's sample to
every sample in the database in hopes of finding a match.
Finally, DNA testing can excluded a possible parent with 100% accuracy. This is due to one or more
microsatellites (alleles) that the possible parent didn't pass on to the offspring. The accuracy of most parent
inclusion is greater than 99% when both parents are tested and drops to around 95% when only one parent is
available for testing. However, accuracy will drop significantly when the parents are part of a larger, closely related
group. This is due to the fact that this group may collectively possess many of the same alleles and therefore a
definite parent would be difficult to determine.
WHAT IF MY KIGER HAS WHITE?
The BLM Management Plans state that white markings will be kept to a minimum in the herds. At each roundup,
horses with excessive white were to be culled (adopted) out of the herd to reduce the frequency of white markings.
In the equine color world, it has been known that white markings are additive and that it can skip generations.
KHAR will be covering this topic and more in our educational pages. The KHAR does score on white, but the
points deducted are based on how extreme the white is. For example, KHAR does not deduct any points for a
coronet or one pastern (to the top of the pastern joint) and a full blaze is only 6 points off. While KHAR
acknowledges that the white pattern gene(s) does not interact with the dun factor gene(s), the Kiger horse was never
meant to be a pinto or "paint" colored horse and therefore KHAR has followed the BLM Management Plans in
penalizing the excessive white that can appear in the breed from time to time.
