Jani Mari Zigray-Cochran

Jani's strong passion for horses began at an early age while growing up on her grandfathers working cattle ranch on the Oregon coast. She spent her youth heavily involved in 4-H projects with her horses and dogs. Through dedication and hard work she earned top achievement awards and medals throughout her teens. Jani was a natural in appreciating a well balanced horse and therefore excelled in equine judging sending her to compete in many state wide judging competitions for conformation.

Jani entered into the professional level of horsemanship directly after high school when she was offered a job at a well known Warmblood breeding farm in Colorado. Here she received extensive training on equine reproduction working directly with the University of Colorado on the farms breeding program. Her responsibilities included foaling, gentling and training the foals, and assisting with the inspection of the foals in their extensive inspection classes. During this time Jani excelled in jumping and dressage under well known and reputable instructors. She competed and judged in many cross country events and fox hunts. After returning to Oregon Jani continued to further her horsemanship skills by entering the show circuit with her Anglo Arabian in pursuit of a Legion of Merit Achievement Award.

As a child Jani was fascinated by stories which included the wild mustangs and hoped some day to include them in her herd. About ten years ago Jani was introduced to the mustangs through her involvement in several BLM adoptions. Soon afterward she was introduced to the Kiger mustang. Through the years Jani has trained many Kiger mustangs for clients, including showing them in Western and English, using them in gaming, and in search and rescue.

Today Jani owns several mustangs and hopes to adopt her first Kiger at the next adoption. It is through these wonderful equine teachers she has come to appreciate the horses even more. Jani has an extreme passion for the wild ones, especially the Kigers, and believes that everything in her life has lead her to this purpose of helping to preserve the wild horses for future generations. Jani believes these majestic and romantic Kiger horses should not be ignored and that they should be given proper recognition through education and promotion.

Jani resides with her husband Don Cochran at the foothills of the Siskiyou Cascades on a three thousand acre working cattle ranch. Here she trains in the discipline of ranch and trail work and also is a riding instructor. Many times you will find Jani riding one of her horses in training out on the open range running with the cattle.