I’ve been thinking recently about what my personal goals are for this coming year to help the breed be in the public eye.
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I’ve been thinking recently about what my personal goals are for this coming year to help the breed be in the public eye.
What do you have planned? Would you ever take Kigers to a public demo somewhere? I have a couple shows planned for Toro but I want to make sure I can afford them all haha one is in Ontario. I also would like to take some to the provincial exhibitions, just to have them there in a stall with some little write up about Kigers.... it just gets people talking about them.
Currently my plans are more technology based and PR on social media. There’s a lot of little things in my daily life that I take for granted when I feel like I’m just messing with and enjoying my horses. A lot of people connect with that and enjoy progress updates on horses and pretty scenery to boot. I also use my camera when I can and try to meet up with Kiger people on travels that I’ve done if they happen to be on the way. Basically I do my best to network as much as I can and to be helpful to new people that are interested in the breed. I try to find out what they are looking for in a horse and direct them to wherever I think is a good fit. This breed can be quite hard to navigate info wise when you’re new. So I try to remember what it’s like and have patience for the same questions over again over again lol. In a way, I’m trying to focus on maintaining interest once people “arrive” and ask questions. There’s gotta be content somewhere and a friendly face to help direct them where they are trying to get to.
And I LOVE that you do this! You’ve been incredibly helpful to me and I’m sure many others. You’re a wealth of information. You should probably write a Kiger book ☺️
Haha thanks! I should probably do a website first 😂. Things take time, so I try to do baby steps.
It seems people now have heard of the breed but not seen them in person. Photos are a big help because they are so beautiful. But meeting them makes it real. You all take amazing photos! That’s a real draw. For me it was hearing stories about them. I had to meet one.
@Sarah I love this! Social media is a huge outlet for sharing what our horses are capable of, the training we put into them, and not to mention how they are just a complete joy to be around just hanging at home! It would be so great to be able to show that off to people who might not know how fun and full of personality Kigers are! I love getting to know a far away horse over social media updates and watching how they progress in life and blossom over time.
Showing is obviously a great way to get your horses out there and get the breed noticed. I know every time I have one of the Kigers or crossbreds out and about they draw so much attention. It makes me happy and a little sad at the same time, because when I say this is a Kiger (mustang), most of the time they are still completely clueless. Which is fine, because that opens up the opportunity to tell them more about the unique traits of the breed and where they came from, but the fact of the matter is, Kigers are not a well known breed!! I would love more than anything to start to change that.
What are other ideas y'all have for changing that? Big and small, throw them out there! We can work as a team to start making things happen!!!
This year I have a couple lovely Kiger/luso crossbreds I am working with, a purebred gelding that will be making his show debut this spring, and two (incredible!) purebred superstars of my own! In a perfect world, I could travel with a large trailer and many helpers, to a variety of events and different disciplines in order to highlight the versatility of these athletes. However, time and help and life gets in the way, so I will have to settle for getting my trainees out as much as possible focusing on the things that they excel at the most.
Like Sarah mentioned, I am also trying to get better about "logging" my activities and will be sharing more to social media.