The Western States Horse Expo
Sacramento, 2005

June 10th - 12th

This is Brian riding Acero for the second year at the expo. Acero, a 4 year old gelding, handled everything in stride.

We have been very proud to represent the Kiger breed at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, California for the last three years. We have made new friends and help to share information on this breed, getting knowledge of them out to the world so that others may enjoy the many pleasures of the Kigers.

This year was again a fun year. We had a great group of people riding their Kigers in many different disciplines and a wide spectrum of colors: grulla to dun to bay. The weather wasn't too hot and as usual the Sacramento Expo was packed with 90,000 people.

I personally enjoy going to watch the Charros on their Spanish mounts and see the similarities between their horses and the Kigers.

This year was a little different from the last 2 years because the Kigers were invited to be involved in the Grand Showcase on Saturday night. This was a big deal because over 5000 people were going to be in the stands watching and everything had to be just right. The woman in charge advised us to make sure we were prepared and only use horses that could handle that kind of stress. So last minute the group got together and put together a small drill routine and were able to make it look easy. The top picture is the Kigers at the end of their routine.

Rowland Cheney riding Cougar's Hijo Warrior

We also did two breed showcases in the Sundowner Arena. Rowland Cheney rode his stallion Warrior and talked about each individual horse in the arena with him, then gave information on the breed with a little question and answer time from the audience. Rowland did a wonderful job. He is a great speaker and his horse performed beautifully.

After the performances, you can ride your horse around, talking to folks and answering questions as they come up. Of course there is alot going on out here: tractors racing to and fro, children running with plastic bags wanting to pet the horses, loud noises and lots of general excitement. Not one of the Kigers had a problem with any of it and represented the breed well.