(This art is unframed, but just for fun I included a photo of how it could look matted and framed)

Nearly 20 years ago, I got my first Kiger mustang. I was, and still am, just fascinated by primitive dun coloration in these horses. In this art, the mare, Vida, who is absolute perfection, is a grulla. She is grey with dark points (head, legs,mane and tail) and also has a dorsal stripe down her back and other kiger characteristics that do not show in this artwork. Kigers have, in varying degrees depending upon the horse, "tiger stripes" on their legs, cobweb markings on their faces, ears that look like they have the upper halves dipped in dark coffee, and very light hair inside the ears. Some kigers have a ventral stripe down the middle of their bellies, or 'fishbone' pattern shading along their topline, and shoulder shading. And even though their legs are darker than the rest of their body, they have a lightened version of it around the top of the hoof. The grulla kigers come in many shades of grey, from pale silver grey to a dark nearly black grey. I daydreamed for years about having a whole herd of silver duns. They do spark the imagination!

Their manes are single, bicolor or tricolor. As an example, my dun kiger (a tan shade, basically) had as his under-mane color, silver grey. Then, his deep dark brown-black mane, and on top, a layer of tan and very light hairs almost blond. So to see a kiger with a dramatic combination of dark mane with an over-lay of tan or silver or white, is common. Are  you bored hearing about kiger colors yet? I hope not because there is more! The baby? Her name is Ocean. She is either full kiger or half kiger, I don't remember for sure. If she is half kiger, the other half is I believe, Lusitano. When she was tiny, she was a fairly typical cream color, which is baby hair, an when it sheds out, their true or final color is revealed. You will notice that her sweet little main has a hint of reddishness. Ocean's actual "color destiny" was to evolve into being a red dun. If you go to Winterwind Kigers on Instagram, you will see. She is the one who has a mane that glows like fire, during the golden hour. She is a red one. But not a chestnut or sorrel. A red dun.

I enjoyed creating art of these two. It takes me back to many very wonderful years of painting the Kiger horses of Rancho Bayo, in Texas. And now, Winterwind Kigers, in Nova Scotia, carries the mantle and the torch of the bloodlines from Rancho Bayo.

Over the years I have done possibly as many as 100 paintings of Kiger horses, and many, many kiger foals. To me the have an ethereal, enchanting quality about them. Heavenly beautiful.

I hope you like this one, and thanks for looking!