Triple P Ranch :: The Kiger Mustang Company - About Us
The Triple P Ranch and the Kiger Mustang Company was established in 2002 with the specific purpose of promoting the Kiger Mustang in the Eastern United States and Europe. We are located in Southeastern Michigan near Brighton, and are ideally situated to provide exceptional service to the entire Eastern United States.
Jim’s career and dreams of horses and ranches began in 1958 when his father managed to borrow a retired barrel racer for the summer. With little money and four children in the family, a saddle was out of the question. He rode bareback and in an old cavalry saddle for the better part of two years. (He preferred bareback). As his father was in the military and his family moved around the world, owning a horse just wasn’t in the cards. He would not own another horse until 1978 when he acquired an Arabian colt from a veterinarian who had become a personal friend. He trained the horse for two years before a transfer to Houston, TX and a growing family forced him to sell the horse. Yet he still dreamed of building a ranch and raising horses.
With children grown, he purchased two quarter horses and a young appendix filly, and began to put his dream of building a “ranch” into reality. Two years, two barns, a house and 7000’ of oak fencing later he moved onto their new ranch.
A small add in the back of Western Horseman on Kigers caught his eye and he began to study Kiger Mustangs. He liked the look, the eye, the hardiness, the mind and the natural selection process. In short, he liked the Kiger. He placed several calls to Oregon and, with his friend and trainer, Dan Oslin, traveled to the Northwest from Michigan with the desire to acquire the best Kiger horses that he could find to start a breeding operation. He sold his quarter horses and brought seven Kigers back from Oregon.
Jim continues to work on his horsemanship with the help of Corine Elser (Burns, Oregon), Lee Mancini (Mancini Training Center, Howell, Michigan), his friend and neighbor, Dan Oslin and several Oregon ranchers. He is an avid reader and diligently studies the horsemanship and methods of various clinicians. He is a Director with the Kiger Horse Association and Registry, a member of the Kiger Mesteno Association, and a life member of both the ABRA and IBHA.
The Ranch
Jim acquired 17 acres in Hartland Township, MI and began to plan the Triple P. Five acres was split off the property and sold to Dan and Nancy Oslin, who are building a horse facility next to the Triple P. The original property was a timothy grass and alfalfa hay field with 5 acres of heavily wooded timber at the rear of the property. Jim focused on fencing, barns and other horse facilities.
The property is divided into 8 paddocks or mini pastures and is set up for the horses' safety and ease of operation. Fencing is 4-board oak and each pasture is set up with automatic heated waterers. Feeding for up to 12 horses can be accomplished without going outside. All horses have access to stalls that are typically open to the outside. We have one indoor stall for birthing or for veterinary work.
Our foals are allowed to birth naturally and immediately checked for overall health. We believe in imprinting during the first week, and then allowing the babies to learn from their mothers. We handle the foals enough that by four months of age they will stand for the vet or ferrier, load into trailers and lead. We wean our babies at 4 to 5 months of age, depending on the individual animal’s progress. To further gentle our babies, all horses are feed at the central facility. As we progress in our breeding program, the back 5 acres will be the growing up and “learning area” for our broodmares and their babies. They will come to the barn to be feed and will go to the woods to hide and learn from their mothers.
As we have stated earlier, the mission of the Triple P Ranch is to promote the Kiger Mustang, to preserve the distinct traits of the Kiger and to produce Kigers of exceptional conformation, a sound mind, a gentleness of the soul, eye catching dun factor, sturdiness, athletic ability, cow sense and overall Spanish beauty.
