Crosswinds Equine Rescue

ARRIVED	April 2010
ADOPTABILITY	Available to adopt
SPONSORSHIP: (Details below)	FEED: needs a sponsor! MEDICAL: needs a sponsor! ($365 initial intake exam -- $200 donated toward this to date; included dental work, and chiropractic check; extensive soundness testing and x-rays $240; - details below)
BREED/AGE	8-year old registered Oldenburger gelding, approx. 17hh -- LINKS TO HIS PEDIGREE BELOW
Skills/Training "Report Card"
Overall Health: B	Blixa appears to be in good health. He has a great natural carriage at liberty, using his hind end and topline naturally. See the slideshow video on youtube of his first day in our pasture to see how he moves in the most natural of settings. Blixa is mildly under weight, and needs to build up some muscle tone. He will do most of that on his own in the big pasture, and with some roundpen work. Blixa is current on all his vaccinations and worming, and his coggins is from spring 2010. He has a very mild club foot, which we are told is very easily managed with proper trimming. He arrived due for a trim and the shape difference of this hoof vs. his other front hoof is minor. Blixa has never been worked hard nor even riding trained until just before turning 8. He was cared for lovingly by a single owner who foaled and raised him, then was too ill to train him to ride. 5/1/10: Blixa had his spring dental, requiring significant work; he now eats very nicely, not spilling his grain. 7/20/2010: Blixa had an extensive soundness exam including x-rays of both front hooves. The right front, with the mild club, shows a scar from a significant puncture wound in the sole. This is likely what caused the club to form. He also shows exceptionally thin soles in both hooves and the vet strongly recommends Blixa remain in shoes. He will be shod in early August 2010.
Ground Manners: A	Blixa is quite the gentleman, and is respectful of his handlers. Even if he is fearful something will hurt or afraid of something new, he still pays attention and listens to the humans around him. He has a darling personality and, despite his size, most visitors are taken by him and drawn in to his sweetness almost immediately. He was clearly loved and connected in his former home, and he is VERY respectful with people and truly strives to please. Blixa has clearly always been a one-human horse, and would be a true partner/confidant to the right single partner. Blixa led a sheltered life, and many things are new to him. But, with a patient handler, he easily learns to go new places or try new things.
Basic Riding Skills: B	We're told Blixa had 30 days of professional training prior to coming to CWER, laying a basic foundation in western riding. April 2010: We will allow Blixa time to build his topline muscles and also take him through our normal training regimen -- as we do with all new horses -- as if he had never been ridden. This lets us help the horse understand any differences in our approaches vs. prior trainers, and hopefully help us catch any bad habits or health problems that we might otherwise have initially missed. As of May 1, '10 we are doing roundpen work and ground driving (see video) to allow him to adjust to our working style while we wait for 5/12 for his dental. May 15, 2010: Blixa had his first rides here at CWER! (See details under history, below) His 3rd day riding is available in video! July 20, 2010: Blixa spent 30 days with a very skilled dressage rider, and made progress on his foundation skills during that time. We are so pleased at how well he did!
Ideal Career	Blixa's siblings are competition dressage horses, and it seems likely that Blixa would be capable of a similar career. He was well loved by a single owner from foaling until coming to CWER. It seems very likely that his body and mind will rapidly settle into a basic foundation education in English riding, and put him on track to go on to a dressage, eventing, or similar career. The soundness exam indicated that, assuming Blixa does well in shoes, he should be capable of succeeding in a career of intro/training/1st level dressage, playdate level eventing, extensive hunter under saddle & equitation on the flat showing, and low level jumping.
Stall Manners A	Blixa is clearly used to being stalled, and behaves wonderfully.
Trailering Skills: B	Blixa was nervous about stepping off the hauler's trailer, but was still a gentleman. He had worked up quite a sweat on his long drive here. As part of our normal training, Blixa has learned good basic trailering skills. He still hurries off the trailer once told he may go, but has improved there somewhat.
Companionship / Pasture Manners A	Blixa was kept in a large pasture with other horses for some time period prior to coming to CWER. He is curious and inquisitive with the others, but well mannered and should settle in easily to a herd situation at a new home. He has settled fabulously into our large pasture with a broad array of different types of horses, and our TB mares have taken him as their own. He has also been used here as a 'babysitter' for Tenny, a lame thoroughbred who is kept separate from the herd in a several acre paddock. Blixa watches over Tenny with care, and makes sure Tenny comes along at meal times and for turnout. See the 'slideshow video' of his first day in the pasture!
Manageability for Routine and Medical Care unk	Blixa remains a perfect gentleman. He was well mannered for his intake exam, chiropractic care, and extensive dental work in May 2001. Blixa was clearly nervous about medical gloves, but trusting and well mannered when we treated a sore on his back. Blixa sedated with an exceptionally small amount of ace to have his hoof x-rays done, and stood without a handler for all the poking and prodding the vets wished to do.
Adoption Terms	Blixa is a brilliantly bred boy who has had a well cared for life. His siblings sold for $5500 and $10,000 each, and both are competing successfully in dressage. We have located 2 similar warmbloods in the range of 5-10 years of age with no riding training, both of whom also sold for over $5,000. We have set a 'temporary' adoption fee for Blixa, as we have had several people ask. If an experienced dressage or eventing rider or trainer wo is interested in adopting Blixa "as is", his adoption fee is $3,000 (CWER will pay for his professional shoeing, scheduled for the week of 8/10/10); to an adopter who wishes to contract for him now, but include 45 days of professional riding training, his fee is $3,500 (45 days for a normal 30 day fee). These fees are valid only through 8/30/10; after that time we expect to have a better idea of his riding education and his best matching career, and anticipate a likely increase in his fee. Hopefully, Blixa will be that rare horse at CWER who is actually able to raise funds to cover the high costs of other horses here who are not nearly so 'marketable'. Please see our AdoptionQnA pages for details of how to adopt.

Overview: Blixa is a well bred warmblood gelding who was foaled by an owner who intended to keep him for life. He has always been well cared for, and has had 30-days of recent riding training. His owner passed away recently, and her family was unable to keep Blixa, so he was donated to CWER. He has a mild club foot and is in need of spring dental work. He also needs a regular exercise regime to build up his topline muscle and prepare him for more extensive riding training and a new future.

Blixa has GORGEOUS natural movement, and carries himself in a frame naturally. It is easy to see why his siblings are competitive dressage horses! He is working regularly in the round pen, allowing him to build his own muscle tone and get ready for a working future. In mid-May 2010 he will get his dental work done and also a chiropractic checkup (routine for new horses here), and then we will move forward more actively toward getting him under saddle.

A capable horsewoman bred her mare to a well known Warmblood stallion, creating a colt she intended to keep for the rest of his life. Sadly, she became very ill when the gelding was at the proper age to begin dressage training, and died when he was 8. His daughter could not afford to keep him, and wanting to be sure about his future, donated him to CWER. Blixa had received 30 days professional western pleasure riding training prior to being donated to CWER.

Blixa arrived with EXCEPTIONAL ground manners and a really level head. Even when he was nervous about something, he is careful with his humans and respectful of their personal space. Blixa arrived needing to have his mild club hoof trimmed, needing his wolf's teeth pulled and other dental work, and needing to build some top line muscle and gain a little weight prior to beginning serious riding work.

April 2010: Blixa has been doing light work in our indoor roundpen, mostly at liberty with lots of transitions to encourage him to build topline muscle. At the request of 2 potential adopters, we worked Blixa outdoors, in relatively deep and soft footing, in long lines, to give an idea of how he moves. The video is his 2nd ever long lining lesson at CWER, and his first ever exercise in our outdoor arena. The footing had just been drug and was still damp from a prior rain. Blixa handled the footing well and seemed happy to be working outdoors. He is a VERY eager and honest boy, who tries so incredibly hard to please. We cannot wait to get him in saddle after his dental work is complete!

May 2010: Blixa completed his first rides at CWER on 5/14! From our groundwork, we knew he had a great mouth, is soft and responsive to inputs, and has no steering issues. Those gentlemanly behaviors all showed through fabulously while working under saddle. He stands wonderfully to be mounted and dismounted. He walks each direction comfortably and confidently. We had some challenges with saddle fit (our tack is for thoroughbreds or drafts, not a warmblood!), once we got a combination which was comfortable for him, he trotted nicely under saddle. He is green and he needs to develop topline muscle, so he tired easily, but he had an excellent start. Enjoy a video of Blixa's 3rd ride at CWER, fitted properly with comfortable tack, as he begins to figure out how to use his topline and his hind end with a rider just as he does naturally when working at liberty. He is literally maturing with every ride! It's such a joy to watch him in this progression...

June 2010: Blixa got to spend a wonderful 30 days with an exceptional dressage rider near Chicago. He adored her, and she him, as did everyone else at her barn. Blixa did great work with her, and they made slow steady progress particularly on trot work under saddle. Unfortunately, she wishes to show 3rd level dressage with her next horse, and neither her vet nor ours felt that there was a high likelihood of Blixa succeeding in that career at that level with his mild conformational flaws.

July 2010: Wanting to be sure we understand Blixa's hooves and put him on track to the right career, we spent $250 for x-rays and an extensive soundness examination. The vet determined that Blixa:

Sponsorship: He now needs a feed sponsor. The feed sponsor donates to cover the cost of his feed monthly -- $100 per month at this time, as he is eating a mixture at the current rate of 8 lbs per day or 240 lbs per month at just over $20 per 50/lb bag.

He also needs a medical sponsor. The initial vet intake plus dental work cost $365 (a sponsor has covered $200 of this). The soundness exam was $240, and the shoeing in mid August will be done by the vet hospital's specialist to ensure we start him with the right adjustments -- estimated cost, $200.

Pedigree: Blixa's pedigree is filled in on allbreedpedigree (<--click to review). He went to a keurig and was rated a premium foal in 2002, and we have his plaque, along with his passport and his papers. His blood lines are excellent.

Thanks for visiting! Please be sure to visit our adoptable horses & other pages (menus above)