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ARRIVED	January 2011
ADOPTABILITY	ADOPTED! going home 8/1/11

BREED/AGE	13-yo (08/09/98) Registered Arabian Mare, gorgeous sorrel coloring approx. 14hh

JC Summer aka "Summer"click the boxed photo to enlarge...

Skills Report Card!
Overall Health: A	Summer arrived in excellent health. She is fit and healthy, at a good weight, in good muscle tone. She received a dental exam and ful float in February. Her vaccinations and other basic care are current.
Ground manners: A	On arrival, Summer was a little excitable, but well mannered. She leads easily in just a halter. She is a little bit 'standoffish' and doesn't always wish to be caught, simply keeping her halter out of your reach. At just a week here, she is already improving in this area. BLANKETING: Apparently summer has never worn a blanket previously. The crazy winter 2011 weather (twice so far the temp dropped more than 40 degrees in less than 24 hours) has caused us to need to blanket Summer, as she was shivering in the cold. She still startles at the rear leg straps occasionally when leading, but is well mannered to put a blanket on or off within her stall. UPDATE: Summer is now one of the easiest horses here to manage on the ground. She is no longer flighty unless something really unusual is occurring around her. She is easily led by beginner volunteers who have minimal horse experience. Summer strongly dislikes fly masks and will do her best to destroy the mask, no matter the type.
Basic Riding Skills: B-	We are told that Summer has years of experience as a trail horse. She was bred for endurance but we do not believe she ever competed in this discipline. We are told she has some go and is not for a beginner, but is well mannered and has 'been there done that' on most trail riding situations. She is a GORGEOUS mover when working at liberty or turned out to pasture. 6/1/11: We have just started to work Summer under saddle, after spending the spring working on her fitness and building topline muscle. We are just doing easy walks and brief trots, and working on her confidence. 7/5/11: Summer is making exceptional progress under saddle. We are doing long straight line trots and some large easy circles at the trot outdoors (our outdoor arena is not currently usable so we are working in a grass open area with a pasture fence on one edge and no other fences. Summer still carries her head a bit high, but now has solid balance and is a smooth ride at walk and trot. We have just begun very brief (3-4 stride) canters, which she is maintaining her balance and handling well. Summer will back under saddle, but is hesitant to do so. Summer knows how to bend and flex, but her prior back pain issues cause her to be cautious about doing so with a rider. We are also working on this flexibility under saddle. Summer is surprisingly confident riding outdoors around new items, given how timid she used to be previously even on a lead. Her confidence has come SO far in the past few months, and we are so very pleased with her progress. Summer requires an intermediate rider who has solid confidence but is not arrogant and will not be heavy handed with her.
Ideal Career: trail, CMO, similar	Summer could fairly quickly move right back into a life as an active trail horse, perhaps competing in ACTHA or competitive trail, CMO (scavengerhunt on horseback). We don't believe she's had much arena riding time in her past, and not a lot here. An experience show rider could continue to build her confidence and she would likely mature very nicely into lower level show riding, particularly as a hunter and has very real potential to be trained over fences. She has exceptional natural movement over fences without a rider; we do not have the skills or equipment to train to jump with a rider here; however, she is able to step over a cavaletti/jumping rail at a full trot with the rail at approximately 18" off the ground, and beautifully jumps 2'6" in a small indoor training space at liberty.
Stall Manners: B	Summer has been well mannered during her limited stall time. She gets a little anxious, especially if her buddies go to pasture before her. As of 2/1, she is rapidly improving in this area as well.
Trailering Skills: B	Summer was terrified of the trailer when she arrived. She would load without argument, but shook in fear the entire time. After slow, patient work with her, Summer now loads herself calmly in the trailer, and stands easily to eat her hay or feed. she is still tense when the trailer begins moving.
Companionism/Pasture: A	As of 2/1/11, Summer is very comfortable in our herd. She is VERY low on the dominance ladder, and prefers to be off with the other 'low hangers' such as Stormy and Sasha, and fawns over Jack.
Routine Medical Care: A-	Summer can get nervous for vet care. She has had multiple chiropractic adjustments, and has been patient and trusting through most of it, just worrying herself occasionally, particularly if an area is sore. She has been VERY good for vaccinations and dentistry as well as deworming.


Overview:	Summer is a strikingly beautiful registered arabian mare with great bloodlines. She likes attention, and cuddles up to you once she gets to know you. She has fluid, easy, natural movement when working in the round pen, with tons of natural extension and 'float'. When relaxed, she is very comfortable at the trot, and we have just started to canter (July 2011) together under saddle. When tense or worried, she still hollows her back and raises her nose in the air, a learned reaction from the prior back pain she had before she was here.
Adoption Terms:	Summer has had 90 days of professional ground work for muscle conditioning, fitness, and top line development. Video of that work is available on youtube. Summer has since had approximately 30 days worth of professional riding training, first in the indoor round pen, then outdoors. Summer has done EXCEPTIONALLY well riding outdoors, building her confidence, riding in open spaces without fences. Her adoption fee as of 7/7/11 is $1500, but reduced to $1200 for an adopter that contracts for her by 8/15/11 and takes her home by 9/15/11. Her fee may be increased over time as she acquires more training and shows more skill in particular disciplines. Please see our AdoptionQnA pages for details of how to adopt.
HISTORY:	Summer's owner could no longer keep Summer. Not wanting to sell her and not know where she would go, Summer's owner donated her here and is trusting us to help Summer find her new forever home. This is a GORGEOUS little arabian mare, with a stockier, more solid build than many arabians. She has exceptional natural movement, with a great reach, tons of float, and a deep step under herself. She is also exceptionally surefooted particularly on our ice conditions here currently.
1/29/11	Enjoy the "video" that's a slideshow of Summer's first time in our big pasture with the herd! "slideshow" video Initially, Summer is exceptionally herd bound. She is very upset when her friends leave the barn. I tried once to feed her grain outside in a small paddock where she could see the other horses. That was VERY stressful for her; she has since gotten used to it and now will eat in either paddock on either end of the pony/feeding barn calmly, but still wants back to her friends as soon as possible.
3/1/11	Summer's nervousness about being away from the other horses or seeing/doing new things has improved dramatically! See her video list below for the types of training work we've been doing. Summer has a gorgeous natural jump! and she is able to trot over a small fence of approximately 18" high WITHOUT jumping -- simply trotting over. She is exceptional on the long lines and we can go through most obstacles together on the lines without incident or issue. We will soon go back to working on loading in the trailer -- she still gets on as if terrified she would be beaten if she did not, but she doesn't shake nearly so bad once on the trailer now.
6/1/11	Visit YouTube to see the 9 training videos for summer so far. Summer had some fitness issues that surrounded a chiropractic problem. It appears she may have been ridden in tack that didn't fit her build well and/or a rider or trainer who were too much weight for her build particularly without being fit. We have done chiro and she has passed the last exam with flying colors! We have spent all spring doing fitness exercises, stretching, long lining, free jumping over small jumps, and more. These exercises dramatically improved her topline muscle and her way of going while in a bridle. We have just started to ride again. Summer's brain is still afraid her back is going to hurt with a rider, and she tries to brace and hollow her back to try to avoid the pain she is expecting, even though we are confident she is no longer in pain. As of 6/1, she's had just 3 very short rides and she is already confident and secure at a walk, but remains timid to trot. We will continue to work on these short lessons and doing more fitness work to help Summer find her comfort zone.
7/7/11	Summer has had about a month of light riding time, first indoors then out. Summer has done EXCEPTIONALLY well outdoors! We are riding in an open field space with one pasture fence on one edge. Summer is wondefully confident working here, even when new items are in this space by our biggest barn, such as stacks of wood pallets, hay wagons, etc. Summer is no longer tense at the trot, unless doing a tight circle. She is still a little reluctant to actually bend fully, and tends to keep her ribs straight even as her front and hind ends are bending around her. She no longer hollows her back, nor raises her head. She still doesn't carry her head quite as soft nor is she as round along her top line with a rider as she was at liberty and in driving lines; however, she has made exceptional progress. We have had our first short canters under saddle, up the grass strip toward the barn with ease. She is a bit high headed at the canter yet, but confident and enjoying herself. Summer is loading well on the trailer now -- she even politely said NO the other day -- a GREAT sign of her improved confidence with us! She will load quietly by herself, and stand calmly, waiting to be asked to back off the trailer now.
VIDEOS	5/20/11: Summer's second riding video -- she's no longer in pain, but still AFRAID it will hurt; we do short riding exercises to help her beyond her fears. 4/1/111: Summer playing in the outdoor arena at liberty -- SUCH a gorgeous mover! 4/9/11: Summer stretching/fitness exercises, including on the exercise stand. 3/21/11: Summer's first ever "bicycling" lesson with Mike! (don't try this at home) PART 1 and PART 2 2/28/11: Summer's first ride at CWER -- still tender in her back. 2/27/11: Summer working at liberty, GORGEOUS 2/26/11: Summer's ground driving lessons. 1/29/11: A slide show of Summer's first afternoon in the big pasture with the main herd.
8/1/11	GREAT NEWS!! Summer has a new home near Rockford IL with Jeanine and family and their other horse, Jazz. We're very happy for Summer in her new riding home.

Sponsorship: adopted! 8/1/11

FEED SPONSOR: Please consider sponsoring her. arrived at an ideal weight and is eating $40/month of Purina Enrich mineral supplement.
Transport to CWER: N/A
Basic intake vet care: $75; multiple exams and chiropractic work to resolve her back pain $200.
Dental care: $200 - done in February 2011.
Farrier care: she will receive farrier care here at CWER by our own Mike Cross, unless something unusual is found and requires treatment.
Worming: She will initially be wormed with Quest Plus along with the rest of the herd, $12/tube. After that, we will test her stools and treat as needed. Any base issues will be resolved immediately, then dewormed only as required by the fecal tests. Summer 2011 -- we have done fecal tests and Summer had no egg count and so has not required additional deworming.