Thanks for
visiting! Please be sure to visit our adoptable
horses
& other pages (menus above)
   
(click
images to view these and other great Xena photos!)
"Xena,
Warrior Princess"
don't
miss her first
canter under saddle video (click
link)!
| ARRIVED |
August 2009 -- healthy, needed
shots/wormer/farrier care |
| ADOPTABILITY |
Available to adopt! See
details below.
|
| SPONSORSHIP: (Details
below) |
- FEED: Sponsored! thanks
Cecelia/Michel
- MEDICAL: needs a sponsor!
|
| BREED/AGE |
9-year old (2001 model) Shire
mare (no known registration), approx 17.2hh/2100 lbs |
|
Skills/Training
"Report Card"
|
|
Overall
Health:
B
|
Xena
is in excellent overall health, mildly overweight
and
carrying good muscle tone.
She is rather out of shape, and works up a lather rapidly under saddle.
Regular exercise would bring her into fitness fairly quickly and be
very good for her overall.
Her hooves are making progress but need additional work. |
|
Ground
Manners:
B
|
Xena
can still be mildly pushy but is not at all aggressive or mean.
Has completed basic ground school and is far more respectful and
managable.
She is nearly always handled without a lead rope, and often managed by
very inexperienced volunteers to go into and out of the barn and stalls
for meals.
Rarely, but occasionally, Xena does still push past humans. She is
rapidly learning that this is not acceptable.
|
|
Basic
Riding Skills:
B-
|
As
of 9/25, Xena has completed the first phase of riding training. She has
about 15 rides indoors and a ride outdoors. She is strong,
poweful, and forward like a classic warhorse of old. She will require
an experienced rider and will make a great one person horse able to
do amazing things. She is walking and trotting with ease and will soon
begin canter work.
On Nov 20, 09, Xena had her 2nd outdoor ride and her first canter under
saddle. DONT MISS THE VIDEO!
As of 3/1/10, Xena has had roughly 30 rides. She loves to ride
outdoors,
and is powerful and forward with LOTS of energy. Our indoor round pen
is small for a horse her size even for trot work and she doesn't like
it. She tends to stand and pout, and just generally is unhappy working
indoors. As spring thaws, we hope to get to do significantly more
outdoor work safely, once the snow and ice are gone.
Xena has completed several significant trail rides, either with 2
inexperienced other horses, or out on her own. Xena is happy to lead,
high energy and forward, and doesn't mind being alone or with other
horses. She has handled steep banks, water crossings, strange horses
approaching from either end. She has cantered easily on open trail with
nothing ahead of her, and was very managable and easily stopped. |
|
Ideal
Career
|
Xena
will make an exceptional mount, mounted orienteering, medieval
reenactments, trail or competitive trail or ACTHA, or other thinking
sports. She
has great impulsion and nice action. Her energy level is high but not
unmanagable. This is one fantastic mare who has a great future ahead of
her. |
|
Stall
Manners
B
|
Xena has been stall kept previously, and has good stall manners. She
enters and exits well, only occasionally being a bit hurried to exit
her stall after meals to return to her 24/7 pasture time. She grooms
easily in a stall but remains nervous about being fly sprayed or having
her hooves handled inside a stall.
|
|
Trailering
Skills:
A
|
- Loaded
easily to come to CWER, but very nervous
about putting
her head back in the trailer. Rode calmly, didn't sweat or get tense,
ate her hay easily.
- Loaded
wonderfully for a trail ride in November
2009. A little tentative about putting her head back into the trailer.
Unloaded wonderfully, loaded well again at the park. GOOD GIRL!
|
|
Companionship
/ Pasture Manners
B
|
Xena has good pasture manners. She is clearly alpha but not aggressive
or abusive. She has paired nicely with our clyde Tess, yet still looks
after her "brother", Val and others. She has not been mean with any of
the horses, not even the youngsters as their playtime disturbs her.
|
|
Manageability
for Routine and Medical Care
C
|
Xena wormed reasonably well.
She remains difficult for the farrier, but is making slow progress.
We have not needed to do any shots.
She remains cautious of strangers such as the vet.
|
| Adoption
Terms |
Xena's
adoption fee includes the professional training she has already
received. That
training is valued at $1,000. Her adoption fee is set at $2,500
including that training. Payment terms are available, and we can
transport reasonably up to 5 hours one way, or help look into
professional haulers at reasonable rates. Please
see our adoptionQnA pages for details of how to adopt.
|
Overview: Xena, previously known as "Bernie or
Bernadette" is a
big, healthy, gorgeous shire mare who has had an easy life. Due to
emergency, long running medical issues, the owner could no longer care
for her and she wanted to ensure she
had a safe future, so she donated her to CWER.
HISTORY:
From what we've been told, Xena was likely bred and her life began at
Fox Valley Farm in Marengo IL -- the major Shire breeder in the Chicago
area -- and we believe her registered name to be Fox Valley Bernadette
(we are working on DNA testing to determine). We're told that she was
sold to a person who eventually boarded her at a friend's
boarding barn while he and his family were moving west. Eventually, he
could no longer afford the board, and he signed her over to the farm
owner. The farm owner sold her to the family that owned Val, and they
owned her for about a year, before being unable to keep her and
donating her to CWER.
Xena does not appear to have much if any pre-riding training, but has
learned rapidly with us. Xena arrived exceptionally protective of her
hooves and appearing to not have been trimmed in quite some time. Xena
was allowed to push people around some at her old home, but she has
quickly taken to and accepted the manners we expect of her here.
November 2009:
We hope you enjoy the video clip of Xena's 2nd outdoor
ride ever (click to view)
and
her first ever canter under saddle! As we anticipated, Xena is truly a
powerhouse under saddle, with tons of forward energy and movement. She
is bored working in our indoor round pen, but truly showed her energy
and power when ridden outside on the video, below. We believe Xena
would excel at dressage or other sports that would take advantage of
her powerful hind end and her desire to GO. She had surprisingly nice
balance for her first canters under saddle, as shown on the video
(click to view).
Winter
2009: Xena got
to go on several trail rides with Pepper and Dazzle this
winter, with Xena definitely the 'lead' horse. Xena lead up and down
steep banks, through thick mud, water crossings, and more, and did it
all like a trooper! She will also ride off alone without any
difficulty, and seemed to really enjoy going exploring. She has
cantered on open trail easily and was easy to slow and halt.
May
6 2010: Xena had most of the winter as 'vacation time', and
now,
as time allows for us, is getting back under saddle. Xena is being
treated for a rash on her lower legs similar to scratches but
bacterial. Xena is being exceptionally good about allowing us to bathe
these large itchy areas on her lower legs, and she is clearly improving
rapidly! It doesn't affect her soundness or ability to ride, she's just
itchy like poison ivy. It does affect how she is about handling her
hind hooves, because you have to hold and rub across sore areas to hold
her hoof. We anticipate her legs being fully treated and back to normal
in approximately 2-3 weeks.
Sponsorship:
She now has a feed sponsor!
The
feed
sponsor donates to cover the cost of her feed monthly -- $50 per month
at this time. Thanks Cecelia/Michel for supporting Xena for
April/May/June 2010!
She also
needs a
medical sponsor.
The initial vet intake cost approximately
$125. Her spring 2010 vet care will cost approximately $75 for
vaccinations, coggins test, dental checkup assuming she does not need
significant dental care.
|