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(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 |
ADOPTED!! Gone Home 12/21/2010!!!!
|
| SPONSORSHIP: (Details
below) |
- FEED: Sponsored! thanks
Cecelia/Michel
- MEDICAL: needs a sponsor!
|
| BREED/AGE |
13-year old (1997 model) English Shire
mare (CONFIRMED British registration), 17hh 1/2" - 2100 lbs
*Xena's DNA proved she actually is FV Bernadette!* |
|
Skills/Training
"Report Card"
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|
Overall
Health:
B
|
Xena
is in excellent overall health, except that she is overweight.
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.
Fall 2010: Xena had a bacterial skin infection this summer, which
slowed her riding training and added to her being out of shape
currently. This is a bacterial form of scratches which is not
contagious and would not be an issue at another home. She is now
nearly healed and is back to riding and doing well; she needs to lose
weight via exercise and regain her fitness. |
|
Ground
Manners:
B
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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 than at time of arrival.
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, so long as they are handling her for her normal routines.
Rarely, but occasionally, Xena does still push past humans.
Summer 2010 Xena learned to receive medical treatments standing in a
set of farrier stocks. This approach was used because bathing,
scrubbing, and treatment was required, NOT because Xena could not be
treated without the stocks. Using the stocks made care consistent and
safe for both Xena and volunteers assisting with treating her rash. It
was also a good learning experience for Xena, as she came to realize
that we were helping her to heal and easing her discomfort.
As of fall 2010, Xena remains hesitant and cautiously protective of her
hooves. Having had the skin rash on her lower legs all summer meant
that handling her feet was uncomfortable for her physically, so we did
not push this area of training during this time period.
|
|
Basic
Riding Skills:
B-

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- As
of 9/25/10, 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 11/20/09, 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.
- 4/1/10: 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.
- 10/10/10: Xena did not ride this summer due to
her skin rash, and did no riding until very recently. Xena easily
picked up where she had left off. While she is out of shape, the
underlying energy level still shows. She LIKES to go, particularly
outdoors, but tires easily until she regains her fitness. Xen is
comfortable at the walk and trot in our smallish indoor roundpen, and
will walk/trot/canter outdoors, particularly happiest if doing trail
work rather than riding in an enclosed space.
- Xena remains a strong, energetic, forward mare.
She does not tolerate a forceful or arrogant rider, and she will take
charge with a timid or unsure rider. With a confident intermediate and
above, Xena is a joy to ride, with such grace and power beneath you!
|
|
Ideal
Career
|
Xena
will make an exceptional mount for lower level dressage, 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 very good stall manners.
She
enters and exits well, very rarely 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.
She tacks easily, being particularly patient if tacked in a stall, or
will tack easily after her warm up in the round pen. (We do not have
cross ties.)
|
|
Trailering
Skills:
A-
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- 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!
- 10/10/10: Xena was mildly nervous to get back
onto the trailer at first, not having done so in months. After a brief
hesitation, she led easily onto the trailer, and backed off with
confidence.
|
|
Companionship
/ Pasture Manners
B
|
Xena has very good pasture manners. She is clearly an alpha type
personality but not aggressive
or abusive, and she is NOT in charge of our herd -- she is #3, behind
our 2 clydes.
She can be mildly pushy with the others when it is feeding time, to
come in to eat. Most of the herd know to let the clydes go first, then
Xena, then the others exit in their order within the herd's dominance.
Xena knows not to push the humans to come in from pasture prior to
being asked.
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
did not work on her hooves
Xena does reasonably well for shots when held on a lead, and very well
if shots are done while she is in the stocks, such as while she was
having her rash treated.
She remains very mildly cautious of the vet, but quickly accepts an
easy introduction.
|
| Adoption
Terms |
GONE HOME 12/21/2010!!! 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.
Spring
20109: Xena spent parts of winter and now early spring under
saddle. She has done several long trail rides, normally as the
lead horse with younger, less confident horses following. Xena rides
through fast water, up steep hills, and more. She is mildly overweight
and needs to get more in shape.
Summer
2010: 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, literally scrubbing with a
heavy brush, then covering with antibacterial creams. While it doesn't
affect her soundness or ability to ride -- she's just
itchy like poison ivy -- it is unpleasant for her to ride in the dusty
arena, and we have given her most of the summer off. 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.
Fall
2010: Xena's legs are much better but not 100% healed. This skin
infection is common to sheep, and our primary pasture was sheep land
for a very long time. If we had known the infection was bacterial and
not scratches in early spring (scratches is primarily fungal), we
would've been able to catch it early and she would've healed nicely.
Since the infection got a good hold before we took the right approach,
and then we had an unusually wet and muddy summer which just added to
the problem, we were never able to completely heal her legs until fall.
Click
photo to access Xena's facebook photo album for a high
resolution of this and other images of this big, gorgeous girl!
Xena
is back riding again as of 10/10/10. Xena still prefers to ride
outdoors over our small indoor roundpen. She is significantly out of
shape from a lazy summer. Her trust and comfort level improved
significantly over the summer as she learned that we were making her
skin feel better and helping her heal. She loads easily into the
stocks, and is calm and relaxed as her legs were treated. (She was not
in the stocks due to any bad behavior; we used the stocks to allow us
to wash, scrub, and treat all areas of all 4 legs consistently and
safely.) Xena is now beginning a slow but steady exercise program which
will help take off her excess weight and return her fitness.
DEC 2010: Xena is going home!!! She has
been adopted by an experienced draft rider in southern Illinois, and
will be boarded with her NEW 'brother' -- a huge belgian gelding who
looks incredibly like Valiant the 'brother' she arrived with -- and
DAZZLE! CONGRATS XENA!!
WE ALSO CONFIRMED Xena's DNA! She IS F.V.
Bernadette, and we're pleased to confirm her genetics and help her
adopter recover her lost papers.
Sponsorship:
She now
needs 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 cost approximately $75 for
vaccinations, coggins test, dental checkup assuming she does not need
significant dental care. Her summer medical care for her rash cost a
total of approximately $185.
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