Crosswinds Equine Rescue

ARRIVED	August 2009 -- healthy, fit, matured (original arrival March 2003)
ADOPTABILITY	Adopted and gone home 5/18/2010!!! Congrats Butter, and Congrats Allison!!
SPONSORSHIP: (Details below)	FEED: no longer needs a sponsor! MEDICAL: no longer needs a sponsor!
BREED/AGE	8-year old (2002 model) gorgeous palomino paint mare, 14.3hh, 1000 lbs.
Skills/Training "Report Card"
Overall Health: A	Butter returned to CWER due to family medical issues, not any problems with Butter herself. She has always been exceptionally fit, and a very easy keeper. Her family kept her current on shots and farrier care, etc. Butter has matured dramatically -- and is now built like a typical full sized quarter horse/paint, measures 14.3hh. As of October 2009, she is developing a solid winter coat, has a good appetite, and would rate approximately a 4.5 on the Henneke body conditioning scale. She gained weight nicely over a cold, wet winter on 3 lbs. per day of Strategy. As of March 2010, we've moved Butter back to a lower calorie feed since she is now at an ideal weight.
Ground Manners: B+	Butter leads easily by halter or lead rope. She is mildly excitable but not at all difficult. Butter ties easily and respects the tie very well. Butter returned not liking to stand still when being handled, particularly for saddling, but she is improving in this area currently. Butter is very good about having all 4 hooves handled including full farrier care.
Basic Riding Skills: B	Butter is definitely NOT a beginner's mount, nor for a timid or nervous rider. She is forward and energetic and playful. As we continue her training work, she settled back into her riding and ground manners, and now rides nicely for a confident intermediate rider. As we understand it, with her family, the girls often rode her without any tack -- hopping on in the pasture and allowing Butter to do as she chose. For trail rides, she often rode with her companion leading, simply following her friend. In December 09, Butter initially got a refresher course in basic riding training, working on standing calmly on a relaxed rein, walking forward smoothly even when she would prefer not to go somewhere, etc. Butter is a bright girl who knows what is expected from her, and we did not anticipate it taking long for her manners to return to what we feel is an acceptable level. We were right. As of January, 2010, Butter is riding well. She stands to be mounted, and enjoys riding outdoors and going exploring around the property. She is a VERY bright horse who likes to test her rider and see what she can get away with, but also likes to please a rider. Butter has great balance and is a joy to ride, especially for a single upper intermediate rider -- she would be a great partner for a capable teen or skilled adult rider. DONT MISS THE VIDEOS, including spring 2010, with her first flying lead change.
Ideal Career	Butter is a bright horse who enjoys having things to think about. She would certainly enjoy trail riding in varied terrains (and has done trail time in the last 3 years) or things such as mounted orienteering or competitive trail. She is a gorgeous mover with great balance, and would almost certainly also excel in jobs such as hunter under saddle. She showed GREAT skill at free jumping even as a yearling (letting herself out of a too-low approximately 3' tall electric fence, from a stand still), and would very likely enjoy a career as a jumper as well. Butter has matured and is not likely to return to the lower key, "beginners mount" she once was. She is a full size, full grown, forward and energetic, powerful horse who requires a skilled and confident rider.
Stall Manners B	Butterscotch has never been stall kept that we are aware. She walks easily in and out of her stall at meal times here, and lives outside 24/7 in our natural 35-acre pasture setting. She would likely need a bit of time to adjust to a boarding style scenario, and does not like to be left in the barn alone.
Trailering Skills: A++	Butter LOVES to go for trailer rides! If you let her lose with the trailer open, she will load herself, and look back like "come on! get the stuff and lets go trail riding!!" She rides easily and unloads fabulously as well. When she was a yearling, she would often sleep in our trailer that was parked in one of our paddocks.
Companionship / Pasture Manners B+	Butter has good pasture manners. While she is no longer overseeing her former only pasturemate, Ruthie, she remains protective of Ruthie if other horses bother her and gladly checks on her when they come in at feeding time. She doesn't get caught up in most of the pasture drama, and gets along well with the other horses. She is easy to catch in the pasture, and not pushy or difficult when other horses come out of the pasture at meal times.
Manageability for Routine and Medical Care A+	Butter worms easily. Butter is excellent for the farrier and for routine hoof care. She naturally tends to be very mildly pigeon toed if not trimmed regularly. Simple normal barefoot trims have been all she has needed. Butter loves to get baths. Butter is easy and respectful with the vet and with vaccinations. She did great for her single chiropractic adjustment after a slip/fall.
Adoption Terms	The adoption fee includes the professional "refresher" training she is receiving now, in addition to the professional training she received prior to adopting in 2004. That training is valued at $750. Her adoption fee is set at $1,000. Payment terms are available, and assistance with transportation is possible. Please see our AdoptionQnA pages for details of how to adopt.

Overview: Butter's history from 2003/2004 can be read here. Briefly, we adopted Butter to a family with 3 young girls who have loved and enjoyed her enormously the last 5 years. Sadly, due to family health issues, they could no longer keep either of their horses, and donated both to CWER. In the last 5 years, Butter had taught all 3 girls to ride and then gone on to do more 'teenage girl' type tasks -- playing games, cantering trails, and so on. Butter no longer desires the task of 'child sitting', but would be a great match for a confident intermediate rider who wants an absolutely stunning partner who has good energy and balance under saddle and a significant amount of trail experience.

May 2010: GREAT NEWS! Butter adopted to one of our former volunteers, and is on her way to her new home! She and Allison have great fun together and we are very excited for Butter's future.

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.

She also needs a medical sponsor. We had an initial vet work up and also extensive chiropractic exam and adjustments done in January 2010 which included mild sedation. The total cost was approximately $175. (Every CWER horse gets a chiro exam. Butter had a slip/fall in January which required the chiro to be sure she didn't have alignment issues from the slip. Our vet did not feel she will need additional chiro work, and she passed her checkup in February.)

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