Post by Xantoxu on Jul 6, 2010 15:05:29 GMT -5
Name: Xo (Pronounced: Zo)
Show Name: Xantoxu II (Pronounced: Zan-tocks-zu the Second)
Age: Seven
Gender: Stallion
Breed: Knapstrup
Height: Sixteen Hands High
Physical Description:
With his amazing warmblood conformation and substantial bone structure, this stallion is quite the head turner and draws the attention wherever he goes. His neck is a decent thickness, ensuring an appealing curve but not interfering with his jumping appearance and ability. He breathes the definition of Knabstrupper with his excellent athleticism and wonderfully elevated paces with free shoulder movement. His has a straight, chiseled profile with a strong jaw and impassioned eyes. His leopard coat, a prized characteristic for one of his breed, bears spots of a rich bay.
Personality:
The two words, ‘typical stallion’ apply greatly to this handsome creature as he is almost constantly flashy in an attempt to impress a few of the opposite sex and the eyes of the onlookers. Quite the gentlemen, Xo places himself carefully in order to mind any nearby two-legged people even when startled or when he’s ‘feeling his oats.’ He’s a real sweetheart with the ladies, but is noticeably more rough and testy with a male rider. He lives to be in the ring, and is most definitely not a lazy pasture bug. He’s always raring to go and rather fidgety at times, seemingly psychotic after shipping. True to the Knabstrup values, he has a high level of trainability and a kind temperaments when need be.
History:
Xantoxu II, or ‘Xo’ as he is known around the barn, was foaled 2003 on a stud farm in Denmark. He was a welcome edition to their breeding program of the fading breed, bred mainly for sport. As a tradition at said stud farm, mare and foal were released into an overgrown, shaded pasture with a number of other newborns and new mothers. The foals went with minimal human contact for six months, separated into separate pastures from their mothers after six months: colts and fillies. This is when they began their training. Almost daily contact, halter training, lounging, the works!
Xo showed potential from the very start, though he attested to the halter, bridle, and saddle (once he came of age) rather avidly. It was touch and go with the team of trainers and him for over a year before he began to show an eagerness to learn. Accepting an actual rider on his back instead of dummy weights, Xo began his real training. The trainers did not leave this fine specimen go to waste. His under saddle training consisted of simple flatwork, extensive dressage, basic hunt work, light carriage experiments, cross country, and finally, the event he excelled in the most: jumping. The colt was jumping three feet after only six weeks, and, by the age of six, was able to clear five-and-a-half feet, and could still go higher. They never got to test the stallion on higher obstacles, as he was deported to the United States of America when he was purchased by a Knabstrup breeder that was looking for a stallion to cover their mares. Standing at stud at that farm in New York for a little under a year, he covered two mares. When the owners of the farm were in need of more money and Xo was not needed anymore, they put him up for sale. In desperation for the extra cash and after seven months of waiting for the premier stallion to be bought, they dropped their asking price almost twenty-thousand dollars and shipped him to the sale.
Discipline: Dressage, Hunter, Light Driving, Cross Country, and Jumping.
