Linda Eskin's Personal Site

PussPuss (in memorium)

As of June 2001 we think we have the mystery solved. Sabrina has been diagnosed with EPSM - Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, which answers a whole collection of questions, and offers hope for a better future for her. As I was writing out the whole saga I realized it's a bit long, so here's the short version of her story...

Note - if you are dealing with any draft horse, or any EPSM horse, I strongly recommend you buy the book Draft Horses - An Owner's Manual. I ordered it because I thought after all the advice I'd gotten from Dr. Valentine the least I could do was buy her book. Well it turns out to be indispensable. I ordered two more copies the day I received mine - one for my vet, and one for a friend who just bought a Belgian.

Sabrina's Early History

I bought Sabrina in November 1997, as a trail horse and backyard pet - my first horse. She's a 15 hand Friesian/Morgan mare, about 1200 pounds, and was 7 years old at that time. She had some good basic training, but aside from puttering on trails and ponying youngster she was pretty green.

Things to know from our test ride and the pre-purchase exam:

When we got back from our test ride Sabrina kicked at her belly a few times. Her owner explained that the flies or sweat must make her itchy, 'cause she does that a lot after rides.
I've never planned to breed her, but noted that her past included one pregnancy which ended full-term in a difficult labor, being hauled to a veterinary hospital, where they had to cut up and remove the dead foal. Very sad, but she seemed fine now, and it wouldn't affect the trail riding I hoped to do with her. Her owner said it was a bad presentation (position of the foal wasn't right), and the vet doing the pre-purchase exam said that was just bad luck, and didn't mean she couldn't succeed at foaling in the future if I decided to breed her.

Otherwise, the perfect horse. Sweet, quiet, sound, and perfect for riding bareback. So I bought her.

In general, Sabrina is a friendly, outgoing, inquisitive, enthusiastic horse. Likes to trot, likes to get out and go - "whoa" was kinda an iffy thing at first - very "forward", but not silly. If anything, she's "anti-barn-sour". Never pins her ears, never swishes her tail. Gentle with everyone. No attitude problems. If you ask her quietly to "step over", she does. Impeccable ground manners. Loves to go to the mountains, and play in water. A fun, nice horse. Mean to most other horses, but great with people.