Although I don't look all that impressed at working on a Sunday (I was fine, honestly), I was very impressed with Tilly who has calmed down after all of yesterday's excitement and was a pleasure to work with this morning. We do have to be especially careful with Tilly that she doesn't become stressed or too tired as she has a condition known as PSSM, that is, Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy.
PSSM is
an inherited muscle disease that affects many breeds of horses including Appaloosa. Tilly is an Appaloosa cross cob. The
clinical characteristics can vary between breeds, from muscle pain,
cramping and cell damage with exercise, to progressive muscle atrophy.
Horses with PSSM have signs typically associated with tying-up. These signs are most commonly muscle stiffness, sweating, and reluctance to move. The signs are most often seen in horses when they are put into initial training or after a lay-up period when they receive little active turn-out. Episodes usually begin after very light exercise such as 10-20 minutes of walking and trotting. Horses with PSSM can exhibit symptoms without exercise.
During an episode, horses seem lazy, have a shifting lameness, tense up their abdomen, and develop tremors in their flank area. When horses stop moving they may stretch out as if to urinate. They are painful, stiff, sweat profusely, and have firm hard muscles, particularly over their hindquarters. Some horses will try pawing and rolling immediately after exercise.
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| Over the bridge width-ways. |
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| Standing at a height above her |
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| Grabbing a drink before going for a short walk |
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| Out on the Forest |
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| All terrain |
When Sandra (Natasha's Mum) and I first discussed Tilly coming in for training, we both felt that my normal incremental approach would work well and with Natasha by our sides, we have someone who knows how Tilly is normally and can alert us to anything unusual.
