Two years ago, on January 21, 2013, AQHA breeder Stephanie Moore had no idea that this day would change her life forever. At her farm in Veersburg, Indiana, one of her mares gave birth to twin foals in five degree weather. Unfortunately, one died shortly after birth. Moore knew immediately that the surviving twin foal was something special. “She was full of spit and vinegar when she came out,” Moore stated in an article we wrote about the sassy filly when she was born.
Affectionately known as “Pown Pown”, the premature black filly lived the first months of her life inside of Moore’s home (pictured left). She weighed approximately 30 pounds and was just over two feet tall. Now two years later, she is now 14.2 hands and weighs about 600 lbs. While she is still very small for her age, her transformation is remarkable. Due to lack of proper in utero development, Moore has fought to keep this filly alive against all odds and despite her severe leg deformities.
“She had surgery in August of last year for contracted tendons,” says Moore, who owns and runs Sure-A-Winner Farm which breeds hunter under saddle prospects. “Her knees are now very straight, however, she will always be crooked through her pasterns.” (pictured below left–before and after pictures)
Quite fittingly, Stephanie came up with her nickname, “Pown Pown” from the combination of two other words, “pwn” which is a slang video game term derived from the word “own” meaning, “to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated” and the word, “pownie” which is the Scottish variant for the word, pony. Moore creatively merged the two words to come up with Pown Pown because she says she is “owned by her” due to how much of her time she has given, and continues to give her.
Pown Pown has developed a large following on Facebook where Moore frequently posts pictures and videos of this mischievous little horse. “She now lives outside, but she wants nothing to do with other horses,” Moore told us. “She loves her kitties who sleep in the stall with her and loves grooming the dogs. As cute as she is, and as much as people want to love on her, she is a little antisocial and only lets me and Alan touch her. On the whole, she has made great strides from what she was when she lived in the house, however, she still has special needs.”
Despite these special needs, Pown Pown makes up for it with her antics and larger-than-life attitude. “She still loves her oranges but now she also loves Start To Finish Peppermint Treats,” Stephanie reveals. “She loves destroying cardboard boxes and is OCD for strings whether it be a hay string, a string from my hoodie or a piece of my hair–if it is near her, it will end up in her mouth.”
Moore says that she loves Pown Pown because she doesn’t realize she is different than other horses. “She doesn’t let her many handicaps stop her from loving life. She is extremely ornery and bossy and one minute will act like she needs no one, but when she hears my voice, she neighs so loudly you can hear it at the house. She is such a unique little horse constantly bringing a smile to everyone who sees her.”
Pown Pown’s registered name is PricelessAndIKnowIt, which also fits this little diva perfectly as she is widely known to drive her owners a little bit crazy. “(Because of) her incessant need to tongue everything and put everything in her mouth… I don’t know how many shirts and pant legs I have that look like swiss cheese from her chewing on everything,” Moore says. “She received a cardboard box for her birthday which she promptly destroyed.”
Stephanie told us that she always thought the filly had a chance to make it to her second birthday because she kept fighting for her. “She is a lot of work and many people would have given up on her, but to see her now makes me glad I didn’t,” Moore reveals. “I have learned a lot from her with regard to the importance of proper development in utero and proper care of flexural deformities, but, mainly she has shown me what unconditional love truly means.”
Happy Birthday, Pown Pown!
