Ellie
Ellie
Embedded Files
Meet our newest intake-Ellie!!
We were contacted by beloved (and long time rescuer friends) to see if we had any room for this 34ish horse. They were hoping we could try some holistic alternatives that we have used in the past to see if we could help her any.
Ellie was used for riding for many years but when her arthritis became too much she was surrendered. This ALWAYS breaks our hearts because animals give us so much. They give us their best years, their devoted friendship and unwavering love…the least we can do is take care of them through their retirement years.
Due to Ellie’s age, she has limited teeth and needs lots of senior feed seperated into 3 meals a day. She also needs 24 hour access to timothy pellets made into a mush to put (as well as keep) weight on. She has arthritis along with a limp, that we want to try different avenues to see if we can address and help her.
We are not blind to the fact that she is an older gal and there may be nothing we can do with her joint issues, but we are willing to try anything we can to help her. Her eyes fill with so much light when she sees the other equines in the field and give us hope that we can help her become more comfortable and happy for as long as possible.
June 10th
Miss Ellie has gained some weight since she’s been with us and the vets are happy with her current size. Keeping her at this weight will be better for her arthritis. We have been trying to loosen her up some with daily walks as well as daily red light therapy on her joints, especially the side she limps on. Due to the fact she was potentially stalled for an extended period of time, everything became very tight so we are trying to help her be able to use those muscles again.
Our awesome farrier JW Stafinski is a master of all trades and has been using his skills as an Equine Flexion Therapist to work on her sore joints. She has had two sessions so far and as he was working on some of her pressure points, she was so relaxed that she literally tried to go to sleep! We are hoping that he can help release some of those tight muscles and is able to make her a lot more comfortable.
We just started on her first supplement of turmeric and omega 3 oils to try and help with joint inflammation. We have to make changes slowly but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can help this older gal enjoy her retirement life as pain free as possible.
One day she even picked up her speed to a trot when she knew her feed was coming! The next day she decided her dinner wasn’t coming quick enough so she walked right through the closed (but unlocked) gate to her food bucket to tell us she wasn’t willing to wait!
She may be an older gal…but a girl wants what she wants.
June 27th
This sweet lady has had 3 flexion therapy sessions since she’s been here and she’s definitely made progress. We have an AMAZING rescue friend who volunteered to cover the cost of 5 sessions for her!!! We are incredibly blessed to have such kind people in our lives who want the same things for these animals as we do!
During Ellie’s last session she had several releases in new places! We are working to loosen her up so she’ll be more comfortable as a whole. She sat so for so long after she could no longer be ridden that she was incredibly tight in so many areas that she didn’t use. We have been massaging those atrophied places daily and we definitely see improvement. She walks slowly but in the mornings picks up to a trot for her breakfast! Her original limp is much less pronounced than was previously.
For a 34 year old lady with arthritis, we know we can only help her so much, but we will do whatever we have to in order to keep her as comfortable for as she can be.
She has joined the much larger field with Willow now and quickly became a close friend. She refuses to eat without Willow in her sight and follows her wherever she goes. We love seeing the joy that having a new buddy has brought back to her life. Her eyes light up! She loved being around humans but we could tell she needed the right companion. Now that they’re together neither one refuses to leave each other’s side unless the other one is going too.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse