05/09/2026
Three weeks into Rolo’s journey, and we thought it was time for a little update 🤍🐴
The first week was focused mostly on helping him settle in, decompress, and transition to a more forage-based diet aimed at supporting overall health and reducing inflammation. Sometimes the best place to start with rehab is simply giving the body the right foundation to begin healing.
Rolo came to us with a chronic stifle injury involving the medial patellar ligament, along with hoof balance issues and overall muscle weakness from time out of work. Because of that, our approach has been focused not just on the injury itself, but on improving whole-body function and rebuilding strength from the ground up.
Along with dietary changes, we started incorporating PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic therapy) every other day, along with a weekly light chiropractic check combined with postural rehabilitation work. We also began hand walking 10–20 minutes daily (or as often as time allows) over gentle terrain, as well as a few simple strengthening exercises — including backing exercises, which he has been handling really well.
The following week, Rolo (along with the rest of the crew) had visits from our farrier, Shearer from Stonehenge Forgery, and our equine dentist, Krause Equine Veterinary. Proper hoof balance and dental function are huge pieces of the puzzle when it comes to helping horses move and function at their best — especially during injury recovery.
Radiographs of Rolo’s feet showed some moderate imbalances that we’ll continue addressing over the next few trim cycles before reassessing with follow-up radiographs down the road. On the dental side, aside from a retained root at 101 and some sharp points causing a few cheek ulcers, there thankfully were not any major concerns that would significantly restrict normal jaw motion.
One thing we did notice before his dental was that he would eat with a head tilt and then stretch and extend his neck afterward. After his dental, the head tilt has resolved while he is eating his feed on the ground. Some of the neck stretching and tilting of the head in the air has returned intermittently, but it has still shown improvement overall.
Over the last week, we’ve added daily laser and bioenergetic therapy sessions, incorporated more incline work into his walks, and gradually increased his strengthening exercises to 6 sets of backing 6 steps each.
So far, we’re really happy with how things are progressing. We’ve already noticed less right hind toe drag at the walk, and he’s beginning to gain a little more topline muscle and weight as his body becomes more comfortable using itself correctly again.
Rehab is rarely a straight line, but we’re encouraged by the small wins so far and are excited to continue documenting his journey along the way ✨
