This is Pixie, the very first retirement we ever welcomed and has been with us since the very beginning (early 2018). Pixie initially arrived as she struggled with Arthritic knees and her lovely owner wanted her to get more movement on a day to day basis.
At the beginning of PB, we made the mistake of not documenting (in photo form) the issues we knew the Paddock Paradise would help with when a new horse first arrived. It wasn't until a year or so later we realised the significance of documenting each horse's journey. So unfortunately, we don't have any great photos to share with you regarding Pixie's knees but we think you can still see a difference with the one's we're sharing.
Upon arrival, Pixie found lifting her feet for trimming sessions rather difficult and so she was being trimmed very low to the ground with plenty of breaks for her in-between. As you would expect to see on a horse struggling with some Arthritis, there was some swelling and inflammation around the her knees. If we fast forward to January 2020 (the bottom image), you can see Pixie is holding herself differently, appears more relaxed and the swelling around her knees has reduced drastically.
Life on Paddock Paradise has meant remaining active and moving is just a normal part of Pixie's day. There are no unnecessarily long periods of standing around and the choice to move or stand is completely hers. If we again fast forward to present day, Pixie is thriving in an environment that aids in the improvement of stiffness, swelling and conditions like Arthritis - as long as she is trimmed regularly and she gets plenty of movement, the swelling is kept very minimal. While we appreciate we can only ever manage the condition, Pixie's quality of life has improved vastly and she's been letting us know how good she's been feeling every since by doing circuits of the track with her friends.
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