If you’re just joining us, welcome to the story of Lucky & Sky, the test subjects in the Rehabilitate & Recover program. The core focus of the R&R program is to educate equine professionals such as veterinarians, trainers, competitors, shippers, and others on the Draper Therapies products and how they work to help your horses recover after competitions for faster recovery time. When my horses Sky and Lucky injured themselves recently, they became the test subjects in an even more intense use for R&R: in this case recovery from severe, and potentially career (and life)-ending injuries.

Today I am going to update you on Sky’s story (don’t worry, Lucky’s update will be next!). Last time I posted, I had mentioned that Sky was away at rehab where he was receiving state of the art care at a top notch facility in NY State. That facility is Clermont Farm’s New York Equine Fitness Center located just outside of Saugerties. It’s also home to the only hyperbaric oxygen chamber in New England, and a key location between major racetracks (Saratoga and Aqueduct), horse show grounds (HITS, Vermont), and travel routes (horses shipping from New England internationally often fly out of Newark Liberty Airport and pass right by NYEF).

Sky got to spend the entire month of August at Clermont, which is a stunningly beautiful facility that offers the best in equine rehabilitative care. He was shipped in with his Draper Therapies Recovery Wraps, his Draper Stable Sheet, and his Draper Anti-Sweat Sheet so that he would be comfortable whatever the weather, and to help reinforce all the positive increases in circulation that the spa and chamber would deliver. Everyone at NYEF was familiar with the concept of rehabilitative fabrics, but they had never had direct experience with Draper before Sky arrived. They loved the look and feel of the products, and how positively they seemed to reinforce Sky’s therapy while there. And so they inquired about incorporating Draper Therapies into their own R&R program, previously called Race & Recover.

Clermont’s NYEF was working on revamping their R&R program to expand beyond just race horses, to include performance horses such as Sky, since after all, injuries don’t just happen to racehorses. Draper’s Rehabilitate & Recover program was a great match with the R&R at Clermont’s NYEF, and together, they complimented each other. Far better than using plain standing wraps before and after spa and hyperbaric treatments, Draper’s wraps offered increased circulation that kept the benefits of the spa and hyperbaric treatments going long after the horse was back in their stall.

Fast forward to today, September 16th. Sky has been home since the first week of the month. He still wears his Draper Therapies wraps and sheet at night, and we alternate with also using Equiflexsleeve (another great R&R product – more on that to come!). He had his suspensories injected by the vet two weeks ago and is continuing his recovery. We are taking it slowly in the hopes of a full return to competition next year, and for now it’s taking it day by day and keeping him calm and comfortable – and we’re incredibly thankful for Draper’s help with all of that!

Check back soon for more on Lucky’s story and progress as he also is on the road to recovery. Have you had a horse on layup that needed serious R&R? We’d love to hear your experiences and have you share your stories in the comments below!

-CJ Millar