22-year-old horse tests new technology at the Retirement Home for Horses

ALACHUA, Fla. (WCJB) - Tonka retired from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after serving 10 years.

There he developed lymphangitis in his back leg from a staff infection causing a major swell.

“We’ve been working on trying to treat this leg. said Paul Gregory, the president at the Retirement Home for Horses. “There is no cure for it. The leg will go up and down. We’ve had him on all types of antibiotics and diuretics for it”

Two and a half years ago Tonka joined the Retirement Home for Horses in Alachua and two weeks ago he began using the EQ Press on his leg.

This is a new technology from the company Vetletics.

“In this dynamic compression technology has been developed to follow the natural flow in the lymphatic system,” said Irina Perdew, the co-inventor of EQ Press. where the air chambers are garments sleaves that are put on the legs and the air chambers inflate in sequential matter from the bottom towards the top and that is how our lymphatic system flows”

Leaders at the Retirement Home for Horses work closely with those at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

They do acupuncture therapy on Tonka, but they also recommended the EQ Press.

“With all the chronic fibrotic scar tissue that develops in the leg and tissues in the leg. The lymphatic system probably gets distended and no longer has a normal function. said Todd Holbrook at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. “That’s the benefit of this external compressive device trying to re-create what his body should be doing. I am really hopeful about the combination of both treatments will help him have more comfort down the road.”

Tonka will use the EQ Press twice a day in 45-minute sessions for a total of 8 weeks.

“We want to start feeling normal structures that are there we know are there somewhere, we just can’t feel them right now. So a reduction of that fibrosis, reduction of scar tissue, getting the leg back to being softer again the skin to feel back to normal,” said Perdew.

During his therapy sessions, Tonka has plenty of support from his humans, but one special friend does stand out. “This is Shalamar. Tonkas girlfriend and they are never far from each other and we bring her in here while we do his treatment because it keeps him calm. They are just in love” said Gregory.

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