Rehabilitation

Elite Equine Rescue is fortunate to have rehabilitative care through Elite Equine Rehab Center, a program that provides a variety of non-invasive rehab modalities to benefit our rescues and private clients. All care is provided on site, and the proceeds from private clients benefit the horses of Elite Equine Colorado.

Rehabilitation encompasses both physical and mental care:

Medical Rehabilitation

We have a couple of veterinarians on our team of advisories. Dr. Melanie Robinson, who does an assessment on each horse as needed and recommends certain actions, such as routine wellness care, emergency on-call services, protocol support, chiropractic, acupuncture and euthanasia, when necessary. Dr. Nathan Goddard is our go-to for equine dentist. Gina Hluska, CLT, CEKP, CEMT, VT provides all equine rehabilitation, supportive veterinary care and physical therapy for the horses in our rehab program.  All services are provided at a non-profit courtesy discount rate. 

Then, our “Special Needs” volunteers move in. Their specialty is soft talk, soothing words, gentle rubs – the ever important T.L.C.

Unfortunately, we do lose some. Not all our battles have a happy ending. Some just took too much abuse, suffered too long at the hands of…., well, you put a name on them. When we receive a horse in borderline condition, we go into a “lockdown” mode at the ICU barn – no visitors, a minimal number of very experienced volunteers. The sights and sounds of a close-to-death horse are extremely disturbing and something most people should avoid. The sad fact is that we can’t save them all.

Mental Rehabilitation

Once a horse is well on the road to recovery we assess and re-train the physically capable horse through “positive” training methods. No loud voices are used. No whips. No ropes. No bucking. Just gentle words and motions. That solves most of the problems.

Some horses are deemed unfit for further training due to physical injury or mental condition. They are maintained on the same level as all the other horses, same stall space, same food – most of the time it isn’t the horse’s fault. Some things just can’t be undone.

But we win most of our battles, and we do our best to assure our winners a safe and secure home for the rest of their lives. Our job is to provide medical care, hoof care, dental care, proper nutrition, holistic therapies and shelter. That’s just for starters. Our volunteers provide the most important ingredient – making each human/horse contact one of love and understanding.