Many of you know that Josie has two leg braces. What you might not know is that she rarely needs to wear them now. 🥰

When she does need them, though, I’m so glad she’s got them!

For example, a few weeks ago, we noticed she had roughed up her knee (likely from slipping on the ramp up to the house while scrambling up it to beat Bob inside). Bob never moves at Josie’s normal pace, but I think Josie’s habits from her previous life sometimes kick in, and off she goes.

When we noticed her knee was roughed up and quite swollen, we reached for her custom-fitted brace. The padding in her brace is nice and thick, so it gave her plenty of protection while her knee healed up (which didn’t take long).

Both of her legs are stuck in bent positions. If she were young and still growing, like Rosie was when she arrived, Josie’s braces and the daily physio Jess did with her might have straightened out her joints.

Even so, all the physio Jess did with Josie helped her walk more comfortably by improving her range of motion. In turn, Josie strengthened her muscles, and we saw improvement in the other joints of her front legs. All that hard work has taken some pressure off her back, and she’s standing better now.

Had Josie arrived here well before her advanced age, surgical intervention may have been an option. However, Josie is nearly 80 years old if we compare her sheep age to the human equivalent.

There was a time when she wore both her braces more often, particularly the one she has on in this picture. But we found that after Josie’s range of motion improved, she preferred to walk around without her braces. In her braces, she would go back down on her knees rather than walk upright, and, naturally, didn’t go as far from her house.

So, Josie’s braces are still an important part of her care. This week, she’s been wearing one of them on the leg that tends to slip out from under her when the conditions are slippery. It was nice to see that rather than sticking close to her house, she was out and about exploring with her brace on (one feisty step at a time 😀).