navicular anyone?

[Deleted]

My five year old mare, Pearl, has been slightly lame since last November, We had several vets look at her and they did and recommended different things, none of which seemed to make a difference. So we finally brought over to a hospital where, after doing some nerve blockings and x-rays found out that she has a mild case of navicular syndrome.
I don't understand how she could've gotten it. She been barefoot her whole life and she's had good trims, we've never ridden her hard, and with her being so young it really worries me for her future soundness.
We are going to put bar shoes and pads on her for six months and then transfer her into regular shoes, hopefully this will help relieve her of some of the pressure on her heels.
Has anyone heard of a case like this before? Is it common in the breed? Do these ponies usually do better in shoes?

[Debbie]

How very odd, normally they get navi from being in shoes and working hard.

Does Pearl hare about the field on her own? And does she tend to pull herself along with her shoulders? I'm wondering if she's got tight shoulder muscles and forearms that might be pulling the tendons in her lower leg?

With her trims, is her toe kept reasonably short? I read somewhere recently that a longer toe can cause a lever affect on the joints inside the hoof capsule.

[Deleted]

Yes, Pearl is out 24/7.
I don't think she's pulling herself along with her shoulders, but she does move quite strange, i'm hoping that once she gets more comfortable she will move better.
When she's on hard ground she does move with short stiff strides for the most part. on softer ground she usually doesn't so much, it could be because she's tight, but I think it more has something to do with her foot, she used to stride out nicely.
and yes, her toe is kept short.

[harveydales]

I can't give any advice but I think it must be very un usual in our breed in pony so young. As it is just mild, hopefully it can be sorted with appropriate trimming or shoeing.

[harleydales]

Isn't navicular really just an arthritis and can therefore be genetic? I know a part bred Arab who has done hardly any work, is only 12 and was diagnosed when he was 8, so it's not unheard of.

[marlon2010]

Hi

I work for an equine podiatrist - Jo Clark. She says that putting shoes on is a no no and that there are a range of options to help the horse. You could email her for some advice: [e-mail]

Best wishes
Liz

[cadeby]

Sept 5, 2011 15:35:47 GMT -1 @chloe5dales said:

Has anyone heard of a case like this before? Is it common in the breed? Do these ponies usually do better in shoes?

I don't think it's common in dales at all. They are renowned for excellent feet and, correctly trimmed, most are perfectly suited to being barefoot, depending on their workload.

My friend's Shire Horse developed navicular disease, in later life, but he had poor foot conformation with long toes and underslung heels and he was an ex-brewery horse so had done lots of trot work on hard roads.

The farrier applied the same remedial shoeing regime that Chloe's vet/farrier are suggesting. I'll list what he did because I think this used to be the standard treatment for navicular

** I'm not advocating that this is in any way the correct approach. I'm just listing it as a case history so that Chloe can see that another horse received similar treatment which was successful**

First, trim the front and back of the hoof to be parallel to the pastern (but not to the extent that the horse is hopping lame if this is a physical impossibilty due to the existing angle!)

Fit shoes which extend backward from the horse's heel to the place where the heel should have been if the heels were not underslung. The aim is to encourage the heel to expand backwards over several months, moving the shoe regularly as progress is made.

Once the front and back of the hoof are aligned, lower the heel by 2 or 3 degrees and insert a rubber pad between the shoe and the hoof. Angle the pad inside the white line to encourage the hoof wall to expand when the hoof meets the ground, thus improving the blood supply to the foot. Plus the pad helps to cushion the foot, reducing the impact on the damaged navicular bone.

However, this treatment was carried out on my friend's Shire over 10 years ago, and things move-on as vets, farriers and podiatrists become more knowledgeable, so it would be interesting to know if this thinking has radically changed

I have also read that navicular is now thought to be caused by a poor blood supply to the navicular bone due to thrombosis of branches of the navicular artery (rather than just from arthritic or precussive effects). There have been some promising results with injection of a drug called Isoxsuprine which has a vaso-dilatory effect. It would be worth quizzing your vet about this Chloe. Good luck. Hope Pearl returns to full soundness .

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2011 11:18:50 GMT -1 harleydales said:

Isn't navicular really just an arthritis and can therefore be genetic?

In Pearl's case it isn't arthritis, it could get there over time though. navicular syndrome is caused by a combination of the hoof getting too much pounding and the navicular bone as well as some of the tendons getting pinched, therefore the hoof will need more blood, so it will start to enlarge the blood vessel holes that are in the bone, which will eventually weaken the bone.

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2011 13:54:52 GMT -1 marlon2010 said:

Hi

I work for an equine podiatrist - Jo Clark. She says that putting shoes on is a no no and that there are a range of options to help the horse. You could email her for some advice: [e-mail]

Best wishes
Liz

putting shoes on a navicular horse can cause ever more problems, esp. if you don't have a really good farrier. but Pearl is a strange case, because most horses develop navicular from being incorrectly shod, since Pearl has been barefoot, our only option to try and get her sound is to try shoes.

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2011 6:00:15 GMT -1 cadeby said:

I have also read that navicular is now thought to be caused by a poor blood supply to the navicular bone due to thrombosis of branches of the navicular artery (rather than just from arthritic or precussive effects). There have been some promising results with injection of a drug called Isoxsuprine which has a vaso-dilatory effect. It would be worth quizzing your vet about this Chloe. Good luck. Hope Pearl returns to full soundness .

I'm not sure about in all cases, but with Pearl the vet thought that it started with concussion of the hoof, which did lead to the hoof needing more blood. Yes, when i see the vet next I will definitely have some questions for him. We might need to inject her, but i rather not unless it is absolutely necessary.Thanks Helen.

[Debbie]

The only navicular horse I knew of was at Camp some 20 years ago. Salty was in work, although it was primarily at a walk. He was kept sound and happy by having eggbar shoes fitted every 6 weeks and he did have pads under the shoes. It was on both front feet.

I'm sure technologies and techniques have changed since. I'm sure you can get her helped along with a really good farrier. It almost sounds as though she lamed on hard ground, over the summer or in the deep of winter could do it as well.

I only mentioned the shoulders because sometimes if the muscling is tight up there, it can also show up in the foot as well. And vice versa, if she's got an odd way of going at the moment to protect herself from hurting in that foot, she'll be placing more strain on her shoulder muscles and might have them spasm. Just massage anything that seems tight