Anyone else had experience with Navicular?

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CVSHotShot

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I bought a new horse in April of this year and never had any problem with her health until roughly two months ago when she became lame after being shod. I spoke to the blacksmith who told me her feet were quite short to begin with and to expect her to be sore for a short period. She was sound again in the following few days & a while later she came out of the field limping quiet severely. She had nothing stuck in her shoes, no heat or swelling in any of her legs etc so I had her on box rest for a few days & again she came out of it sound.

I started to notice that when I rode her she would trip every now and then & go lame, gradually this got worse as did her lameness. Two days ago I took her out of the stable and she came hobbling out, obviously in great discomfort.

Long story short, I had the vet out last night, she was very lame in her trot-up & almost crippled after a flexion test, it was the worst id ever seen her & I couldn't believe how quickly she had deteriorated. We are going in tomorrow for xrays as he suspects navicular which was obviously quite devastating news.

If her xrays come back positive & she is diagnosed with the condition, how will this affect her in the future? I have been told it is a matter of corrective shoeing and regular check-ups...or is it more than this? Will she constantly be in and out of lameness or in pain?

Also, I had her vetted before I bought her. Should this not have been detected at that stage? x
 
Do not despair.

Number 1, the xrays will probably be almost useless, and your vet should tell you so. For every 100 horses they xray a substantial proportion (I have been told by various vets and other sources that it is around 50%) will have changes on the xrays and never be unsound in their lives.

Number 2, when MRI scanned, the overwhelming number of horses with navicular bone changes are actually lame because of damage to the deep digital flexor tendon and/or the collateral ligaments and/or more rarely, the the impar ligaments.

Number 3, my last navicular case is one of dozens and dozens which have been restored to full work, including jumping, by a barefoot rehab. My second is booked to go jumping for the first time in years on Monday 10th. All is not lost.

Look at rockleyfarm.blogspot.com and you can trace the recovery of numberous written off horses.



ps her history is interesting. Most of the lamenesses that Rockley deals with are caused by imbalance in the feet. She passed a vetting and then presumably you started using a new farrier. The timing is spot on for your new farrier to have introduced imbalances to her feet that have caused tendon or ligament strain. Any chance of some photos?
 
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CVSHotShot said:
If her xrays come back positive & she is diagnosed with the condition, how will this affect her in the future? That depends on what your vet offers and how you choose to treat her


I have been told it is a matter of corrective shoeing and regular check-ups...or is it more than this? Have a look at the link CpTrayes has given, there is another, very successful, option

Will she constantly be in and out of lameness or in pain? She doesn't have to be
Click to expand...

Good luck with whatever you decide
 
My girl was diagnosed with navicular just over 12 months ago. X rays showed something in 1 foot but that could always have been there so went for MRI scan which confirmed navicular. My girl doesn't have any damage to her tendons/ligaments which is very rare. With a change of routine & a good farrier she is doing fine & ridden about 5 times a week.
 
Festive Fairy said:
My girl doesn't have any damage to her tendons/ligaments which is very rare.
Click to expand...

It is not only extremely rare but also sometimes missed on the interpretation of the MRI scans. A friend of mine who had a horse who was MRI was told that there was nothing on the MRI which could account for his lameness and that it was the navicular bone changes. They were given a 20% chance of him ever working again. (This was a major teaching hospital, by the way, not some backwoods vet surgery.) A second opinion saw soft tissue damage, and the horse was sound after 5 weeks of rehab.

I am really happy for you that your horse has come right FF. Sometimes all these horses need is a different balance in their shoeing.
 
Agree with cptrayes. Do not despair, my horse showed changes on xrays but the vet said that most horses of her age/work history would present as she did.
My horse only showed the same symptoms as yours after purchase (and 5 stage vetting). She's fine and working as she did before now.

Could you get her former farrier to shoe her or at least speak to your vet/farrier ? It could be coincidence, but even the slightest change in balance and shoeing can make a big difference.
Either that, or do as my new(ish) farrier suggested, get the shoes off and let her find her own balance.
 
Diddleydoo said:
5 weeks is very impressive. Can I ask was that barefoot rehab or remedial shoeing?

Sorry for the hijack OP
Click to expand...

Barefoot. The horse was already barefoot and the veterinary hospital and the resident remedial farrier wanted bar shoes on. Owner refused and found a vet who would refer to Rockley. I used to own him and he was stonkingly sound without shoes. I hunted him. I sold him and two years later he was kept in most of the time during the winter and not ridden on roads because of the dark and his feet were allowed to grow so that he had no frog contact, and then he went for a hooley around the field when turned out in the spring, and bingo, lame with collateral ligament strains.

But after a gamma ray scintigraph, nerve blocks and MRI scan which relieved the owner of all her insurance cover, the vet hospital wrote him off as only 20% likely to ever work again and then only lightly. And only in bar shoes.

He was lame from April to October while vets messed around with him and sound and ready to go home again after only weeks of a proper barefoot rehab.
 
Thank you.

That's quite a story, and inspiring to.

ETA You've also given me an idea of why my mare's feet seem to have gone a bit backwards at the moment. More road work required I think. So thank you for that too

Again sorry for the hijack OP

Any news from your vet yet?
 
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CPT think change of routine is also helping. At previous yard they didn't go out often & she kept jumping out of field for some reason. At new yard she's out more, living in a herd & she's never jumped out. She's also hacked out a lot where at previous yard it was nearly all schooling due to area having no off road riding.
I'm convinced previous farrier didn't do her any favours.
 
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