Barefoot experts - toe first landing?

[TWMD]

My horse had his shoes taken off about 3 weeks ago for his winter break. He's never been barefoot before and I made the decision to give his feet a break as he has mild navicular.

He was quite sore for the first week, now looks 'sound' although he is looking a bit choppy in front, and landing quite toe first. When he had his shoes on his landing was always flat.

I know it's early days but will this correct itself? Is there anything I could be doing to help him, riding/not-riding etc? I'm pleasantly surprised with how well his feet are doing in general, it's just this 'toe-yness' that's worrying me!

 

[ester]

It's worth making sure that you keep an eye on his frog condition- I would treat prophylactically for thrush. Just to make sure they aren't causing any issues.
Certainly 3 weeks in I wouldn't be concerned and would expect it to start correcting itself.
How was the navicular diagnosed? MRI?

 

[ycbm]

Navicular is a cover-all diagnosis for heel pain. In shoes, this will have been masked, but getting worse all the time. You now have a clear picture of the true problem, but it should be fixing itself a little every day.

I would exercise her cautiously in walk in hand on a hard flat surface, and within a few weeks you should have a flat landing which will then go heel first.

.

 

[TWMD]

It's worth making sure that you keep an eye on his frog condition- I would treat prophylactically for thrush. Just to make sure they aren't causing any issues.
Certainly 3 weeks in I wouldn't be concerned and would expect it to start correcting itself.
How was the navicular diagnosed? MRI?

Thank you, I’m sure I’m just being a worry wart! Fingers crossed

 

[Cragrat]

I definiitely agree with all the above- treat for thrush, gentle exercise on smooth ground, and give him time.

I would add that boots and pads might help him - he very likely has weak heels, and you need to set up a positive cycle instead of the current negative one. Weak heees are painful, so the horse lands on his toes or flat, so the heels remain week and underdeveloped. Boots and pads encourage correct landing - if fitted well, so encourage a stronger heel to develop - and then are no longer needed.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I took my horse barefoot after a navicular diagnosis, at the the beginning he also was toe landing but it corrected it's self, that was 2 years ago he is still barefoot sound and feet have greatly improved best thing I did.

 

[TWMD]

I took my horse barefoot after a navicular diagnosis, at the the beginning he also was toe landing but it corrected it's self, that was 2 years ago he is still barefoot sound and feet have greatly improved best thing I did.

Thank you, this is really heartening to hear

 

[Pinkvboots]

Thank you, this is really heartening to hear

He wasn't sound immediately I took his shoes off and just let him rest in the field after nearly 3 months he was sound, so I started slowly doing a bit of work he took to being barefoot really easily, I never needed boots and he was never foot sore.

I am just careful I don't do fast work on hard ground and he doesn't jump and fingers crossed his been fine his 14 now.

 

[ohmissbrittany]

Toe first landing will be heel discomfort- potentially a number of things plus whatever contributed to your original diagnosis.

I'll add another that mine wasn't moving great for a few months after removing shoes. FWIW we also had a "navicular" diagnosis too, but reality was stress on the DDFT (we did an MRI) as a result of negative palmar angle. Navicular is usually a catchall diagnosis of heel pain in horses, often is has naught to do with the navicular bone at all. For mine: About 3 mos to ride in good footing in straight lines, a bit longer for hard ground, circles, and a slow return to jumping. Which is perfectly acceptable considering "root cause" was DDFT lesions- it takes a minute for tendons to heal. It took nearly a year of slow rehab, diet changes to the point where she now has a NORMAL palmar angle for the first time in her life (it was flat/negative when purchased 6 years ago)... so the palmar foot CAN be fixed with patience.

Particularly in the earlier stages, their collateral cartilages will be moving around and this can cause some discomfort at the back of the foot and be contributing to your toe first landings. Additionally, even mild thrush will trouble a barefoot horse because they're now actually using their frog. The first is a waiting game, for the second, there's loads of treatments out there. I have a bit of "chemistry" for the really bad ones but generally Red Horse Products are good stuff. xx