Barefoot/navicular barefoot mystery....

[FAYEFUDGE]

To cut a very long story short, my boy was diagnosed with navicular about a year ago.

He has under run heels and his feet are imbalanced.

From the x rays, I was told that the angle his pedal bone etc was lying at was causing the ligaments to "pull" at the navicular bone, hence the pain (probably not a very good description!!!!!).

His navicular bone hasn't degenerated but there is bone forming around it.

I was advised to put him in wedge shoes and he had 2 courses of tildren.

We haven't had a great summer soundness wise, so with an impending wedding, I decided to turn him away for a while.

When I brought him in today I decided to trot him round the paddock, to see how he was looking and to my amazement he was sound!!!

Can anyone explain this to me, as I'd expected him to be stiff/sore/lame with no shoes etc.

I would like to keep him barefoot but I can't find a decent trimmer here in n.i..

Thanks

 

[be positive]

Being without shoes has allowed his feet to balance themselves without shoes pulling them out of balance or forcing them to conform to the ideal shape which may not be ideal for the horse, if he has good strong feet there should be no reason for him to be sore without shoes, I think his feet are telling you they would prefer to be left unshod, a decent farrier should be happy to trim and be sympathetic to enable him to stay barefoot, if you work him on a variety of surfaces he will probably do most of the trimming himself.
You may need to invest in some boots and look at his diet but it sounds as if you are starting from a fairly good point.

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

Thanks, I'm just worried I'll do him more long term damage without shoes.

 

[Palindrome]

worth having a read to understand what causes navicular (basically toe first landing):
http://www.hoofrehab.com/NavicularSyndrome.html

Horses wearing shoes are meant to get a break from shoes ideally every year (in the off season for hunters), that's because long term shoeing causes damage.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

This blog by Rockley Farm that does barefoot rehabs will be of interest to you.
http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Don;t be tempted to shoe, the feet are now working instead of being clamped with steel rims.
There is no need to have a barefoot trimmer, any good farrier can do the job.
The feet might just need balanced to compensate for growth in excess of wear. The soles and the frogs don't need to be trimmed with a knife in the way they are done for shoeing.

There are three aspects to barefoot riding and good feet.
Diet
Exercise
Trimming ........... which may be self trimming ie growth and wear are balanced.

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

Thanks everyone!
Concerned about what would happen long term if the ligaments keep pulling on his boney structures????
Sorry feel clueless about this

 

[Palindrome]

Thanks everyone!
Concerned about what would happen long term if the ligaments keep pulling on his boney structures????
Sorry feel clueless about this

You need to have him landing heel first.

When the horse lands toe first, the ligaments are all tensed up and pull on the boney structure, chaffing between the ligament and the navicular bone causes damage to both over time. When the horse lands heel first, the ligaments are relaxed so there is not damage caused. Furthermore, the frog and the heels bulb are built to absorb the shock of impact. Inside the heel bulbs there is cartilage that becomes stronger the more it is used so with each heel first landing, the heels become stronger and it also encourages the frog to grow (only when there is contact frog/ground). That's why barefoot helps getting a stronger foot, but a trully sound horse should land heel first or at least flat (not toe first).

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Ligaments connect bones, they evolved to pull on bones to cause movement. The only way to stop a ligament from pulling on a bony structure would be to cut the ligament. So don't worry about the Vet's poor description of what's going on, just concentrate on the fact that your horse is sound now.

 

[Palindrome]

Ligaments connect bones, they evolved to pull on bones to cause movement. The only way to stop a ligament from pulling on a bony structure would be to cut the ligament. So don't worry about the Vet's poor description of what's going on, just concentrate on the fact that your horse is sound now.

There is some truth to the vet's explanation but it is incomplete. There is a pulley system in the leg and it causes damage to both the tendon (digital flexor if I remember well) and navicular bone if the tendon is loaded when the foot is landing. There is a very good demo in the DVDs Under the Horse of Pete Ramey.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I should have underlined the bit about the Vet's explanation being poor, as that was one of the main points of my post.

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

Thanks, all info much appreciated