cthorseman
Active Member
Hello H&H community.
I come from across the pond looking for guidance.
10 year old gelding was recently diagnosed with Navicular after months of lameness on the front left. MRI was performed. Horse is ridden for pleasure, usually in a sand arena
Findings were:
- Chronic navicular bursitis with significant adhesion formation
- moderate left fore navicular bone inflammation
- inflammation of the distal aspect of P3
- no issues with DDFT.
Injections were done on same day as MRI. Hyvisc and other anti inflammatory was injected into coffin joint and navicular bursa region.
Horse was shod 4 days later and put in an egg bar shoe with a rocker toe. Despite these interventions - one month later he is actually less sound than he was when he got the MRI.
He did run stomp around on the pavement for 45 minutes getting back into the trailer after the MRI with no shoes on - then broke off a cross tie the day he was shod and galloped around the arena for 5 minutes (he was on 5 months of box rest and was a time bomb).
Vet came out yesterday and gave Osphos and we will begin him on Equioxx. After discussion with the vet - we agreed maybe pulling his shoes may help. Clearly his current shoeing setup isn't doing it for him. The Vet was also surprised at the no improvement as his MRI did not look terrible compared to what she has seen in the past.
His current freedom includes turnout at 5:00 after he is fed. He has access to back into his stall overnight. He usually wanders back in there at some point. We put him on opposite turnout schedule as his pasture mate because they were playing too much and I didn't want to make his injury any worse. He has access to a 1/2 acre, very short grass field with varying minor elevation changes, and a full sand arena. The 1/2 acre pasture also has a section of wood chips to walk on and compacted dirt. We have about 4 acres fenced in total, but those are tall grass pastures so we don't want to let them in there with winter coming. We own this property so we have flexibility in how we can modify it. I also have access to asphalt to walk on, and crushed limestone 3/4 rock mixed with sand.
When the farrier pulls his shoes, I want set him up for success the best I can, but I have zero experience with barefoot horses. I found going barefoot as a possible remedy through Rockley farm. It seems to be quite remarkable what they can do with their program. Granted, I cannot directly replicate their program, track system or footing.
As far as dietary changes, I have added in a mineral rich hoof supplement into his grain. It may not be much, but it was something he wasn't getting before.
Questions I have:
1. Should I keep in his in out (12x12 stall with attached 16x16 rubber matted outdoor space) for a specific amount of time after his shoes are pulled?
2. If I do keep him confined, how often should I hand walk him and for how long?
3. If I don't confine him - can I turn him out on his normal nightly turnout schedule? He does walk around a fair amount and move around the property.
I plan on taking weekly photos of his feet as well as slow motion video of movement.
Lastly, attached are pictures of his feet. Thank you for any tips or tricks.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/DKJwwpd
I come from across the pond looking for guidance.
10 year old gelding was recently diagnosed with Navicular after months of lameness on the front left. MRI was performed. Horse is ridden for pleasure, usually in a sand arena
Findings were:
- Chronic navicular bursitis with significant adhesion formation
- moderate left fore navicular bone inflammation
- inflammation of the distal aspect of P3
- no issues with DDFT.
Injections were done on same day as MRI. Hyvisc and other anti inflammatory was injected into coffin joint and navicular bursa region.
Horse was shod 4 days later and put in an egg bar shoe with a rocker toe. Despite these interventions - one month later he is actually less sound than he was when he got the MRI.
He did run stomp around on the pavement for 45 minutes getting back into the trailer after the MRI with no shoes on - then broke off a cross tie the day he was shod and galloped around the arena for 5 minutes (he was on 5 months of box rest and was a time bomb).
Vet came out yesterday and gave Osphos and we will begin him on Equioxx. After discussion with the vet - we agreed maybe pulling his shoes may help. Clearly his current shoeing setup isn't doing it for him. The Vet was also surprised at the no improvement as his MRI did not look terrible compared to what she has seen in the past.
His current freedom includes turnout at 5:00 after he is fed. He has access to back into his stall overnight. He usually wanders back in there at some point. We put him on opposite turnout schedule as his pasture mate because they were playing too much and I didn't want to make his injury any worse. He has access to a 1/2 acre, very short grass field with varying minor elevation changes, and a full sand arena. The 1/2 acre pasture also has a section of wood chips to walk on and compacted dirt. We have about 4 acres fenced in total, but those are tall grass pastures so we don't want to let them in there with winter coming. We own this property so we have flexibility in how we can modify it. I also have access to asphalt to walk on, and crushed limestone 3/4 rock mixed with sand.
When the farrier pulls his shoes, I want set him up for success the best I can, but I have zero experience with barefoot horses. I found going barefoot as a possible remedy through Rockley farm. It seems to be quite remarkable what they can do with their program. Granted, I cannot directly replicate their program, track system or footing.
As far as dietary changes, I have added in a mineral rich hoof supplement into his grain. It may not be much, but it was something he wasn't getting before.
Questions I have:
1. Should I keep in his in out (12x12 stall with attached 16x16 rubber matted outdoor space) for a specific amount of time after his shoes are pulled?
2. If I do keep him confined, how often should I hand walk him and for how long?
3. If I don't confine him - can I turn him out on his normal nightly turnout schedule? He does walk around a fair amount and move around the property.
I plan on taking weekly photos of his feet as well as slow motion video of movement.
Lastly, attached are pictures of his feet. Thank you for any tips or tricks.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/DKJwwpd
but be aware not all balancers are created equally when it comes to barefoot. A quick bit of research on here using the search function will bring up several threads recommending good balancers in this country. You will then either need to see if you are able to source them yourself or look at the ingredients and try to find something similar. Equally there is forage and forage when it comes to barefoot. There's a whole debate about hay v haylage that I'm not going into, mainly because I have to use hay anyway for other reasons so the debate doesn't really affect me! A rough rule of thumb I use is to avoid anything with rye grass where possible, meadow hay or Timothy tends to be lower in sugar I think though happy to stand corrected. 
Good luck 
Zero out of ten for reading skills!
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