farriers - comments please navicular

[kezimac]

hi - my horse was diagnosed with navicular last may - she was put into eggbars, still not quite right so had wedges fitted - she was immediatlely sound. she has been sound over last 9 months - last week went unlevel and is having more xrays on monday.
Alot of people recommend barefoot route as a treatment/best way of managing condition. What i would like to know from farriers is their take on this? Are wedges detrimental long term. My horse has low heels, I have read about the horse landing toe first and that this puts pressure on DDFT. With wedges the shoe lands heel first but the pedal bone lands toe first because of the back of the foot is high.

Please farriers tell me what you think - i can get some pics if that helps.
not sure if i should whip her shoes off - she has thin soles that bruise easily as i did have her barefoot for 9 months when i first had her but she couldnt take any stones. - but as last resort i will do it.

 

[doris2008]

Not a farriers view but an owners one!
Does your horse have navicular or navicular syndrome? My TB was diagnosed with general foot pain a couple of years ago. Initially he was shod in natural balance type shoes & given bute. He came sound quickly. Last year feet broke down & looked a mess although sound enough.
New farrier suggested whipping shoes off. He said that if I cant stick it out permanently the I should at least try for 9 months to give his feet a break. This was last Sept. He is still barefoot & now coming back into work after a break. He is bute free & sound. Feet have improved remarkably. I wouldnt consider shoes again for now. Have you thought about using hoof boots? This is going to be my mext purchase.
When initially diagnosed my farrier & vet were both dead against wedges & heart bars as they thought these were no help at all. Instead his feet were very precisely rebalanced along side the x rays. The difference in a couple of weeks from that was great initially too.

 

[K27]

I'm not a Farrier so not qualified to answer your questions, but I do have a tricky horse that many previous Farriers have struggled to shoe properly to keep him comfortable, and also a vet in the past tried to tell me he had Navicular, but in his case he didn't, but from his symptoms many could think, wrongly that he does have navicular,rather it was heel pain . Sorry to hear about you horse though. The things that have kept my horse comfortable have mainly been about him having loads,and I mean loads to the point of excessive heel support and width, which I know some Farriers don't like because of the risk of losing a shoe, and sometimes it can cause further probs as well. Also my boy hates pads, esp wedges even the small degree ones, he didn;t mind built in heels quite so much, but they weren't ideal. He also has a hissy fit if his feet are unbalanced by literally millimetres.
Wide webbed flat, rolled toe shoes, or what he has now, shoes with quarter clips suit him, and also with him we've found we can't shoe him like a normal horse would be shod, in relation to how much is taken off the toe- strange, but true!- luckily we have a very skilled, talented Farrier and he makes sure his feet are totally balanced and takes off the bare minimum which still allows for perfect alignment. Since we've twigged on to this, he is like a different horse. Previous Farriers would take too much toe off because they didn;t understand him, and they didn't want to listen to me either!- getting my horse shod from xrays helped loads and it helps if your Farrier and Vet can work together, too.

 

[kezimac]

she has lollipop changes on xrays so i would say thats disease

xrays from last yr here -

not very clear you have to zoom on the navicular bone one.
she toes in so keeping boots on is a nightmare as they twist - tried old macs and easyboots

 

[Farma]

http://www.equinenaturaltherapy.com/navicular_syndrome.htm

Hi - have a look at this (the treatment section) is interesting.
My farrier and vet both agreed the raised wedges were the best way forward for my horse and have kept her sound for 7 years now.
Read up as many articles etc as poss to gain a greater understanding which should in turn help you make the best decision for your horse.
I will post that book later today for you so hopefully that will help. For me knowing the ins and outs of the syndrome made it easier to deal with - the stress and worry comes from not having enough knowledge to understand how to deal with it.
Hope that helps - your where i was 7 years ago and i wished i had known about this forum then to ask for advice- good luck x

 

[kezimac]

thats great thanks

 

[kezimac]

hey farriers any comments?????
- need to know are wedges long term bad
- what do you think of barefoot for navicular - and heres the biggy - would i ask my farrier to trim her or a barefoot trimmer!!!! and as a farrier do you trim ridden horse different to a pasture pet? do barefoot trimmers trim different and why dont farriers trim like that

 

[Farma]

There is someone on this forum called thefarrier who always seems to be super helpful - post this in vets and i bet you get more response from who your after x

 

[kezimac]

ah good idea cheers!!