Navicular- advise please!!

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alicei91

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Hi all! I noticed my 9yr old mare wasnt quite right i called the vet out straight away and after a lameness examination, nerve blocks and xrays she diagnosed her with navicular. My mare has had steroid injections to the coffin joint, two lots of tildren, remedial heart bars a bute trial and is now on cosequin... she is on and off lame sound at the moment and im now running out of money for shoeing ect! im just wondering if anybody knows of any deterioration when leaving a navicular case barefoot or going back to normal shoes. help please!!:confused:
 
No real advice from me because my boy has just been diagnosed with navicular and we're in the early stages of treatment. I suspect, though, that you'll get lots of help and support from the Barefoot Taleban (not being sarcastic, honest) . . .

. . . best of luck with your mare and please keep us posted on your progress - I'd be very interested to hear about her treatment and her response.

P
 
Get your vet/farrier to give opinion on going down the barefoot route of treatment.
Look at the Rockley farm site, (no one is doing more for barefoot treatment for navicular in this country at present) do some reading-up on barefoot diet, conditions ect.
If all fits into place… go for it!
If you have a team behind you I am sure you will see the benefits very soon.
You will find loads of help on this site.
But I implore you to get vet/farrier/trimmer to help, you will find it hard to do all on your own.
 
PolarSkye said:
Barefoot Taleban (not being sarcastic, honest)
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Taliban dammit TAL I BAN
slap.gif
.
 
alicei91 said:
Hi all! I noticed my 9yr old mare wasnt quite right i called the vet out straight away and after a lameness examination, nerve blocks and xrays she diagnosed her with navicular. My mare has had steroid injections to the coffin joint, two lots of tildren, remedial heart bars a bute trial and is now on cosequin... she is on and off lame sound at the moment and im now running out of money for shoeing ect! im just wondering if anybody knows of any deterioration when leaving a navicular case barefoot or going back to normal shoes. help please!!:confused:
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Sounds like the only thing you haven't tried is removing the shoes.....what have you got to lose?

Have you got any insurance left with which to send to Rockley - or do you feel confident in doing so yourself?

I have never heard of a case that got worse with barefoot...WHEN IT WAS DONE 'PROPERLY' with the right diet and sympathetic trimming.
 
Haven't got anything left on my insurance which is why I'm looking at cheaper options I would be confident in going the barefoot route but obv would need to be old what I was doing
 
1) Do you have some pics of her hooves? Front, side and rear from the ground and sole view from above.

2) Full history.

3) What she is eating.

4) What facilities and time scale you have.

5) What area you are in.
 
i dont have any pictures as of yet but can get some, what type of history would you need, shes out on grass at the moment with a small feed of happy hoof as shes a very good doer, i have all the time in the world not bothered about bringing her back into work just want her sound and as painfree as possible we have a outdoor sand school and im in lincolnshire.
 
alicei91 said:
i dont have any pictures as of yet but can get some, what type of history would you need, shes out on grass at the moment with a small feed of happy hoof as shes a very good doer, i have all the time in the world not bothered about bringing her back into work just want her sound and as painfree as possible we have a outdoor sand school and im in lincolnshire.
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A timeline of her lameness and any other illness/injuries of note.

Pics aren't perfect - seeing 3D in only 2D...but it might help if there is anything screamingly obvious from the pics.
 
i bought her in jan 2011 she was out of work due to owner accident she passed a 5* vetting with flying colours no known illnesses or injuries when bought... started bringing her back into work slowly got on her and she was fine for about a month then all of a sudden she started throwing me off then she went lame by this time it was aug it was only very slight but i knew something wasnt right, vet came up did a lameness examination i was with aldingtons if you know them as i can see your from lancashire... they nerve blocked her and she respnded well to blocks around the coffin joint and navicular we put heart bars on her, we xrayed and there were slight changes to the navicular bone like a very slight frill we then started with steroids and synthetic joint fluid to the coffin joint she responded well to that then she had another lameness examination and we decided on tildren she came pretty much sound by the dec she was completely sound we then moved to lincoln and shes been abit on off she has a bute trial and now she is sound currently im just swiftly running out of money as her shoes cost £90 each time. hope this is helpful
 
Thanks Polarskye and Oberon I;m not cleaning up up off the coffee table and rug :D:D

I knew I should have had a G&T rather than tea, it's clear so doesn't stain
 
alicei91 said:
i bought her in jan 2011 she was out of work due to owner accident she passed a 5* vetting with flying colours no known illnesses or injuries when bought... started bringing her back into work slowly got on her and she was fine for about a month then all of a sudden she started throwing me off then she went lame by this time it was aug it was only very slight but i knew something wasnt right, vet came up did a lameness examination i was with aldingtons if you know them as i can see your from lancashire... they nerve blocked her and she respnded well to blocks around the coffin joint and navicular we put heart bars on her, we xrayed and there were slight changes to the navicular bone like a very slight frill we then started with steroids and synthetic joint fluid to the coffin joint she responded well to that then she had another lameness examination and we decided on tildren she came pretty much sound by the dec she was completely sound we then moved to lincoln and shes been abit on off she has a bute trial and now she is sound currently im just swiftly running out of money as her shoes cost £90 each time. hope this is helpful
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The fact that she has been lame for a short time is positive. Not a very strong diagnosis for all those interventions though :eek:

I'll pm you :)
 
Tiffany said:
Thanks Polarskye and Oberon I;m not cleaning up up off the coffee table and rug :D:D
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Meant to say... 'thanks Polarskye and Oberon, I'm now cleaning up tea from the coffee table and rug'

I knew I should have had a G&T rather than tea, at least it's clear so doesn't stain
 
Alicei91 - sorry to hear about your girl being diagnosed with navicular. My girl was diagnosed last year after nerve blocks, x rays and MRI. Interestingly, my girl doesn't have any ligament or tendon damage which is very unusual.

I was advised to change her routine and so far so good. She's got front shoes on with heel wedges, turned out as much as possible and hacked 4-5 days a week. (Barefoor taliban won't agree with wedges)

Good luck with your girl and if you want to talk through please PM me.

I've nothing against barefoot but she's had her front shoes off before she had a problem and she's always been footy, possibly due to flat feet.
 
Oberon said:
Only when they don't work ;)

If they keep your girl sound and happy for the rest of her life - then fab. That's what it's all about :).
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Thanks Oberon :) I do wonder sometimes if I'm doing the right thing although I know her inside out. I was sure there was something wrong before anyone else, including vets, agreed to do nerve blocks.

So far so good and long maybe she continue to be sound and happy :)

Nothing against barefoot and if I thought she could cope I'd consider giving it a go.
 
OP first thing to do is get a copy of Feet first by Nic Barker this will give you an overview of the thinking behind it .
Staight away I would get the horse onto the BF type dIet do some research and find a BF trimmer I found mine by recommendation from someone I know.
The BT will help you I was amazed by my first BF projects ability to work without shoes ( he was not lame I was curious after reading all the threads on here)
The diet is not costing me any more than before but you will probably need a plan for restricting grazing and a pair of boots and to invest lots of time leading him around at first.
I pay over £100 for a set of normal shoes so I am saving a lot I have three Bf a the minute and it's worth sending the extra time for a saving like that !
 
My horse had not deteriorated now I have taken off his shoes. He has been diagnosed with navicular with a lot of old tendon and ligament damage but not really much bone damage. I am now coming to the opinion that As he went lame in january once and march twice that he was actually affected more by low grade laminitis which the temedial
 
My horse had not deteriorated now I have taken off his shoes. He has been diagnosed with navicular with a lot of old tendon and ligament damage but not really much bone damage. I am now coming to the opinion that As he went lame in january once and march twice that he was actually affected more by low grade laminitis which the "remedial" shoes and wedges hid. If his shows were still on I would not know as no vet or farrier noticed only my trimmer. The farrier also said removing shoes would not cause navicular to progress faster at all. IMO bad management, shoeing (nearly always, this is why navicular is a degeneririve disease because the shoes are masking but not healing) and diet will!
 
Alicei91 Rockely is about to publish its latest results for Project Dexter, their clinincal trial of barefoot rehabs. They have now done 50 horses in the trial and had done, to my memory, about 10 before the project started. Every single one of those horses has become more sound without shoes on, and most of them have recovered to full work. The Rockley blog routinely shows past patients jumping and hunting. Bearing in mind that most of the horses that go there are still lame after medication and remedial shoeing, some lame for years, then I think that it is becoming more and more obvious what the treatment of choice should be for anyone with a diagnosis of lameness in the back half of the foot.

Your horse does not need to go to Rockley, but Nic Barker will still help you with advice. I did my rehab at home with no special facilities and he now hunts, jumps and is a National show winner for his breed. He had maxed out his insurance and was about to be put down when I took him on.
 
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cptrayes said:
Alicei91 Rockely is about to publish its latest results for Project Dexter, their clinincal trial of barefoot rehabs. They have now done 50 horses in the trial and had done, to my memory, about 10 before the project started. Every single one of those horses has become more sound without shoes on, and most of them have recovered to full work. The Rockley blog routinely shows past patients jumping and hunting. Bearing in mind that most of the horses that go there are still lame after medication and remedial shoeing, some lame for years, then I think that it is becoming more and more obvious what the treatment of choice should be for anyone with a diagnosis of lameness in the back half of the foot.

Your horse does not need to go to Rockley, but Nic Barker will still help you with advice. I did my rehab at home with no special facilities and he now hunts, jumps and is a National show winner for his breed. He had maxed out his insurance and was about to be put down when I took him on.
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I agree wholeheartedly with the comments CP has made in the above post. I have followed the Rockley blogs with interest for some years now and am so impressed with the results achieved there.

I feel that the results that are achieved are all the more impressive as the starting point for most of the horses at Rockley, is at the end of conventional treatment which has been in my view, at best unhelpful and at worse detrimental.

“Primum non nocere” (“First, do no harm”)
–Attr. Hippocrates, c. 460–377 BC

How many vets, who actually thought about the treatments they prescribe, could truthfully put hand on heart and say that they abided by this fundimental rule, with regard to shoeing, therapeutic shoeing and
corrective shoeing in particular.
 
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the vets never told me about the rockley option infact id never heard of it until these last couple of days. i will definately look into it! thankyou everyone!
 
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