Navicular and turning away

WellyBaggins

WellyBaggins

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Advice please, my horse went lame in August, for various reasons it took ages to diagnose the lameness, which was finally diagnosed by MRI as impar ligament strain, he has had steroid injections and shockwave plus remedial shoeing. I know the prognosis is not good for him to return to competition soundness but he is so marginally lame, sound straight line and left circle but lame right circle, however he is currently not right under tack.

I have spoken to my farrier and am waiting for my vet to ring me!

I am thinking of turning him away for a year (unshod) has anyone had any experience of good results from this? His feet are pretty good and I was surprised at the diagnosis but was hoping a break might do the trick or am I clutching at straws?

Thanks in advance
 
Taking the shoes off cannot help but be a good thing for navicular, since wearing shoes puts an unnatural strain on the navicular and makes it sit in an altered position which makes iit become weight bearing which it was never designed to be.

So I would say whether you turn away or not and whether for a year or six months, take the shoes off and you might be amazed by what happens over time.
 
I agree with the above post, with all the options available now to treat various conditions often the one thing that a horse really needs to completely heal an injury and become sound is time, turning away may not work but is worth trying if other options have failed, it is not often suggested by vets as it is not a treatment as such.
 
WellyBaggins said:
Advice please, my horse went lame in August, for various reasons it took ages to diagnose the lameness, which was finally diagnosed by MRI as impar ligament strain, he has had steroid injections and shockwave plus remedial shoeing. I know the prognosis is not good for him to return to competition soundness but he is so marginally lame, sound straight line and left circle but lame right circle, however he is currently not right under tack.

I have spoken to my farrier and am waiting for my vet to ring me!

I am thinking of turning him away for a year (unshod) has anyone had any experience of good results from this? His feet are pretty good and I was surprised at the diagnosis but was hoping a break might do the trick or am I clutching at straws?

Thanks in advance
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You do not need to turn the horse away, and with a barefoot rehab with a graduated program of work your horse could be sound in weeks if it is as little lame as you say. Field rest is not always the right answer for ligament and tendon damage inside the feet. The feet need to work to build the right shape and integrity to put right the imbalances that have caused the strain.

Take a look at Rockleyfarm.blogspot.com, there are a dozen horses on there with resolved impar ligament strain. The prognosis is actully pretty good with a barefoot rehab, unlike with remedial shoeing and medication, as you have found.

Get your vet and farrier to give Nic a ring, she will talk to them about how you can get the horse right.
 
WellyBaggins said:
Thanks for the responses, will look at a barefoot rehab program but ideally I want to event him so he will need studs at some point
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You won't event him until he's sound though :p.
Getting him sound by hook or by crook is the first step :).

There are a few people who event barefoot successfully.
http://www.thehorseshoof.com/barefootperf_event.html

But if (when your horse is sound and working again) you wish to shoe for studs then cool.
Just take the shoes off again off season and let the hooves recover again - to maintain long term soundness.

It's not an all or nothing situation forever, just until the horse is healed :).
 
Oberon said:
But if (when your horse is sound and working again) you wish to shoe for studs then cool.
Just take the shoes off again off season and let the hooves recover again - to maintain long term soundness.

It's not an all or nothing situation forever, just until the horse is healed :).
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THis should come with a health warning though Oberon :D

Once you've seen what changes sick feet make when they come out of shoes you may be reluctant ever to shoe again. I know that I reached a point where I decided that if my horses could not do what I wanted barefoot, then I'd change what I wanted rather than shoe them again. As it happens both evented to BE Novice with no problems at all, in all conditions and one of my current two hunts.
 
That's good to hear, I want to turn him away for a bit as he has had KS rehab and rehab for a tendon injury in the last year plus his foot problems so I want to give him some down and healing time, will pick him up unshod and see how we get on :) thanks for your responses
 
Walking in hand on different surfaces can be great therapy for hooves, even if they are being turned away.

You need the frog to be plump and dominant for healing to start.

There's no room in a healthy (bare) hoof for pathology because the frog takes up so much space :D.

Good luck :)
 
Oberon said:
Walking in hand on different surfaces can be great therapy for hooves, even if they are being turned away.

You need the frog to be plump and dominant for healing to start.

There's no room in a healthy (bare) hoof for pathology because the frog takes up so much space :D.

Good luck :)
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LOL, thank you, will look out for a super frog :D
 
WellyBaggins said:
That's good to hear, I want to turn him away for a bit as he has had KS rehab and rehab for a tendon injury in the last year plus his foot problems so I want to give him some down and healing time, will pick him up unshod and see how we get on :) thanks for your responses
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Good idea but don't be despondent or give up if rest alone doesn't bring him sound. Some of them need walk work for a few weeks or months too. A summer at grass is also very likely to leave him footie over rough surfaces.
 
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