Navicular article

Oberon

Oberon

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For anyone who may be interested.

Finally coming round that navicular may not be a magical, mysterious, degenerative condition...but something brought on by poorly balanced hooves......

If only they'd read James Rooney's work back in the 70s, they'd have figured that out a long time ago
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http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=19415
 
wow that was really enlightening! as the owner of a horse with navicular, I was told it was degenerative. I now find it reassuring and helpful, knowing that it can be caused by poor shoeing/incorrect foot balance. Thank you for posting x
 
Oberon said:
For anyone who may be interested.

Finally coming round that navicular may not be a magical, mysterious, degenerative condition...but something brought on by poorly balanced hooves......

If only they'd read James Rooney's work back in the 70s, they'd have figured that out a long time ago
sigh.gif


http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=19415
Click to expand...

It's a mystery isn't it Oberon - how did it take them so long? Even the British MRI research backing up the Rooney '70's stuff has been around 5 years or more by now.

And yet only last August a friend of mine was given an extremely poor prognosis by a leading Veterinary Hospital on the grounds of navicular bone degeneration. They saw injury to the ddft and collateral ligaments on MRI but discounted them as the cause of the lameness. The horse was sound in six weeks of good rehab and has stayed sound since.

Supposedly "incurable" damage to the navicular bone appears not to be, as well. I now know of two horses who have been xrayed after rehab and a period of soundness whose navicular bones were/are clear of damage. (one is dead, after a very long and happy working life, jumping sound for several years after years of lameness in remedial shoes).

We need more research into this stuff.
 
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Nice to see some thoughts against injecting as well - it seems to have become an easy option and almost a default treatment but seems to me that it will always mean the joint is abused more rather than less. And then Tildren came out, and after reading the views of an orthopedic surgeon horse owner who said she would NEVER use it on her horse because of her knowledge of how it works, I was even more against injecting.
 
sbloom said:
Nice to see some thoughts against injecting as well - it seems to have become an easy option and almost a default treatment but seems to me that it will always mean the joint is abused more rather than less. And then Tildren came out, and after reading the views of an orthopedic surgeon horse owner who said she would NEVER use it on her horse because of her knowledge of how it works, I was even more against injecting.
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Could you explain how Tildren works in a horse? it was prescribed for my navicular horse even though the MRI showed the damage was not to the navicular bone but to the collateral ligaments and DDFT in both front feet.I did not understand why Tildren was prescribed as I thought Tildren was an osteoporosis drug.I eventually had the horse put down as he was getting progressively more lame,this was 2008 and I had no idea about Rockley's work!
 
Elizabeth 1
My horse has had Tilden with virtually no bone damage but all the ligaments damaged and I was told it works as an anti inflammatory. Not sure how accurate that is. Tilden has a website but I could not fully understand it. Sorry to hear about your loss, hopefully I may not follow in your steps by trying barefoot first!
 
I'm going to rant about how the whole equine insurance system drives behaviour that leads to treatments that are of dubious benefit to the horse, but great benefit for the vets administering them....

But I'll stop myself.
 
brucea said:
I'm going to rant about how the whole equine insurance system drives behaviour that leads to treatments that are of dubious benefit to the horse, but great benefit for the vets administering them....

But I'll stop myself.
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I could tell you about the veterinary hospital last year who, knowing my friend was insured, did a £1000+ gamma ray scintigraph on the horse before they did the £100 nerve block that showed he was lame in his foot.

But I won't.

:mad:
 
elizabeth1 said:
Could you explain how Tildren works in a horse? it was prescribed for my navicular horse even though the MRI showed the damage was not to the navicular bone but to the collateral ligaments and DDFT in both front feet.I did not understand why Tildren was prescribed as I thought Tildren was an osteoporosis drug.I eventually had the horse put down as he was getting progressively more lame,this was 2008 and I had no idea about Rockley's work!
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Tildren was indeed developed for osteoporosis and it seems to work in the entire body - as it should for osteoporosis, I guess.
I know someone whose horse 'grew' huge bony lumps on its fetlock after Tildren - believe it or not, Tildren does not specifically target the navicular bone.

Thankfully most equine vets seem to be against using it these days.
 
So based on what some of you have said re: tildren, mine was put on a course of navilox, which was for blood flow in the foot, does that have a similar effect?
 
Isoxsuprine - navilox - is a vasodilator, it just increases blood supply to the foot. Much easier to do it by taking off the shoes.
 
Delta99 said:
Tildren was indeed developed for osteoporosis and it seems to work in the entire body - as it should for osteoporosis, I guess.
I know someone whose horse 'grew' huge bony lumps on its fetlock after Tildren - believe it or not, Tildren does not specifically target the navicular bone.

Thankfully most equine vets seem to be against using it these days.
Click to expand...

Except in the Home Counties? Seems to be whipped out for everything
 
brucea said:
I'm going to rant about how the whole equine insurance system drives behaviour that leads to treatments that are of dubious benefit to the horse, but great benefit for the vets administering them....

But I'll stop myself.
Click to expand...

I,ll hold back to,it's also funny that they are not all leaping on to a way forward that low intervention in drugs etc and consists mainly of effort and imput from the owner or am I cynical.
 
Well I could start on how much of this puzzling about the problem and researching about the conundrum could be avoided by not shoeing at too young an age, before the foot has had chance to grow in line with the weight of the body filling out and maturing.... no one else has mentioned the fact that clamping shoes on the hoof when only half grown effectively stops the development of the internal structures inside the foot.....
So I won't bring up the subject either:rolleyes:
 
muff747 said:
Well I could start on how much of this puzzling about the problem and researching about the conundrum could be avoided by not shoeing at too young an age, before the foot has had chance to grow in line with the weight of the body filling out and maturing.... no one else has mentioned the fact that clamping shoes on the hoof when only half grown effectively stops the development of the internal structures inside the foot.....
So I won't bring up the subject either:rolleyes:
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Well if you don't mention that, then I won't ask how, if a horse is designed to walk on its frogs and sole, we ever, ever get away with hanging the entire weight of a horse on the laminae when they are in shoes.

Bruce I'm not sure you have a bench big enough for the level of my cynicism about modern treatments for foot lameness.
 
Can I add plenty of movement over a variety of surfaces for foals and youngsters as well as decent hoof care for those who don't get enough to keep their heels and walls short. :cool:

Surely, prevention is better than cure... :(
 
amandap said:
Can I add plenty of movement over a variety of surfaces for foals and youngsters as well as decent hoof care for those who don't get enough to keep their heels and walls short. :cool:

Surely, prevention is better than cure... :(
Click to expand...

Agreed - prevention is also (relatively) cheap, and doesn't involve huge insurance payouts
 
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