Navicular Bursa Inflammation

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avthechav

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My horse was diagnosed with inflammation of the bursa in both front feet yesterday by MRI. His right is worse than his front. He has shown no lameness on the left when blocked and has had bouts of mild lameness on right (1-2 10ths lame on hard circle) but is sound at the moment. There is signs of wear to the ddft in his right foot but again the vet didnt seem that excited by this. Vet has suggested Tildren and medicating the bursa, his shoes are off and I am planning to leave them off. Has anyone else's horse has similar and if so what are you experiences? I have also contacted Nic at Rockley for her thoughts on barefoot rehab for this kind of problem. Any thoughts gratefully recieved. :-)
 
Firstly, well done for doing exactly the right thing post diagnosis. The findings so far are quite minor on the scale of navicular horses I have helped, so take heart, you're on the right track. Keep him comfortable, moving and on a safe diet. Good luck.
 
Thanks Andalucian, its so hard to get away from thinking that this is a 'death sentance', however I have just spoken to my vet who also seems positive and pro barefoot rehab. So I will stop dripping around and concentrate on giving G the best possible chance of a nice long active life :-)
 
If you take the initiative, vets are more likely to support your choice, sadly they don't suggest barefoot as the remedy.......yet.....

My own two horses are 18 and in full work including jumping. One was in bar shoes for a year after navicular disease was diagnosed, at age 10 I removed her shoes and she's been brilliant ever since. The other showed PRE navicular gait changes at 10 so I took her shoes off as well.

My first horse went into remedial shoeing of many types to try to resolver her bilateral lameness in front......she was PTS age 13.

Does that make you more clear as to how positive I am about what you're doing for your horse? Ride the tricky transition stage through, don't give up, it is the right route.
 
My boy had pain in his right front which was nerve blocked to his navicular bursa, initially had it injected which made some improvement but he certainly wasn't sound, vet told be he would need remedial shoeing and if that did not work, then a neurectomy. I wasn't happy with this and I got in touch with Nic & he went to Rockley from
March to June of this year. He has now nearly grown a complete new hoof and his feet are functioning much better - he is Paddy on the Rockley blog. Paddy's progress has been slower due to him having to have surgery for kissing spine the same week he came back from Rockley so I haven't been able to do the amount of milage that he should have done, though I have been walking him out in hand on concrete or hard surfaces every day, which is helping his feet and they are self trimming so far. Just started long reining him to build up his topline more and hope to be able to start riding him in 3 weeks time.
I think Nics got a waiting list at te moment, but while you are waiting just walk your horse on Tarmac, concrete etc as long as it is comfortable as this can really start to stimulate the hoof.
Good luck & if you want any more information you can PM me.
 
My mare had similar problems last year. Lame 4/10 on hard surface circle after charging around in the field on hard ground one day. MRI, x-rays and vairous blocks found us seeing things in the feet that we really didnt want to, although it was hard to find the root of the cause. Eventually, the bursas were identified as the problem.

We injected steriod into them, but tildren wasnt deemed appropriate as inflamation outside of the bursa wasnt significant. I chose to remain shod, I respect and see the benefit of barefoot but it wasnt possible for me to take this course. The feet were pretty unbalanced (I had just bought her) and we have stuck to a strict 4 weekly farriery regime, slowly seeing improvements.

I was advised by my vet to start hacking and slowly building up to see what we could cope with. I am happy to say that she is now schooling and beginning to jump. We still have a slight imperfection when being trotted on concrete, as most horses do, but sound on usual riding surfaces.

I never ever thought i would be able to say that. The first vet who saw her asked me if i had loss of use insurance (she was 5 at the time) and didnt think she would ever make a useful riding horse. I was also advised at one point to put wedge shoes on, which I thought completely inappropriate so didnt.

Anyway, the upshot of my rambling post is that there may be light at the end of your tunnel. My horse was written off by some people I spoke to...and at times I agreed. But I have chosen the route I wanted to take and stuck to it. Always do what YOU think is the right thing for your horse after taking the advice of your trusted professionals.
 
PiggyB said:
My mare had similar problems last year. Lame 4/10 on hard surface circle after charging around in the field on hard ground one day. MRI, x-rays and vairous blocks found us seeing things in the feet that we really didnt want to, although it was hard to find the root of the cause. Eventually, the bursas were identified as the problem.

We injected steriod into them, but tildren wasnt deemed appropriate as inflamation outside of the bursa wasnt significant. I chose to remain shod, I respect and see the benefit of barefoot but it wasnt possible for me to take this course. The feet were pretty unbalanced (I had just bought her) and we have stuck to a strict 4 weekly farriery regime, slowly seeing improvements.

I was advised by my vet to start hacking and slowly building up to see what we could cope with. I am happy to say that she is now schooling and beginning to jump. We still have a slight imperfection when being trotted on concrete, as most horses do, but sound on usual riding surfaces..
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Why was a barefoot rehab not possible for your horse?

In my experience, only unsound horses trot up abnormally, even slightly, on concrete.
 
I had spent every single penny I had trying to find the problem. The horse wasn't insured for the expensive diagnostics I had done and I ran out of money completely so sending to Rockley wasn't an option. I didn't have the facilities to barefoot myself and was cautious about taking such a step without support close at hand.

I am really really happy with the course of action I took and the results we are reaping. Like I said, I have complete respect for the barefoot school of thought, the results are undeniable. The point of my post was that the individual should do what THEY think is best given their circumstances and the information that they have. This is exactly what I did. I have no interest in discussing whether I should have barefooted my horse..as it was a decision I poured over at the time and I remain confident that I did the best I could for my horse, that's not to say I would discount doing the rehab in other circumstances.

With regards to the comment about trotting on concrete. The horse is satisfactory to most people who have seen her carry out the test...I suppose when we have been through a long and tiring process of getting a horse sound, as an owner we are looking for things that are not there. We have now been signed off by a very reputable vet as being fit for any kind of work that we choose...so that's good enough for me.

Thought this was supposed to be about sharing good news stories?!
 
I would just like people reading this with unsound horses to understand that there is nothing that Rockley does that cannot be done at home in most cases. It's not as easy without tracks and its downright hard to have to take all the responsibility on yourself, but it can be done if you are desperate eand cannot afford Rockley or confident and don't want to. Many trimmers now have experience of 'at home' barefoot rehabs.
 
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OP if my horse had that diagnoses I would either send to rockley or rehab at home without shoes , good luck I hope it all works out.
 
Thanks all, it's good to see that there are lots of horses with diagnosis like this who do return to a full working life. I know that you can never be sure, however I do feel that at least I have a plan....I am always happier with a plan! I rode G for 20 mins on the smooth Tarmac today and he was fairly comfortable. So I will keep exercising and keep a very close eye on feeding and see how it goes.
 
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