Navicular - can it be brought on after 1 visit by new farrier?

[Sauchentree_lady]

As title really.

The horse has never had lameness issues of any sort, although he does have rather upright feet. He is in hard work at the moment, but no more than he is used to.

A new farrier shod him and commented on his feet being unlevel, made minor adjustments but said he had done nothing major as any changes would need to be gradual. Horse is now very sore and uneven and vet is suspecting navicular disease.

Just trying to work out if this is something that would have happened anyway (I always thought navicular was something that happened over a long period of time / inappropriate shoeing) or could it be due to 1 visit from different farrier?

Thanks for any input you may have!

 

[YasandCrystal]

I am sure it cannot be caused by 1 visit of a new farrier. It sounds like your horses feet have perhaps not had the best farriery previously - by the upright comments? I believe that horses predisposed to navicular can get it through poor farriery.Shoeing a horse and making their feet boxy/upright is one good way for sure.

It sounds like your new farrier is trying to rectify things slowly and advising you of the gradual changes he is making. This is most professional of him and he has the horse's best interest in mind by the sounds of things. If your horse's feet have been out of balance then a minor change can cause lameness. It's would be like you walking in a tighter right shoe for months on end and then suddenly wearing say a looser better fitting one.

 

[be positive]

If he has slightly changed the balance of the foot it could cause him to be lame, not causing the navicular as such but by making the horse move in a different way. Your new farrier may be the one to get things back in balance if they were wrong in the first place, it will need to be gradual and maybe he did do a little too much first time.

I have had the opposite happen with horses that have unbalanced feet due to poor shoeing, they have become sound and moved better for it.

 

[Delta99]

I doubt that a farrier can cause navicular with one shoeing but I would not use a farrier who makes my horse lame - that is in no way an improvement!

I recently changed farriers and the new guy said the horse would be sore for a few days (which he was) but nevertheless I could see a HUGE improvement in the way he moved, even just walking across the field.
6 months later the feet look fantastic.

A farrier should never make a horse worse and if your horse has never had any lameness issues previously, I would change back to the old farrier if at all possible.

 

[YasandCrystal]

I doubt that a farrier can cause navicular with one shoeing but I would not use a farrier who makes my horse lame - that is in no way an improvement!

I recently changed farriers and the new guy said the horse would be sore for a few days (which he was) but nevertheless I could see a HUGE improvement in the way he moved, even just walking across the field.
6 months later the feet look fantastic.

A farrier should never make a horse worse and if your horse has never had any lameness issues previously, I would change back to the old farrier if at all possible.

I disagree with this. If you horse was being poorly shod by the last farrier you need to expect soreness and maybe lameness in the transition stage. Just because a horse was not lame previously certainly does not mean it was well shod. There could be all sorts of changes and stresses going on, which would come out eventually or just affect the way the horse moves. A common fallacy of owners is that their farrier is 'good' because their horse never throws a shoe. That could actually mean that the horse is shod with too small shoes etc.
If in doubt about your farriery (as long as your farrier is not associated with the vet) ask you vet to look at the balance of your horses feet. You know around 90% of owners can't tell a well shod foot

 

[Goldenstar]

This situation is not on common what you need is X-rays of the feet do that the vet and farrier can see what's going on and take it from there try not to worry hopefully it is a short issue that cab be rectified

 

[charlie76]

A similar thing happened with my horse. He had always been a sound horse however he had boxy uneven feet. I got a new farrier and he began the process of improving the feet and trying to rebalance them and get them less boxy and more of a pair. He then went lame and was diagnoised with navicular. He almost def already had the navicular but assume had grown/worn his feet in a way that made it possible for him to move in a way that was right for him.
By changing the balance and the shape of the foot it must have made the horse move on parts of his foot he was happy to use.
I don't blame the farrier at all but I am sure this was the turning point in his lameness . Sadly he never came right.