Navicular help

[pink_princess]

Sorry I know navicular has been covered so many times, but my horse was diagonoised with navicular 5 months ago and although I was considering barefoot I continued with vet / farrier advised whilst making my mind up on what to do. my mare is now sound and has been back in full work for 8 weeks hacking, jumping schooling etc. wears heartbars. So although I thought I had made my mind up about barefoot and was going to go down that route, i am a little bit against changing anything at the moment while she is sound - How many horses out there have stayed sound and done a job in shoes?
She is living out 24/7 but that will change next month.

 

[pines of rome]

I also went down the remedial shoeing route, which worked for six months before he started to go lame again, so I took them off and he is barefoot now!
My boy has grown much healthier feet, but it is not an easy choice!!!

 

[Pale Rider]

Remedial shoeing works for a while, then it comes back worse. It would be good if people went barefoot sooner rather than later. It's normally when the vet says shoot it, people turn to barefoot.
There is always someone who had a horse recover from navicular through conventional veterinary treatment. I tend to think these were misdiagnosed in the first place.

 

[Hexx]

My boy had remedial shoeing for about 6 months after he was diagnosed with navicular two years ago, but he didn't cope well with the bar shoes and his heel started to collapse, so after talking to the vet and farrier, he went back into natural balance shoes, and seems to cope a lot better. He is also shod every 5 weeks to ensure his toes don't get too long.

 

[Welly]

I had a horse in eggbar or NB shoes for the best part of 18 years, the only thing we could never use was studs in his shoes. Putting shoes on a horse is not the reason horses get navicular it's bad trimming of the foot!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

So you were lucky with one horse. That's not conclusive evidence.

 

[amandap]

I haven't any experience of navicular causing lameness (I suspect one of mine was having problems that would lead there though) but I was wondering if you did a bit of research into the thinking on causes/cause of 'navicular' would help you pink_princess?

My take on the bf thinking is that incorrect bio mechanics cause excess strain on ligamnets and tendons in the hoof and also excess friction on the navicular bone from DDFT eventually causing damage to DDFT then in the later stages the bone itself. This is usually due to long term toe first landing or not using the back part of the hoof as it was intended as the main 'landing zone' for shock absorption and proper alignment of tendons etc.
Horses with weak structure in the back of the hoof feel discomfort when they try to load it so they go to weighting the toe to relieve discomfort. Long term or severe thrush can also contribute to long term toe first landing.
The approach that follows on from this is strengthening the back of the hoof (frog, digital cushion, lateral cartilages etc.) with a gradual build up of comfortable exercize and attention to diet to grow healthy lamina and other tissues as well as healthy whole horse.
Lots of comfortable, correct movement and exercize is essential for recovery and maintaining robust hoof structures.

I don't really know what the veterinary theories are I'm afraid but I do know it is seen as a degenerative condition and the emphasis is on providing comfort/relief from symptoms (pain/discomfort) so usability can be extended.

Hope that's some help in you making your difficult decision. x