navicular....how do you know its the end :(

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Cherrydan

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My wonderful daniel has navicular, i knew this when i bought him years ago. I asked my farrier and he said,'he will lat you know....he is a bit lame today, i gave him some bute whilst crying on his shoulder. He is never really lame and it hit me....i will lose him one day (obviously, we all do)....but how will i know when it is the end? If anyone has gone through it, Could you share your experiences please? Loveto all.x
 
When you have tried all the conventional and not so conventional ideas and they are still not sound then it is time to call it a day but you do need to give each thing a fair trial Navicular is one thing that seems in some horses to be improved by going barefoot
 
Is he shod or barefoot? Navicular is largely a product of the position the hoof is forced to be in with the shod horse and very many drastically improve with proper barefoot rehab.

It used to be thought Incurable but now much less the case (the advent of mobile scanners was the key in the realisation that the navicular was being forced ti be weight bearing with shoes, which it is not designed to be) provided it is managed and looked at by enlightened vets and hoof specialists. That can be a farrier, but not all of them see beyond 'navicular = Incurable or heartbars for everything'.

But you may have already been down this route?
 
There really doesn't HAVE to be a sad ending to every navicular case.

Take my friend's horse, Schoko. He was a navicular cripple at 6. Had 18 months of 'remedial' shoes and drugs and he was lame and unhappy the whole time. In desperation the owners finally listened to me, took the shoes off and rehabilitated him barefoot. That was in 2009 and he hasn't taken a lame step since.

This is him doing dressage last summer

schokojuly2013_zpsbdd2c5f4.jpg


This is his full story
http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/html/shoko.html

He is not a fluke. There are a bunch of other horses from HHO who have the same story.
 
I have a 7yr old with navicular - we've tried all the drugs, all sorts of shoeing and we have tried unshod/barefoot (whichever term you prefer). He was still lame and very unhappy after months of trialling, so he's had surgery and is coming off box-rest. He is currently un-shod and the vet/farrier/myself are wondering whether to shoe him or leave him. (IF someone with LOTS of experience dealing with barefoot re-habs would mind taking a few mins to chat to me about pros/cons I would seriously appreciate it!!)

I know exactly how you feel OP. Some days I just sit in his stable with him and bawl my eyes out, because I can't bear loosing him and I hate seeing him upset.
 
Well the end comes for all of them, but for some sooner rather than later, particularly if they cannot cope with shoes. Most owners do the whole nonsense bit with vets and remedial shoeing then either put the horse down, or do what they should have done in the first place. Go barefoot.
 
You will know its the end when your horse is crippled in pain with no chance of recovery. Nothing worked for my mare, she was turned away barefoot for 6 months and re-evaluated as a final straw, and we discovered that her deep digital flexor tendon had been torn to shreds by the navicular bone. That was the point where we called it a day. It was going to snap one day, and I was damned if I was going to let it happen and leave her in agony. So she was PTS and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
 
One More said:
I have a 7yr old with navicular - we've tried all the drugs, all sorts of shoeing and we have tried unshod/barefoot (whichever term you prefer). He was still lame and very unhappy after months of trialling, so he's had surgery and is coming off box-rest. He is currently un-shod and the vet/farrier/myself are wondering whether to shoe him or leave him. (IF someone with LOTS of experience dealing with barefoot re-habs would mind taking a few mins to chat to me about pros/cons I would seriously appreciate it!!)

I know exactly how you feel OP. Some days I just sit in his stable with him and bawl my eyes out, because I can't bear loosing him and I hate seeing him upset.
Click to expand...

Your best bet is to email Nic Barker at Rockley Farm.
 
Absolutely do not give up before you give something called "barefoot" a try! It's totally out there, I mean who'd a thought allowing the hoof room to breathe could cure navicular. Weird. But it worked for my horse at the time. Even started xc competitions again after 10 months! Mad!!!
 
The best "cure" for navicular seems to be taking horses barefoot. Most people turn to it out of desperation after trying all sorts of remedial rubbish on the horse first. But you CAN just take the horse barefoot without. Look up Rockley Farm, join phoenix horse forum, follow hoofing marvellous on facebook. Google it. There's a world of knowledge at your fingertips, don't give up yet
 
I would like to add that rehabilitating a navicular/DDFT horse BF entails more that taking the shoes off and turfing them out for a few months.

The internal and external structures (especially at the back) need to develop - this takes work!

If anyone wants to rehabilitate their horse BF they need to enlist sensible and experienced help ;)
 
Thanks to you all for replying, and im sorry for those among you, who have lost their pals, and to those who have had success, you have given me hope. I bought him barefoot and i a big believer in him being kępy that way. I rarely ride him being with him, sharing monments with him is enough. I just dont want him to be suffering and me not know, tgat would be pretty selfish of me keeping him with me. It seems like i Stick with it and play it by ear. Thanks again.x
 
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