cptrayes
Well-Known Member
For people who are interested in the progress of the horse that I took on to rehabilitate barefoot, he is making great progress after nine and half weeks (eat your heart out Kim Basinger! You have to be about 50 to understand that one 
)
He was booked into a veterinary hospital to be put to sleep 24 hours after I agreed to take him on. His owner had been unable to sleep (I wonder why??) and saw my earlier post on this forum asking for a horse like him. That appointment was cancelled by a very brave owner who was prepared to give him to me to try to resolve his problems.
He has radiograph (xray) based diagnosis of navicular syndrome, with fuzzy edges to the navicular bone. Current research would suggest that this inevitably means that he also had lesions in the deep digital flexor tendon inside his feet. He has had adequan, tildren, hyaluronic acid and bar shoes, all of which failed. In addition to that he appeared to have issues digesting grass which were causing him poor foot quality (in particular bull-nose feet and finger-bendable thin soles, which seem to go with grass-intolerant horses). My first task was to stabilise his diet and he is doing very well on haylage and some sugar beet with 50g brewer's yeast, 50g magnesium oxide and a trace of copper (this last because we are high in manganese and iron here and that creates copper deficiency - it is not recommended to supplement copper unless you know you have a deficiency, it's poisonous).
After nine weeks, he's going from strength to strength. He's in ridden work two days in three, lunging on the third and shortly to move to three days out of four. He is schooling ridden in walk, trot and canter with no sign of any lameness and offering lengthened strides easily. He's also doing lengthened trot up gentle hills on the road. We are still in front boots on the road because he has long toes with a couple of soft spots in them that feel stones, but I'm sure that won't be permanent. I'm thinking of taking him and doing a prelim dressage test next week.
He stiffens up a teeny bit if he falls asleep and stands without moving for a couple of hours, but he walks that off in half a dozen strides. If he carries on without any setbacks I'll be riding out on uneven ground next week, doing some more lengthy canter work, and thinking about hacking gently around the farm ride by the end of May.
I don't have track system and this horse can't be turned out because of his problems eating grass. I do have a yard and a barn, so he doesn't live in a 12x12 stable, but my facilities are far from perfect for rehabbing a horse who really needs to keep moving.
But his progress so far, given that he was due to be put to sleep for his long term lameness from navicular syndrome less than ten weeks ago, and his lack of response to all the common treatments, is surely cause for hope for everyone who has a "navicular" horse?
)He was booked into a veterinary hospital to be put to sleep 24 hours after I agreed to take him on. His owner had been unable to sleep (I wonder why??) and saw my earlier post on this forum asking for a horse like him. That appointment was cancelled by a very brave owner who was prepared to give him to me to try to resolve his problems.
He has radiograph (xray) based diagnosis of navicular syndrome, with fuzzy edges to the navicular bone. Current research would suggest that this inevitably means that he also had lesions in the deep digital flexor tendon inside his feet. He has had adequan, tildren, hyaluronic acid and bar shoes, all of which failed. In addition to that he appeared to have issues digesting grass which were causing him poor foot quality (in particular bull-nose feet and finger-bendable thin soles, which seem to go with grass-intolerant horses). My first task was to stabilise his diet and he is doing very well on haylage and some sugar beet with 50g brewer's yeast, 50g magnesium oxide and a trace of copper (this last because we are high in manganese and iron here and that creates copper deficiency - it is not recommended to supplement copper unless you know you have a deficiency, it's poisonous).
After nine weeks, he's going from strength to strength. He's in ridden work two days in three, lunging on the third and shortly to move to three days out of four. He is schooling ridden in walk, trot and canter with no sign of any lameness and offering lengthened strides easily. He's also doing lengthened trot up gentle hills on the road. We are still in front boots on the road because he has long toes with a couple of soft spots in them that feel stones, but I'm sure that won't be permanent. I'm thinking of taking him and doing a prelim dressage test next week.
He stiffens up a teeny bit if he falls asleep and stands without moving for a couple of hours, but he walks that off in half a dozen strides. If he carries on without any setbacks I'll be riding out on uneven ground next week, doing some more lengthy canter work, and thinking about hacking gently around the farm ride by the end of May.
I don't have track system and this horse can't be turned out because of his problems eating grass. I do have a yard and a barn, so he doesn't live in a 12x12 stable, but my facilities are far from perfect for rehabbing a horse who really needs to keep moving.
But his progress so far, given that he was due to be put to sleep for his long term lameness from navicular syndrome less than ten weeks ago, and his lack of response to all the common treatments, is surely cause for hope for everyone who has a "navicular" horse?
