Navicular symptoms (and what else could it be???)

KazzOnAPiano

KazzOnAPiano

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 June 2011
Messages
120
Location
Devon
Visit site
So, we are having the following symptoms:


  • Seeming very, very slightly occasionally footsore on hard ground for last 9 months.
  • Eight weeks ago became noticeably lame on the near fore in trot but not massively.

  • Rested for several weeks, seemed sound on the ground, starting riding and the unevenness/something not quite right/sensitiveness returned, have gone through a couple of rest/seems fine/ride again/not fine cycle
  • Physio checked her and muscularly she is absolutely fine, said the issue is knee downwards and confirmed the lameness is v. hard to see but exacerbated on hard ground and turning.
  • Frogs are not small but feet were long.
  • Never had any swelling, heat, lumps, bumps etc even when she was visibly lame.

The back story bits:

  • Old injury on off hind means hind action is slightly heavy on the outsides of her feet on the back.
  • Due to the above she was only shod on the backs for ages as pre-injury she was barefoot and the shoeing on the backs was just for balancing them.
  • Since she seemed a bit footsore about 6 months ago I shod her on the fronts too.
  • I had been using a different farrier as I had moved areas, moved back and had my usual farrier out for the last visit and her toes had been allowed to get v. long, he took them back a lot
  • ​She is 16 and I have had her from a 2 year old so I know her history pretty thoroughly.

After my third attempt to ride after a rest yesterday showed she is still not right (although she appeared okay trotting up in hand before I rode) I gave my vet a call. I want to discuss diagnosis options and what a diagnosis would mean for treatment (ie - is there any benefit in a dx or should I just treat for navicular as the symptoms appear very fitting). I missed his call though today and apparently he is now taking a long weekend so I will have to wait until Tuesday for a call.

So, I was wondering what other people's navicular experiences have been, especially with regards to vetinary dx and whether that opens up particularly useful treatment options, or not. AND - what else could it be? I have pretty much psyched myself up for this being navicular now, but is there anything else that could match this symptom picture in anyone's experience?
 
IMO you cannot diagnose navicular with out at least taking xrays of the fronts. Your mare needs to have a lameness work up and take it from there. My mare presented similarly last year and through xrays and ultrasound (didn't have MRI as not insured) we were able to identify the problem as an injury to her navicular bursa/soft tissue in LF. I had her CJ injected followed by her navicular bursa and it was the latter that brought her sound - until last month when she blew a tendon but thats another story.

I must say though, in addition to a lameness work up - she needs to have her foot balance assessed, xrays will help with this too. If there are navicular changes then the foot balance is crucial. Many swear by barefoot for navicular syndrome but the foot balance must be spot on.

Sorry not a great deal of help - probably telling granny how to suck eggs but good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of it. :-)
 
redandblue said:
IMO you cannot diagnose navicular with out at least taking xrays of the fronts. Your mare needs to have a lameness work up and take it from there. My mare presented similarly last year and through xrays and ultrasound (didn't have MRI as not insured) we were able to identify the problem as an injury to her navicular bursa/soft tissue in LF. I had her CJ injected followed by her navicular bursa and it was the latter that brought her sound - until last month when she blew a tendon but thats another story.
Click to expand...

Thank you, can I ask - how old is your horse? And if you don't mind saying, what kind of cost was involved for that level of diagnostics? I do have insurance but with a £500 excess so will need to budget a fair bit (why did I scrimp on excess - kicks self!).
Also, what was she injected with?!
 
My mare was 16 (ID) when she first presented with this lameness (Oct 13). I won't lie - it was expensive. We played a hunch with her coffin joint as she had a mild arthritic change identified a couple of years previously. Her CJ was injected with a corticosteroid and HA. This made no difference so was followed by another series of xrays and ultrasound and she blocked to the foot (100% sound after block). She then had a couple of weeks in the field while I considered what to do next. I opted for the more invasive navicular bursa injection as there really was nothing else that could be done. This time she had just a steroid injection which must be placed using xray to guide it. It was all very stressful as she needed sedation for every step of the process as she is accutely needle phobic. It takes a month to show any improvement from this procedure and she was pretty much sound when she blew the tendon in the opposite fore. I was gutted.
With xrays, sedation (domesedan each time), ultrasound and injections I must have spent in the region of £1500-£2000 from first becoming lame. It was enough to have paid for an MRI in the first place and this route would have saved me heaps of time I suppose, but I was trying to keep costs down :-(

First things first, you must get the lameness work up and take it from there - it may be a bony change or a strain or simply poor foot balance - as my mare was regarded as a bit of an anomolie with no changes to her navicular or pedal bone. These could be picked up in a simple xray which will reduce the cost quite a bit. x
 
Also, if you have a spare few minutes google Rockley farm. If it does prove to be navicular syndrome they have a huge amount of information and advice and some interesting case studies of barefoot rehab. Insurance companies are hit and miss about paying for this type of treatment. Had bridey been insured (her leg was previously excluded from her policy) I would have pushed for it as a last resort. I'm not a barefoot evangalist but they offer some food for thought. As it goes, I kept her shod as she has awful feet and she has the best remedial farrier in the region.
 
Thank you, that is really useful. How frustrating for you that after all that, something else went wrong! I suppose I will have to bite the bullet re cost and accept that the £500 is going to be exceeded, but at least I know that once it goes over that I won't pay more.

It is also kinda annoying that I shod her thinking she was becoming foot sore after years of barefoot, although I suppose it came about while she was barefoot so isn't foolproof, I will look into Rockley Farm though - thank you.
 
My girl was diagnosed with navicular and collateral ligament damage last September. Similarly to you I'd tried giving her time off for a few weeks then riding and she'd seem ok, then I'd feel she wasn't right so I'd rest her ... And so on. She was fine in the field and in straight lines and happy in herself but was 2/10-3/10 lame on a circle. She had a lameness work up (I think that was around £500) and was then referred to Leahurst for an MRI (circa £1K) thank god she's insured !! She went down to Rockley for 12 weeks in February and has improved significantly although we do still have a way to go. It's probably worth having a look at how your boy lands - toe/ heel first and is he landing level on each side or is there an imbalance? Is he shod all round currently? Have a look at Rockley Farm blog and how they take videos it'll give you an idea of how to do it. If he's footy could it not be grass related perhaps? Just a thought...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top