Navicular / Travelling a lame horse

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StarcatcherWilliam

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My horse was diagnosed with navicular in nearside fore about three weeks ago and has deteriorated quickly to the point where she is not able to move much and consequently got lymphangitis in her "good" leg last weekend. Got this treated quickly and she is a lot better but still back to original problem of being very lame on nearside fore. We did think she might also have an abscess as there is heat and swelling, but she has now had a second lot of X-Rays which did not show anything up. I am at my wit's end and need to decide what to do for the best. She has already had Tildren, which has made no difference. She had special shoes put on, but they had to be removed to treat the abscess. Vet is now talking about injecting the navicular bursa, but without an MRI being done, it's all just guess work. Ideally I would really like her to go to the Animal Health Clinic in Newmarket, but this is 300 miles away from me. Is it really fair to travel a horse which is so sore?? Nearest MRI is 150 miles away. I just want my horse to get better but I don't want to put her through extra stress and discomfort. I don't seem to have many options, should I just stick with my vet's diagnosis and his method of working through all the possible treatments without actually knowing what the cause is??
 
An MRI will tel you whether there is soft tissue damage. It is also worth speaking to Nic at Rockley farm as she has had very good results with horses who have palmar hoof pain. My own was diagnosed with navicular, though no changes to the navicular bone. He was lame in his off fore and after doing a lot of research I took his shoes off & he went to Rockley last year. The difference in his feet is amazing, he has grown a complete new hoof capsule and is sound so far. He was injected into the bursa, which made no difference at all & the vet told me the only way to make this horse rideable again would be to de-nerve him.......So glad I didn't just take the vets advice!!
 
I too would say speak to Nic and would go down the lines of bare foot. Remedial shoeing made my girl worse.

You need to look carefully at the diet as this plays a great part in foot care.

Look at Nic's website to see the results she has had.http://www.rockleyfarm.co.uk/

If you horse is insured don't allow the vet to spend it all with treatments that will not work. Some insurance companies will pay for the horse to go to Rockley. As for an MRI even though it is a long way away from you I personally would make my horse comfortable with Bute and get one done. You need to know a Diagnosis and a MRI is the only real way to find out.
 
StarcatcherWilliam said:
My horse was diagnosed with navicular in nearside fore about three weeks ago and has deteriorated quickly to the point where she is not able to move much and consequently got lymphangitis in her "good" leg last weekend. Got this treated quickly and she is a lot better but still back to original problem of being very lame on nearside fore. We did think she might also have an abscess as there is heat and swelling, but she has now had a second lot of X-Rays which did not show anything up. I am at my wit's end and need to decide what to do for the best. She has already had Tildren, which has made no difference. She had special shoes put on, but they had to be removed to treat the abscess. Vet is now talking about injecting the navicular bursa, but without an MRI being done, it's all just guess work. Ideally I would really like her to go to the Animal Health Clinic in Newmarket, but this is 300 miles away from me. Is it really fair to travel a horse which is so sore?? Nearest MRI is 150 miles away. I just want my horse to get better but I don't want to put her through extra stress and discomfort. I don't seem to have many options, should I just stick with my vet's diagnosis and his method of working through all the possible treatments without actually knowing what the cause is??
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Definetely, what a couple of hours of discomfort if it can give your horse many years of life if you can get a correct diagnosis and hopefully a cure. If you feel that bad about travelling then give the horse a couple of bute an hour before travelling. They are a lot more stoic than we give them credit for. Having had to travel a horse on three legs over 33 miles in torrential rain with a veinous bleed, and another horse 150 miles with wobblers syndrome, barely able to stand I feel I am sadly qualified to know what I am talking about!

I didn't know that xrays would necessarily show up an abcess. If the abscess is covered by another structure in the image, then the abscess may not be evident in the x-ray. It may also be too small to see on x-ray.
 
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