navicular, your experiences. good or bad

china

china

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prince was oficially diagnosed with navicular yesterday. on a scale on 0-10 about 4. hes been in straight bar shoes for the last 3 months and is now in aluminium straight bar shoes seated out with built in wedge. hes on danilon 1 sachet twice a day and is on a long term drug to improve the blood flow to his naivular. hes in walk work as he also has kissing spines and bone spavins that have been injected so hes keeping moving. he does about 20 mins walk work under saddle. what are your experiences of navicular, good or bad, im well aware he may never come sound and i would have a decision to make but im also keeping a positive head on as hes a tough cookie. i read about magnetic food pads that increase the blood flow.
thanks
 
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, fingers crossed all comes good.
I haven't had experience myself of navicular, but am a bit of a hoof nerd so have read quite alot. One site I have found interesting is this one http://www.performancebarefoot.co.uk/page6.html esp as they offer a different point of view to the conventional on it and have the science to back up their ideas with case studys of navicular horses coming right. Very interesting reading.
 
My friends horse was diagnosed as a 9yo about 10 years ago. It took a long time to diagnose and he also had chronic pedal oestitus(sp). He was sound for about 3 years and even evented a bit. He probably could have continued hacking anad light work after that, but he just wasn't suited to that so was retired.
Good luck and I hope everything goes well.
 
Mine was dianosed over 12 years ago. Had course of Navilox, egg bars,and now with regular shoeing- touch wood, and ordinary shoes- is sound. Does pony club, LDR,SJ everything really. The most vital thing,IMHO, is the shoeing. Follow what your farrier says- when mine was on eggbars, he had to be turned out alone in a very small area so he didn't hoon about with the others,and chuck them off. Now, as long as he is shod regularly, he remains able to do everything.
The biggest problem I have is that his feet dont; grow, and even with supplements they remain weak, so I can't have him shod as regularly as would be ideal(4 weeks).If I go over 6 weeks, he goes very slightly unlevel on a circle. Possibly, noone else would notice as it's less than 1/10 but I know he's not right and needs shoeing.
I am sure with the correct treatment, tailored to your horse as each case is different, yours will also be fine.:)
 
thankyou glosgirl for the link, was a very interesting read. mrs m suggested him going barefoot and being turned away but he has no hoof growth at all when he is shod, there is nothing to trim they just do a little rasping so his feet just break up and take a stupidly long time to grow out. iv never known a horse like it to have such little/no growth to his foot no matter what supplements he is fed aswell.
 
You will find that when the feet are used they will grow more! With careful rehab you won't wind up with bloody stumps, with correct nutrition and carefully balanced work all areas of the feet with strengthen and grow. Nutrition is obv v important, but without the movement and use of the hooves they won't be stimulated into growing.
 
how long would you be happy to leave them though if they are hoping lame infront without shoes, and i mean hoping like hes walkig on barbed wire even on a relativley nice track and hes just "lame" on grass. i would love to see him go barefoot, it would save me £100 for a set of shoes for him but i dont know how long i could watch him hoping round and how long i let him because of the pressure on his hocks. if he turns away in a field he is definatly going barefoot as he will forever pull them off and i cant really justify paying £100 for a set every 6 weeks for him to stand in a field unless my farrier or vet says otherwise.
 
Hi, if you are going to go down the barefoot route which usually has good results with navicular, you really need to look into getting a proper qualified trimmer. Have a look at the UKNHCP site, you will get some very useful information on there. If your horse is very sore on the front or back you could invest in some boots, which will save you a lot of money in the long run. I have a friend whose horse was diagnosed with Navicular and was told was unrideable, she tried barefoot and has never looked back. 3 years down the line he hacks out for 3/4 hours at a time. It does take time and patience tho. Being barefoot is more than just not having shoes on, it is an awful lot to do with nutrition, blood flow to the feet is of paramount importance. Shoes restrict the flow of blood to the hooves. Good luck.
 
Navalox is great and I have competed horses with Navicular the pain comes and goes and they will tell you when they are having bad days. Sounds like you are doing all the right things to manage it
 
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