Navicular

[lillie07]

Does anybody have a horse with Navicular and what sort of work do you do with them? My mare has just been diagnosed with it

She is having remedial shoes on this week, a course of Navilox and we are going to look at the possibility of medicating it with cortisone but was just wondering what I am looking at long term. I'm absolutely gutted to say the least

 

[foraday]

Have had navicular for over 7 years. Very severe like 1cm squared missing out of one navicular bone and another .5cm squared on the same foot. The other foot is jagged only no bits missing!

Remedial shoeing and no drugs other than magic cushion in the soles.

We never do any road work and only ride on soft ground so usually give my horse the summer off when the hard ground comes.

 

[ihatework]

What did xray's/MRI show ?
There is limited evidence that a high grade joint supplement may help some cases, if you are doing an insurance claim then see if your vet will prescribe something like synequin.
A lot of vets will also administer shockwave therapy, again there is no concrete evidence for this but might be worth investigating.
I would definitely ask your vet about treating with Tildren though.

My horse was diagnosed in Novemeber with Navicular, he has had remedial shoeing, Tildren, shockwave, synequin.
He is now sound in a straight line, sound on a circle on the soft and only fractionally lame on a 10m circle on concrete.

My vet didn't want to use Navilox, I know it has been used lots in the past for navicular and questioned why my horse hadn't been prescribed it, he had consulted top orthopedic surgeons about my horse and their opinion was that a better option was shoeing, shockwave and tildren.

 

[Super_Kat]

My old mare had early stage navicular and this combined with sidebone meant she was written off. I kno plenty of peple whose horses have navicular and thet're still being ridden!

 

[Morrigan_Lady]

One of ours has navicular and has had it for about 2 years now. He was only ever bought as hack and this has not affected him at all. He has egg bar and rolled toe shoes with pads and we play around with how much bute he has. But that seems to keep him steady. He's 17 now and still full of live. I occassionally jump him on a good surface, but he does well local dressage and showing.

 

[lillie07]

I havn't seen X- Rays yet, am meeting with the vet and farrier at some point this week. I forgot to mention that we also have her on a high grade joint supplement very similar to Synequin. We have disussed using Tilren and shockwave and its certainly something we will consider but my Vet has decided that we will try it this way and see how we get on and MRI and go from there if necessary.

She is bilaterally lame, and only under saddle but hasnt been right since before Xmas.

 

[lillie07]

I was planning to event her this summer but the more people I speak to the less likely that becomes

 

[hollyzippo]

It depends on the degree of damage and lameness.
My 16 year old is hacked/gently schooled twice a week. He also does occasional fun rides/ indoor le trek/ little show jumping (2 foot!

) on a surface because he loves going out.
He could do a prelim test if wasnt so naughty/enjoyed it!

He is sound on a straight line and 2/10 lame on a 10m circle.

He still has just the same quality of life as when we evented and loves going out. Its a shame we cant XC as he lived for it but I'd prefer many years of hacking than 1 year of competing!

Hope yours is ok, Zippo has had Navilox and is now on Cortavet HA. He also had steroid injections and is due another one I think.

Good luck

 

[dressagespain]

OMG, I feel for you.

I would so seriously recommend the following:

1. Eggbar shoes with pads. Also you need to keep an eye on if the shoes are wearing evenly, I rebalanced my boy and he went so much better. I had road studs in as part of the shoes and you could really see that he was balancing more to the outside.
2. New Market Joint Supplement - Really the purest form of glucosamine you can get - only available with a prescription.
3. Magnetic boots/wraps.

x

 

[Morrigan_Lady]

Ahh, Im really sorry to hear that. Doesnt look too hopeful though.

Navicular isnt the end of the world though and if eventing is what you really want to do, you may want to consider loaning your horse out as a hack maybe.
We bought ours for me to show jump, but he has ended up being a nice hack for my Mum. Chin up though matey x

 

[lillie07]

We are doing 1 & 2, and I didnt even think about using magnets. Would you use magnetic over reach or actual boots like the Veredus Magnetik Stable Boots?!

 

[lillie07]

Thanks everybody for all your helpful replies

 

[dressagespain]

Hmm, tough one. Whichever you like, I would have thought that the leg wraps would be ok, because they would go onto an actual pulse point.

 

[cobdonkey]

I have some magnetic boots somewhere, there not the wraps but they may do until you get hold of some. I will have a look for them!!

 

[lillie07]

Thanks

Im at a loss what to do with her really- its only when I sat down this morning and thought about it I realised how much I will be missing, there is so much I planned this year but I dont want to let her go either- she is the first horse I have ever had that I actually looked forward to riding everyday!!

 

[cobdonkey]

I know what its like hun! Thats why I still have Charlie living in a field, he has a good quality of life doing what he is doing (nothing). You may find that she will still be able to go to a few dressage comps. The worst bit is waiting to see what they will be able to do at the end of it. Chin up, you can always ride Sovi, hehehehehehehehe

 

[Klaudette]

Navilox is a waste of time. When it is given orally its bioavailabilty is very poor. i.e. its not absorbed very well by the gut. Unfortunately because it is licensed for use for the management of navicular disease some vets are still prescribing it.
Remedial shoeing is good. Go for tildren. It does need to be imported and used off licence (via DEFRA) but my best results have been with tildren.
There is a current UK study going on into the effects of tildren in equine orthopaedic disease but there are no results yet. One French study (cant remember the ref but you could google it) showed very promising results.
I'm very sorry to hear that your mare has been diagnosed but it need not be the end for her.
Good luck!

 

[jcberry]

There is an article in a Your Horse mag, a while ago saying that remedial shoeing and magnetic boots help.
good luck xx

 

[monica987]

i rode a horse the other day with navicular. he hacks, jumps everything. its not serious though. has the shoes etc but he can do everything except turn in tight circles!

 

[sundance]

Mine was diagnosed with navicular 2 years ago, along with other stuff! Since then I found a good remedial farrier, had eggbars on for well over a year and then changed to wide web with long heels, he wears magnetic overreach boots, has devils claw and hawthorn in his feed (this is what Navilam O is) comes in in the day when the ground is hard and I take particular care of the ground conditions generally. At the time i was told to just try remedial farriery and have to say that along with taking special care about the work he does and the conditions he is fine. I also give him suppleaze gold from Aviform, its worth having a look at.

 

[hussar]

My then 14yo endurance Arab was diagnosed with bilateral navicular 2 years ago. The vets believe the problem was primarily as a result of concussion but his upright pastern conformation didn't help.

He has remedial shoes, we tried Navilox and Tildren to no effect; he now has a daily dose of No-Bute and will probably have to go onto bute in the spring. The lameness is only noticeable on hard surfaces - he is still rideable on soft surfaces but could never compete again.

 

[charlie76]

My horse had navicular and he was slightly lame to start with but it got worse. Without wishing to scare you I tried the following:
Navilox
Egg Bars
Natural Balance shoes
Cytek
Bare foot
Cortaflex
Shock wave therapy
Bute
You name it and I tried it! In the end I gave him 12 months field rest bare foot then called it a day as I couldn't get him sound. He was PTS in October.

He was lame on and off with it for 2 years where I 'managed' him and kept him sound enough for flatwork on a surface, however it got worse over time.

Sorry to tell you this but I feel its best to know the worst as well as the best.

He was 12 years old.

Feel for you and good luck- hope its better news than my boy.

 

[lillie07]

Sorry to hear that. We are going to do all we can for Megan, but will listen to her and if she is'nt happy/ comfortable we will go from there.

Thanks again everybody for your replies, its good to hear peoples experiences

 

[Tootsiepop]

I had an event horse who had navicular, before he was treated my vet described him as having the step of a 12.2 pony (he was 17h and TB!) He only evented at prenovice level and we managed to do this on a drug called circulon, its probably old and outdated now, it was very expensive but effective. We chose our events carefully to avoid hard ground. He remained sound enough for a few years. After that he was a fabulous hunter and enjoyed this becase the ground was always soft. Hopefully this will give you some encouragement. My vet is a top guy and that helped too.

 

[lillie07]

Thats great to hear! Thanks. I suppose its going to be try it and see!

 

[lizzie_liz]

Ok this is going to a long post so i will apologise now.

My parents bought me Honey in 2000 as a 3 1/2 year old from ireland when i was 13. We spent 2000 schooling her and then in 2001 we started to compete her.
In about october of 2001 she devloped Strangles and so had to be on box rest for 8 weeks. Whilst she was on box rest she did alot of banging on the door!
In March 2002 we noticed that she was falling over in the trailer when we went round corners, we then took her SJ on easter Monday and in the JO of the 95cm she was lame at the last fence.
We then got the vet out who ruled out wobblers. She was trotted up and lunged on a surface and hard ground and trotted up lame in front.
A nerve block was performed which located it to her foot area. X rays were taken but were in conclusive. She was put ona course of bute but this made little difference
She was then transferred to the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket where they did more x rays and also performed scientigraphy (sp) where she had about 20% uptake in both feet.
it was also discovered that she had DJD in her right hock

The vets at Newmarket injected her with steriods in her right hock and left coffin joint. We were told to work her as normal, she remained lame throughout the summer. She had eggbar shoes, cortaflex, bute all of which made no difference to her. We then decided to claim LOU which was successful.
We turned her away and I got a new horse.

In the spring of 2003 she was sound again, by this time she is on nothing prescribed by the vets, just blue chip dynamic.
We gradually built her workload up and in 2004 we started jumping her. The end of the summer of 2005 we took her to her first competition since 2002 where she came 2nd and 4th in the 70cm and 75cm.
Last year Honey and I qualified for the Trailblazers SJ finals (85cm) and we got into the JO of both days.
Since she came sound in 2003 she has not had 1 days lameness and is on apple cider vinegar, with only standard front shoes.
She looks better than ever and has qualified 2nd round TB dressage this year so we will be trying to qualify for the dressage finals!!

The more stuff we gave her the worse she got!!! I hacked her out last summer on the hard ground and she was getting ridden twice a day and is sound on the lunge being lunged in the pessoa.

 

[ihatework]

TBH it sounds as though honey may have been misdiagnosed to me, which isn't at all uncommon. Fantastic for you though, glad she is sound and out doing things

 

[mrussell]

Dont be !!

My fella has Nav syndrome (pain in the bursar area as opposed to the diseased bone). He is sound in Cytek shoes and using Premier Flex Plus with added devils claw.

Chin up!

 

[lillie07]

Thats really good to know, its really nice to hear such a positive outcome! Megan is very similar in that she is a really weaves- to the point of stamping from one foot to another- which I guess has done her no favours.
She wasnt lame- just not right, it was only when I called the Vet to do a full work up we blocked out near fore and she was immediately lame. So went from a sound horse to a bilatrally lame one

Following more nerve blocks and lots of X- Rays here we are!!
I think we will explore all the avenues suggested by the Vet, and see how we go whilst we still have the insurance on our side- if not we will turn her away and go from there.
Wish me luck!! Meeting with Vet and farrier in the morning to go through XRays, talk through options and possibly do cortasone injections

 

[Santa_Claus]

my Dan was diagnosed with Navicular disease (not syndrome) last August. He was treated with tildren and is now sound and although I don't jump him he feels well enough to recently regulary jump out of his field!!

he also has three quarter pads to cover his heels and newmarket joint supplement.

Had a previous horse treated with navilox and it made little to no difference to him but it helps some horse more than others.