Navicular

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Hey im new here but my horse has just been diagnosed with navicular disease and im looking for people with experiance with this condition as I haven't really had anything to do with it before.

Basically after nerve blocks and x-rays he was sent for an MRI scan which has given the diagnosis, from what I can understand as well as lesions and bone degeneration he also has fluid around his navicular bone.

The vets have recommended he goes on 3 months box rest as well as having his graduated heel shoes on to try and get rid of the fluid as this causes more pain, after this he has to go for another MRI scan to see if there is any improvement or whether things are worse.

They have also said by looking at the results that I would be very lucky if this didnt mean retirement and at best he could be a hacking horse.

He is struggling at the moment as he has always been very fit and goes out competing quite a bit which he thrives from, so he is quite gloomy :(

Like I say I haven't had any experiance of this before and there is only so many internets you can look at!! At the moment it all hasn't really sunk in yet and I dont really know what to think.
 
Contact Nic at Rockley farm/get your vet to and do as much reading on barefoot rehab for navicular as you can so that you are also in a position to discuss it with your vet.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/

It is possible that he has a much better chance of not being retired going this route rather than graduated barshoes and rest.
There are also a few people on here who have done the rehab and also here http://phoenixhorse.myfastforum.org/
 
Look closely at the hoof balance, biomechanics and limb action and determine whether he is landing correctly. Any persistant toe first landing, once corrected by rebalancing could encourage the bone surface to repair itself.

Navicular bone changes may be caused by deep flexor dysfunction or local soft tissue problems (bursa, impar and navicular suspensory ligmants) or may not be relevent to the lameness at all. Overproduction of synovial fluid may be from the distal end of the tendon sheath.
 
There are lots of threads on here so I'd recommend doing a search. My current horse has navicular - his full story is on my blog below - and I took him barefoot. If you are up for considering something different, willing to put the work in then the success rates are 85% (traditional treatment is less than 20% if I remember rightly). He was sound within 8 weeks, back competing again in 20 weeks and is now eventing.
 
I too would say go down the Barefoot route. Shoes with wedges made my mare worse and caused so much trouble.

I went down the vet route and apart from costing the insurance company a lot of money the result was not good. My ambitions for my mare was not high, I knew she would not compete again (she was 18 at the time and doing top level Endurance) she is now 20 . But all I wanted to do was to be able to take her out hack around our woods and the village, just to keep her mind sane.

12months ago I took her shoes off and to start with she was trimmed by my Farrier , who was all for me going BF. Since January she has been trimmed by a BF trimmer and along with boots and therapeutic pads I am now riding her out.

A good correct BF diet is also the way forward.

Do go and look at the various websites and Facebook groups you will get a lot of information from them.

Another thing you could look at is the " Turmeric Users Group"
 
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