Navicular?

If you had experience of it, had successfully rehabbed others with it, had xrays of horse in question, horse was free and you had a proper attachment to it then, and only then if every qualification was met, would it be worth a punt. Otherwise walk away.

More and more it is being recognised that magic horse can be rehabbed by going barefoot but it's not plain sailing and most livery yards aren't set up in a way that easily accommodates barefoot/magic rehab.

The fact that you are asking the question means that you dont have the experience of this to take it on. I dont mean that badly but often its something you learn the hard way when a horse you have develops it and you are forced to investigate other options. Purposely buying a horse with navic when you dont already have experience and have done a mou tain of research isnt a good idea IMHO.

If you are interested in learning more read up on Rockley Farm and Rockley blog as a start point. Keep in mind this is purposely developed to rehab horses barefoot and there aren't many places like that around.

Also you wont be covered by insurance for a horse with a preexisting condition.

There are plenty of horses out there without preexisting conditions that will cause you enough worry in their own way. I would advise against buying a known problem so yes and absolute deal breaker unless the answer to all five of my first questions is yes and even then it's still a risk
 
Do you mean actively is suffering from navicular, or that they've had in the past and have been successfully rehabbed? If the former, then unless the horse is free it would be a deal breaker for me, if the latter then it would depend on how it was rehabbed, what it had been doing since, and the details of the vet records, scans, xrays etc.

Navicular can be used to describe all manner of general foot issues and levels of severity, so the details are important. I've rehabbed a couple of navicular horses before but they were both racers who had not long been lame before having their racing plates pulled and being chucked out in a field prior to me having them, so rehab wasn't too onerous (maybe 9-10 months before they were fit, being ridden normal, out doing a new job).

On the other hand I have seen horses who have had all manner of random lumps of metal and pads nailed to their feet in an attempt at rehab before barefoot rehab has been started and they have taken ages to come right.

So yeah, it depends..
 
I wouldn't pay more than meat money for any horse which has had a navicular diagnosis, and I am confident I could rehab most of them. They are always a risk. Too little work, inconsistent work, too little turnout, a bad trim/shoeing, etc can cause it to recur at any time, depending on the original cause.

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I would maybe consider a token fee for a field companion if it is comfortable in the field and not too faffy to keep. If I got a bit of light hacking then that would be a bonus.

Having said that, I do know of some horses have a long ridden career after a navicular diagnosis, even with shoes. They never look very comfortable to me though and I would not have riddden one.

Also knew one that had undergone all sorts of shoes, still lame, but was then retired and shoes pulled. That one became sounder than she had been in years, and ended up winning some local shows, still barefoot.
 
i had a horse with this at three, bi lateral nav, treated and followed vet to the letter, the horse won more than any other horse i have owned, but i never pounded him, he had other issues unfortunately, but went as a school master at 13, everywhere he went people wanted to buy him, this was 30 years ago and things have changed, a good horse is a good horse, but he was such a good mover he never looked sore, except once when the farrier changed the shoes and said he thought i would not notice.

the vet said years later that the horse was cat meat at diagnoses

on of lifes puzzles i`m afraid
 
TPO said:
If you had experience of it, had successfully rehabbed others with it, had xrays of horse in question, horse was free and you had a proper attachment to it then, and only then if every qualification was met, would it be worth a punt. Otherwise walk away.

More and more it is being recognised that magic horse can be rehabbed by going barefoot but it's not plain sailing and most livery yards aren't set up in a way that easily accommodates barefoot/magic rehab.

The fact that you are asking the question means that you dont have the experience of this to take it on. I dont mean that badly but often its something you learn the hard way when a horse you have develops it and you are forced to investigate other options. Purposely buying a horse with navic when you dont already have experience and have done a mou tain of research isnt a good idea IMHO.

If you are interested in learning more read up on Rockley Farm and Rockley blog as a start point. Keep in mind this is purposely developed to rehab horses barefoot and there aren't many places like that around.

Also you wont be covered by insurance for a horse with a preexisting condition.

There are plenty of horses out there without preexisting conditions that will cause you enough worry in their own way. I would advise against buying a known problem so yes and absolute deal breaker unless the answer to all five of my first questions is yes and even then it's still a risk
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Thank you for your honest reply. I think your second-to-last sentence says it all and I will have it firmly in mind going forward. :-)
 
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HazuraJane said:
Anyone have any experience with navicular problems? Is it a deal-breaker if you're considering buying a horse?
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Well it's going to need constant management at best, depending on what life you expect from such a horse, its likely to be a deal breaker.
I took one on for free, kept it barefoot, fantastic outcome.....but I'm a specialist.
I wouldn't pay more than £500 for a horse with this diagnosis.
 
It would be a deal breaker for me having had a horse with navicular.
You'd need an MRI scan of the foot to get a more informed picture of what's going on inside. X-rays can't tell you if you have a small tear in the DDFT or bone chips or bone adema.
I tried rehabing the traditional method with shoes and also the barefoot method and neither option worked sadly. The x-rays only showed a mild foot inbalance, whereas the MRI's showed how much damage there was in the foot.
 
I lost my previous horse as a result of Navicular. He was only max 3/10ths lame ever, but after MRI we found it was quite severe so he must have been very stoic.

I tried everything, barefoot rehab, injections, remedial shoeing (of several different kinds from a specialist farrier), two different medications and keeping him on soft ground to name but a few and nothing really helped. I got him to the point where he was only sort of 'off' but even 'sort of off' is still pain and I couldn't consciously retire him knowing he would struggle in the winter with soft, deep ground and struggle in the summer with hard, rutted ground. So I then made the decision, which was utterly heartbreaking, not only because he was only 7 but because he was my absolute horse of a lifetime.

In short, no I wouldn't ever even contemplate taking on a horse with it pre-existing, and I may even insist on hoof x-rays when buying in the future just to not go through it again.
 
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