Riding with Navicular

[Bettyboo1976]

I i have a 16h Chestnut IDx Mare who has navicular and had it for 5yrs, she has had her Nerve done and is on Bute every other day, she is however not sound in walk, trot etc, although i have it on good authority she is not it pain.. ie from vet etc. is it ok to ride even though she does not look sound

 

[ihatework]

I personally wouldn't ride her, if she has been de-nerved, is on bute and is lame in walk I personally think that should tell you she isn't right !
I am all for keeping a horse in work even if it means a bit of bute to keep them comfy but I think there comes a point when you have to draw the line and for me she would have gone way beyond that point

 

[Bettyboo1976]

According to the Vet she is fine and is putting it on as when out in the field she charges round like ther is nothing wrong with her

 

[Tempi]

yes, but out in the field there is no extra weight on her of the saddle and you......can make a lot of difference.

 

[Bettyboo1976]

Are there any other roads to go down to get her sound again?

 

[Tempi]

do you have a good farrier? what does he say? sometimes corrective showing can help

 

[Morrigan_Lady]

One of ours has navicular and he is sound most of the time, but when he does go slightly un-sound, we wont ride him.

 

[carnivalg]

There is no cure for navicular, when my mare had it my vet advised the last options were cutting her nerve and bute... so i doubt theres anymore they could do..

 

[Acolyte]

Never quite sure how it can be said that a horse is not in pain when it is lame - why would it be lame if no pain? (thats a genuine question BTW not a wind up)

I reached the stage where my boy was lame in walk even on bute - that was enough for me, <u>in his case</u> he would never have been happy in a field so had him PTS

 

[zigzag]

If she has been de-nerved and on bute and still is lame you have a problem

I wouldn't be riding her if she was mine

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
Never quite sure how it can be said that a horse is not in pain when it is lame - why would it be lame if no pain? (thats a genuine question BTW not a wind up)

[/ QUOTE ] Sometimes a horse can show an unlevel gait because there is a mechanical reason why it cannot move normally - for example, in arthritic cases the joint may fuse and the horse may not be in pain but will still move oddly because the joint is no longer capable of full movement.

Obviously, I don't know whether that is the case with the OP's horse though

.

 

[Tia]

Sometimes it can be mechanical; which means they aren't in pain but the legs don't function correctly. That said, in this situation, I would assume this horse can feel something.

Has the vet asked you to ride through the lameness? Perhaps he doesn't want anything seizing up?

 

[Bettyboo1976]

The Vet x2 and farrier have all said it is fine to ride to keep the movement, ride one day rest the next..

 

[Santa_Claus]

they can treat navicular with the drug tildren and it can effectively cure navicular disease BUT it doesn't work for all horses is very expensive and I'm not sure it would be a viable option for a horse who has been denerved.

It worked for my lad and he is almost back to full work levels and other than a blip caused by shoes he has been sound for a good 8 or 9 months and he had severe bone changes.

Will reiterate above though about good farrier, but personally i wouldn't ride unless sound as there is a difference between an unusual movement caused by the denerving and lameness from pain.