Shoeing for navicular? Advice pls

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Milanesa

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Hi,

Have just had mare diagnosed with this, can anyone offer advice on how she should be shod, any pictures of your navicular horses maybe? vet suggested farrier will know but I would like a picture in my head also. Basically it is taking toe down and supporting heel as much as possible I believe?

Also any advice on managing the condition, Supplements, grazing regime etc? :) :) thanks in advance.
 
Hi

very sorry to hear about your mare.

I'm afraid that i don't have any experience with this, but i have read a lot while making the decision to go barefoot with one of our mares due to an injury last summer. The place that keeps coming up is Rockley Farm, they really seem to know what they are talking about & seem to have a lot of success with horses with naviclar. Google them & have a look.

Good luck :-)
 
My advice about shoeing for navicular is DON'T.

The recovery rate that is being experienced by people who do a barefoot rehab seems to be hugely higher than conventional treatments. I've done one myself and so have dozens and dozen of other people.

If you want advice on how to take your horse barefoot there are loads of people on here who will help you. As above, start by googling Rockley and reading rockleyfarm.blogspot.com - loads of recovery stories and brilliant pictures on there.

Can you tell us how she was diagnosed? If if was from xrays, then I hope that your vets have told you that xrays of bone changes to the navicular bone are wildly inaccurate as regards predicting lameness and recovery? And also that if you were able to get an MRI scan then it is very, very likely that your mare actually has damage either to her deep digital flexor tendon or her collateral ligaments (both inside the foot), or both.
 
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Hi thanks for the advice. She will be getting x rays done next week, will look at the links to rockley for advice thanks.
 
Hi moorman, thankyou for taking the time to post, very informative, she is also slightly laminitic and navicular so vet advised to keep shoes on, I guess the lami will also mean the farrier will need to shoe accordingly. I will have a good chat to him as the vet stressed how much correct shoeing would help her. She has always been v foot sore over hard ground so going barefoot for her is not really an option( whether the footiness
 
Sorry didn't finish- whether the footiness is due to navicular/ pedal bone issues I guess we will find out with the xrays. As for diet she is only on grass no hard feeds at all ever!
 
You will hate to hear this but you may well find the grass is the cause of your problem.
It sounds like you have more than one thing going on in those feet, Make sure your farrier describes what he/she is shoeing for before you commit to anything.
You do not want to pile another problem on those feet and then not be able to identify what caused what.
 
Yay Moorman, diet diet diet - at least one customer every day for the last week has had low levels of laminitis setting in, I am starting to sound like a broken record regarding the avoidance of spring grass!!! Great advice.
 
Just wanted to throw another option into the ring... Cytek shoes. Reshod 5 weekly. Removes the load from the hoof wall, supports the sole. Transformed my gelding who had Nav syndrome from age 11 in just one shoeing. The vets wanted him PTS but hes 19 now and still going strong.

Not available everywhere and like any thing, may not work for you.
 
You could ask Bikerchickone
This is the start of her journey
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=509376&highlight=navicular
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=514495&highlight=navicular
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=513368&highlight=navicular

this is her horse on his first day, in Feb

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/its-cob-thing.html

and today's blog where he is coming home soon.

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

Navicular doesn't need to be as scary as it used to be :)

This is a horse from my yard, who was rehabbed at home
http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/html/shoko.html
 
Thanks for all the replies. I agree the grass is not helping the situation, I will be restricting this for the lami, but when I get this under control the navicular will be the main issue going forward I guess. Thankyou Oberon I will look at those links.
 
OP, I'm in a similar situation as you. Mare struggles without shoes, though I have found out this is really a sign that there have been issues for a good bit longer than we first thought, but we are giving b/f a go after seeing it make a huge difference to my other horse. I'm limiting grass intake, feeding a vits/minerals to balance my grazing and walking her about over concrete and different surfaces to stimulate the hoof and encourage growth. Her feet are horribly flat but she has had her first trim and was immediately moving better.

The grass immediately causes her to go footy, taking her off it and hand walking her leaves her far more comfortable than she has been in a long time. She was sound the last time we trotted her up on concrete, something I havent seen for a while, and certainly not in the last few months when she had shoes on that were supposed to help.

From the many hours I've spent looking into this and talking to people the chances of repairing the damage are far greater by going b/f than shoeing, sadly though shoeing seems to be the easier option for many as the management changes required to b/f are often to much for some people or just not possible due to other factors.

Good luck whatever route you take... :)
 
My horse was diagnosed with " changes in the navicular " over 12 years ago now.After discussions with my vet and farrier we decided to try the raised back bar shoes or high heels as we call them and have to say he hasnt had them off or any lameness due to the navicular since. We have also gone on to do novice x country and dressage with no probs. He suffers from laminitis and ems aswell so know how frustrated it can get. In fact we're on a no grazing policy at the moment.!! hope it works out for you.
 
Hi yes Scarlett it is very difficult to know what to do and I agree she has had slight problems for years which are now getting worse. Amanda thanks for the link will read when I finish work. Chico thx for that advice, I will have a good talk with farrier to see what he suggests as he has shod horse for nearly 10yrs he knows her well. I have never had a horse with navicular so great to hear all your advice.
 
dont forget that there are many types of boots available which can help with the transition to no shoes(if you decide that this is an option)
 
I took on a horse with navicular. Really bad, changes to bone, had neurectomy. Vet said nerves would grow back and b v painful. He came to me as a companion, in bar shoes. Feet were odd, one upright and boxy, other low and splat! took he shoes off and gave a balanced equine podiatry trim. Was lucky as caused no probs. No transition period needed. Within a year his feet matched, only had 3 days of lameness when had an abcess in back foot. Actually found out that he had an undiagnosed back issue which was causing the nsvicular and was easily treatable. Was rehomed as riding horse (previous owner fully involved in rehoming) now schools and jumps etc!
Epauk is a usefull website. X
 
Hi. I have a navicular diagnosed horse. He was in remedial wedges for 2 years. The vet told me eventually he would only be happy with pain management until time to pts That was a year ago. I had his shoes off on 11th April this year. I now know that he has laminitic type issues too. The shoes hid this. I have done forage analysis and changed his diet. I have a long way to go but I can see this is improving him already. I first wrote posts like yours on here in 2009. I was given the same advice, I did not take it then. My biggest and only regret of owning my lovely horse. Please investigate properly. My vet is against my actions.......good luck!
 
It seems many have luck without shoes. Thankyou all for your replies.
Archie you say yours gets lami too, how do you treat both conditions, or have you focused on diet and helping lami which has in turn helPed the navicular?
Farrier coming today so I will have a chat although haven't got xrays yet.
 
Milanesa said:
It seems many have luck without shoes. Thankyou all for your replies.
Archie you say yours gets lami too, how do you treat both conditions, or have you focused on diet and helping lami which has in turn helPed the navicular?
Farrier coming today so I will have a chat although haven't got xrays yet.
Click to expand...

Shoeing is the major cause of navicular problems in horses.

It also masks the symptoms of low grade laminitis.

It causes acute laminitis to be very severe before it is discovered.

Remedial shoeing or corrective shoeing is in fact an oxymoron.
 
Agree totally with pale rider. To answer your question. Diet. Diet. Diet. To give example it's 25 degrees my horse is in his stable. I rode him this morning. He was sound. I want to put him in the field but the grass will cause him to be footsore without his boots on. I will exercise him again tonight. The (only) way to treat lami is to stop the ingestion of sugars and starch and to exercise correctly. Everything else (like shoes and drugs) is just hiding symptoms for a period of time while the dieseses be it navic or lami just progress and your horse degresses. You can always go back to shoes in rhe blink of am eye you cant gey back to a healthy hoof so fast if at all once you have done serious damage by shoeing. Think about this. Barefoot is always the last option, why? It should and one day will be the first but not until diet advice costs £199 an hour and a trim is £150 cos then the vets will have something tangible to charge for.
 
Hi well the xrays have diagnosed mild lami and navicular as suspected, pedal bone rotation more in left fore. Vet recommended new 'imprint' shoes which are plastic and glued on-does anyone have experience of these? Or the traditional metal shoe open toe, farrier is coming Friday... Has anyone else experience and tips for shoeing a horse with both conditions? Diet under strict control and on bute for now....
 
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