Suspected NPA?

[MatHalTed]

Hello everyone,
Recently my 6 year old barefoot mare has been quite tense over her back and hindquarters, we suspected it was due to her changing shape and therefore her saddle no longer fitting correctly. It was last checked in September and adjusted to fit her accordingly. We booked the saddle fitter to come check her when they're next available and also the chiropractor to help alleviate the tightness. However when the chiropractor came to see her they said that the tenseness wasn't caused by the saddle and was instead caused by negative plantar angles in her hind feet and that we need to shoe her with pads / wedges.
She was recently seen by our farrier for her scheduled trim and they said all was good.
From my understanding wedges are more of a temporary fix and mask the NPA issues rather than actually addressing the issues that caused it.
She is currently 100% sound and other than the aforementioned tightness over her lumbar region has had no issues. She's been barefoot for almost 2 years, again with no issues.
We've got the vet coming out for lateral X-rays of her palmar & plantar angles soon.
I have absolutely no idea what to do and in all honestly am quite sceptical of it being NPA. I'll attach some pictures I took of her hooves below.
If anyone has had any experience with something like this advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance

 

[ycbm]

Why does your chiro think she has NPA?

Those feet don't show the low heel/bull nose that I would expect (except possibly in the one with a finger in it) and I certainly wouldn't be shoeing with wedges without x rays. If they are NPA I think it will more likely be a build up of false sole at the toe that needs to come out than that heels which are already that high need raising even further.
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[MatHalTed]

Why does your chiro think she has NPA?

Those feet don't show the low heel/bull nose that I would expect (except possibly in the one with a finger in it) and I certainly wouldn't be shoeing with wedges without x rays. If they are NPA I think it will more likely be a build up of false sole at the toe that needs to come out than that heels which are already that high need raising even further.
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That's exactly what I'm thinking. Apparently the way she's carrying tension points to it being a hoof problem rather than it being muscular, and therefore he suspects NPA. I had her x-rayed as a 4 year old when I bought her and her palmar and plantar angles were fine then, though I understand they can change as the horse grows. I'm unconvinced but will be x-raying again to be sure. She moves correctly and has good heel first landing action rather than toe first, and like you said doesn't seem to have the classic bullnose look of typical NPA. I'm just rather confused about the whole situation.

 

[ycbm]

Does she stand camped under at the back? With feet like that I would suspect PSD before NPA but if the chiro is finding persistent back stiffness then I'd be going for a workup I think, and certainly before changing to wedges. She could have a slight SI strain, or the beginnings of hock arthritis, as other examples.

I'm not terribly impressed with a chiro diagnosing NPA and recommending shoeing changes and not recommending that the horse is seen by a vet.
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[MatHalTed]

Does she stand camped under at the back? With feet like that I would suspect PSD before NPA but if the chiro is finding persistent back stiffness then I'd be going for a workup I think, and certainly before changing to wedges. She could have a slight SI strain, or the beginnings of hock arthritis, as other examples.

I'm not terribly impressed with a chiro diagnosing NPA and recommending shoeing changes and not recommending that the horse is seen by a vet.
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Yes, slightly camped under stance and she's also quite straight through the hock. She's fully insured so I'll be doing a full performance work up to get to the bottom of it if the hoof X-rays come up negative.
Also edited to add - she's built slightly downhill too and is currently bumhigh, unsure if she's still growing and levelling out.

 

[ycbm]

She does have hind leg conformation thats a bit straight and tends to go with PSD and if she has that it can, long term, cause NPA because of the way they stand camped under to take pressure off it. As you are insured you can go with whatever the vet wants first. If you weren't insured I'd suggest ultrasound for PSD first because that's much cheaper than x rays and if it's PSD then whatever you have to do to get that right should hopefully fix NPA if it's happened.

Fingers crossed you've caught whatever is causing the back soreness really early and it's an easy fix.
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[MatHalTed]

*Update*
Had vet out to do X-rays, he also checked her back and she was significantly less sore than before the chiropractor appointment, and as she hasn't been ridden since then it does make me suspect it's the saddle fit causing the soreness. We took X-rays and they came back all clear, she had a +6.0 positive angle in 3 feet and then a +5.0 angle in the 4th. Vet commented that her foot balance looked good and that our trimmer was doing a very good job, which is always reassuring lol. The only thing he noted was that on the trot up (on uneven / potholey concrete) she seemed a bit footy and that her heels could come down a bit more to help with this. He recommended either shoeing (normal shoes, no pads) or hoof boots, however he said he had less experience with hoof boots so couldn't really comment on their success. We're putting her on a biotin supplement and will be sending X-rays to our farrier when we get them, and will talk about ways to lower the heel / manage the wear as I'd really rather prefer to keep her unshod.