Tildren for navicular - frequency?

[little_critter]

Hi all, I’ve posted a few times recently about my loveable sicknote
Hes been diagnosed with navicular changes following an MRI (has been lame for 5 months now, he threw a ligament injury in there too at one point)
My vet is suggesting Tildren, I’m not certain the insurance will cover it (another exclusion may impact it).

Those whose horses have had Tildren, is it something you give just the once? Or are you likely to need to re-medicate? And if so, roughly how long between doses?

2nd choice is steroid medication of the bursa, it’s cheaper, but I guess like most steroid treatments it will need to be re-medicated.

My vet is also investigating this for me, but I was after some first hand experience.

 

[misst]

With my (long time ago) experience of this I would say steroids and shockwave (and likely tildren though we never tried this) will help short term but most of the changes are often caused by poor foot balance. Especially if there was a ligament injury too. So I wouldn't rule out the treatment as I don't know enough but I would say getting the feet right and in balance and maybe taking shoes off etc will give better long term results perhaps. Is the horse young?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

When Louis was diagnosed he only had mild changes so he had osphos its similar to tildren, and they put steroids in the bursa I took his shoes off and he had about 3 months field rest and was sound after the rest.

That was about 4 years ago his 19 this year he took to being ridden barefoot without any problems, his remained sound and I've not had to repeat any of the treatment.

I do think pulling the shoes can really make all the difference, navicular changes and the soft tissue damage that comes with it is often down to bad foot balance.

 

[little_critter]

My vet and farrier are working together.
I know barefoot is often recommended for navicular but my boy is absolutely crippled without shoes. He had to go without them early on in this lameness episode and he simply didn’t want to move (this was while resting, he wasn’t doing any sort of ‘work’)
I couldn’t ethically put him through that.
I‘m not anti barefoot, my mare went barefoot before I retired her but this really isn’t an option for him.
He’s 13 @misst

 

[misst]

Bless him we were the same our lad couldn't cope without - I wish he had been able and people did recommend it but like yours he didn't walk if you took them off! I hope the meds work for him. They helped ours for quite a while. I trusted our farrier but looking back I wonder if it could have been done differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though....
13 - hopefully it won't be too chronic then wishing him lots of healing vibes.

 

[GypsGal1718]

Best of luck for him. I hope he recovers.

 

[j1ffy]

Tildren is a one-off treatment and most vets would prefer to use Osphos as there's a lower risk of colic.

The actual evidence behind both is scant. I looked into it when my horse had navicular oedemas early last year as it was recommended by the vet - I have a navicular horse who has been sound and barefoot for the last 13 years but was a bit perplexed with what to do with my younger horse as his hoof balance was perfect and there was no accompanying soft tissue damage with the navicular problems. I went with steroid injections and rest and (fingers crossed) he's sound.

However navicular oedemas are different to navicular changes. As others have said I'd be looking at the hoof balance overall and improving and strengthening the hooves rather than treatment and rest. You say that your horse is very uncomfortable without shoes, which suggests his hooves are in poor health generally. I'm not suggesting that you need to go barefoot but I'd look at how to improve his hooves - Rockley Farm is no longer operating as a rehab centre but has some great info on diet etc. that's worth a look for any horse: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/p/hoofcare-essentials.html

 

[Widgeon]

Mine had tildren for hock arthritis. He had it twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of the insurance year, along with a steroid jab into the joint and cartrophen. The tildren was expensive so we did it under his insurance; now that his hock's not covered I wouldn't prioritise tildren again - instead I pay for annual steroid and cartrophen, both of which are relatively inexpensive, in the great scheme of horse bills.

Tildren is supposed to slow bone remodeling I believe, but because it was on insurance I didn't investigate the efficacy of it as much as I usually would - I just looked at whether it was safe. It's on an IV drip, and the slower you run the drip the lower the likelihood of colic. Mine did get colicky the first time but we walked it off. Second time, we ran the drip slower and he had buscopan as well. That worked and he had no side effects at all.

Personally I viewed the tildren as a supportive treatment that we might as well do while the insurers were paying, but in terms of obvious efficacy, it's the steroids that seem to do most. But of course mine has arthritis, not navicular, and all horses / problems seem to respond differently to steroids.

I know that's not directly relevant but I hope it's somewhat helpful.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I would also try the no shoe route get boots and pads I did it with my other horse who was really sore without shoes as his soles were so thin, I knew they had to come off to improve his feet so I did a proper rehab and he had about 9 months in boots until he was comfortable.

He did go back into shoes for a bit but I took them off again at the beginning of the year as he kept tripping, he marches along on most surfaces now without shoes and the tripping stopped as soon as the shoes came off.

His actually got coffin joint arthritis now so I think the shoes were just not working anymore.

 

[sbloom]

Hoof balance, barefoot if possible, and address posture. With even top GP horses moving on the forehand and placing extra pressure on bits of the body not designed to take it, it's highly likely it's playing a part. Can't help on the specific question, so sorry for going slightly OT!

 

[little_critter]

Hi everyone - I know you are well meaning but as said above my horse cannot cope barefoot so please stop suggesting that. I know it's reccomended for navicular but it simply isn't feasible / ethical for us.

 

[Birker2020]

My previous horse had Tildren three times in the space of a year under insurance, before the claim ran out.

It was via an infusion and as they infuse it slowly to prevent colic so over a period of 45 minutes. Mine also had buscopan as they were colic prone.

It didn't work for my horse - it was for treatment of spavin not navicular and it just didn't have any noticeable effect other than each time she was given it she pee'd for England as a side effect and was literally swimming in wee.

 

[I'm Dun]

Hi everyone - I know you are well meaning but as said above my horse cannot cope barefoot so please stop suggesting that. I know it's reccomended for navicular but it simply isn't feasible / ethical for us.

Of course it is. Thats what boots and pads are for. The fact your horse is so bad without shoes tells you theres a big issue which has now resulted in navicular. The shoes dont have to stay off forever, but a decent period without them adressing the underlying issue is whats going to get your horse sound again.

 

[Gloi]

Easyboot Cloud boots are the ones to start off with provided they fit. They are used for laminitis and have really good padding. After a while he should be able to move on to other boots with pads as his feet start to strengthen.