"Navicular disease!"

[SMEDLEY]

I know that this is quite a debatable topic, but recently my 4 yr old QH gelding has gone lame in his forelimbs, the whole headbobbing lameness. I took him to TWO vets, the first vet took x-rays and did a temp nerve block in his front two feet and he was sound again, this vet didn't say that he was Navicular, he didn't know what my horse had! But the second vet that I took him to right away stated, "Yep, he is navicular alright..lets go in a do a neurectomy." This was the very first thing out of his mouth!!! Kind of extreme on a 4 yr old horse I thought. So I am kind of left with no answers from the vets. So I was reading a lot on the MSU website about barefoot relief, how proper trimming can be the solution to heel pain. Then I had a very experienced Farrier come in and right away he lifted my horses feet and said, "your horse has extremely long heels! this may be the cause of his foot pain" so he did some unique trimming (squared the toe and put the toe at a ten degree angle, then trimmed the heel down to be even with the frog to distribute the weight evenly across the sole). This was 4 days ago that he did the trimming and my horse is not headbobbing anymore ( but not completely sound either) My question is, do you think that his lameness was fixed with corrective trimming, or is he not headbobbing anymore because of the cortizone injection from the second vet which should have only lasted two weeks, and it is two weeks today. I'm hoping that my horses issues were just from improper trimming and not a Navicular disease, because he is the best horse anyone could ask for. I'm at the point where I can't distinguish whether the trimming has helped or if the cortizone is just lasting longer than it should have. Opinions are very valuable to me!!! Thanks so much Jade

[Easin upon a Legacy]

howdy,
Lets see if I can help ya any. I used to own an old mare that had navicular. Lets clarify what navicular is. There is a navicular bone in a horses hoof and the deep felxor tendon runs over. sometimes in certian horses the deep felxor tendion rubs the bown down and can cause a hole in either the bone or the tendon causing the permenent lameness. Exrays will definitally show if your horse had navicular but if he does, depending on how severe it is he probably dosn't need the sergery. We just had one of our boarders horses, which is a mustange, diagnosed with nivicular. The vet has given her bute to be given the night before the lady rides her and about 18 pills(of the same medicine) to be given morning and night. If a horse has nivicular a new shoeing like the one your farrier gave your horse will definitally help releave some of the pain.
As for the cortizone shot. i would wait about 3 days to a week before you deside weather it was the shot or not. usually shots will not go longer then the vet tells you it will but here are exceptions.Also a horse that is only 4 years old in almost every sencerio won't develop nevicular untill he is older but there are also exceptions to that as well. Let me know if this helps and if you want some more informantion on navicular.

[SMEDLEY]

So I'm hoping that it isn't navicular, Next week I will know for sure if he is indeed Navicular because the cortizone shot should be completely worn off. (keeping my fingers crossed) So what ever happened to your mare that was diagnosed with Navicular, did you eventually have to stop riding her? I kind of knew it was too good to be true, I thought that I had the worlds most perfect horse..I know that the type of trimming that was done on him was against all navicular rules, I know that for navicular horses that they say to keep the heel long to keep pressure off of the deep flexor tendon, but on the other hand maybe my horse really isn't navicular and trimming his heels and making it even with the frog was the only thing that my horse needed, but I will keep you updated next week and tell you if he is headbobbing again, or I will tell you if I just witnessed a miracle trim! Thank you to everyone in advance if you reply to my delemma.

[Easin upon a Legacy]

your quite welcome. Well anyways the mare I had was aobut 18 when we finally had to do the surgery and it worked out very well. I continued to ride her for about two more years untill the nerves grew back. She couldn't have the surgery again so we retired her and she was put out to pasture and bred. she had several more babies even at her age untill she finally died healthy and of old age.

I hope it is the trimming that is going to do it. Then again some horses can just be fickle that way. We had a mare that was lame for six months and the vet didn't know what was wrong then one day she was just better and she is only five. She's up and going just fine now. Difintally keep me in the loop. good luck agian.