Navicular disease... is there a cure?

[marens123]

I know many owners who have horses with navicular and they decide the best thing to do was to let them out in a pasture because they were never sound. Is there some kind of medicine or injections for this disease?
Thanks!

[Go Fish]

Most vets refer to it as a "syndrome" now because navicular has many causes and effects. No, there is no "cure." Do a search on these boards. There have been many, many discussions and there is a wealth of information.

[Pony Fixer]

Well, that depends on the cause. Navicular "syndrome" is a catch all--many vets now call it Caudal Hell pain syndrome. It could be due to remodeling of the navicular bone, the navicular bone rubbing/tearing the DDF tendon, bursitis (inflammation) of the bursa by the bone. In order to specifically treat, you need the specific diagnosis. Sometimes this can't be made, or there is more than one thing going on. With the new diagnostics available today, you are more likely to find the root cause. In the old days, you slapped bar shoes and wedge on and rode in straight lines. Now the coffin joint, navicular bursa can be injected, DDF tendon can be rested/split/injected, etc.

So the short answer is, it depends.

[tarynls]

There is no definative cure. Injections will help but the effects wear off over time. Corrective shoeing will also help - but again, no cure.

[marens123]

thanks!

[AZ Native]

Read this : http://www.hoofrehab.com/NavicularSyndrome.htm

[Fixerupper]

" many vets now call it Caudal Hell pain
so very apt :lol:

the 'current' catch phrase is 'impar ligament' (look it up) strain/stress
this makes more sense than most other explanations/definitions of/for 'navicular disease'
it also explains why elevating/supporting the heels and shortening the toe has been the treatment of choice since forever...
isoxuprine or 'Navicon' can also help by increasing circulation to the tissues...but the meds don't work particularly well without the shoeing/trimming change

[LMH]

http://cvm.msu.edu/alumni-friends/information-for-animal-owners/new-theory-may-help-avoid-navicular

Click on The Physoilogy of Navicular: http://naturalhoofworks.com/index.php?page=articles.html

[RidingAllDay]

Click on The Physoilogy of Navicular: http://naturalhoofworks.com/index.php?page=articles.html

To have faith in an article I would expect the facts to be presented correctly. The author starts out by making the statement that Dr. Rooney is an British citizen, he actually was a Brookly, NY native.

The rest is just a repeat of Jamie and Pete's stuff. Not all wrong but a lot of the usual hype put forth by the BUA Pundits.

Also, I was not overly impressed by the foot she shows here http://naturalhoofworks.com/index.php?page=mainpage.html

Yet again a claim of a healthy hoof that someone would want to have, yet look at all the bruising in the toe. :(

Marens are you asking for a specific reason? do you have diagnostics for the horse or are you just asking general questions. The answer to your vary broad question is It Depends.

[islndgirl]

I know isoxuprine can help them for quite a while... the horses I have know with it have been able to stay on that comfortably for a while.

[Gayla]

I believe that horses can be made sound. That is if you can figure out what is going on and if you can correct what is making the pain. You must get a horse to land on its foot heel first. There is a cycle at work. The horse has heel pain (maybe minor) and begins to put more weight on the toe as they walk and stand. The toe landing then begins to cause problems inside the foot. Also, if the horse is prone to an upright foot the heel will continue to grow high and straight as the horse never puts weight on it to flatten out the hoof (and make internal structure function as they should). The key IMO is to control the pain (any means necessary) and then let the horse recover. With the pain gone and the trim improving or shoes helping put the foot into balance the horse will begin to land heel first and healing can begin. Some horses may need shoes to begin recovery and may never get out of them. I think that if you can get a good trim (using xrays) and get the horse comfortable they can recover. I think they will most likely have limitations on their athletic ability just as people with past injuries must take it easy...but only time will tell.

Edited to add: I think many people continue with things the way they have been and add one or two things such as Isoxoprine or adequan or a wedge or bar shoe and then the horse may be sound for a little while but then the pain returns. If the toe first landing is not addressed they will get lame again over and over.

[Gayla]

One more note. I wasn't sure if I should continue with Isoxoprine as there is so much controversy as to whether it works or not. I stopped my SmartPak delivery of it but wasn't aware of when it ran out (I board). My mare became ouchy again and the BO asked if I was getting more of her supplements. :eek: The BO told me then that she had been out for about a week. When she went back on it she became sound again. YMMV

[Fixerupper]

Navicon (brand name) works better and longer in my experience but the shoeing helps the most

[Dressage Art]

what kind of navicular disease your horse has?

[RW06]

Research has been done in the past few years about Tildren and the slowing effects that it has on Navicular syndrome. Some studies have shown that it may even reverse some damage. Do a Google search-- you're bound to find a ton of info.

[Heart's Journey]

A good friend of mine has a 22 year old QH mare (she had her dam) that had shoes until she was 17 years old. At that point, she started having some issues and was diagnosed as having navicular in 3 of her feet. She did alot of research and decided to try barefoot trimming.

She also worked with her vet and the mare had some injections, x-rays, careful barefoot trimming, wore front boots when ridden, and was pretty much sound the whole time. She now rarely uses the boots and rides the mare 3-4 times a week, takes her camping, jumps logs, etc and is completely sound. I do not know what her x-rays look like, but her owner and her vet feel she doesn't have navicular anymore.

so there are cases that can be "cured". 2Jakes knows this owner and horse as well and can verify.