Navicular in horses??

Question

My horse has been at a riding school for 17 years and I got him on semi-retirement last summer. He has navicular and was on anti-inflammitory drugs up until I had him and was very lame. I have rsted him for a few months and ride him a few times a month and he's very active but he shows no signs of lameness. Can they have navicular and then it disappear? I thought that as they got older it progressed and worsens?? He loves exercise and gets strong when he's out does anyone know more about navicular?? Do you think I should get him re-diagnosed?? Help please??!

Answer 1

I think he may have been the victim of misdiagnosis and chronic bad shoeing.Keep your current farrier and keep doing what your doing . If he goes lame again, get some xrays and a new diagnosis  The bar shoes may have jacked up his heels to where the coffin bone was rotating downwards. They may also have caused the heels to contract creating a "pinchy foot" syndrome. Make sure your shoer keeps his heels low enough to encourage the frog to spread out and connect with the ground

Answer 2

If your horse is now completely sound, off his medication, and isn't wearing bar shoes, he doesn't have navicular. Navicular Disease is a soundness problem in horses, more accurately called "navicular syndrome" as opposed to "disease." It most commonly describes an inflammation or degeneration of the navicular bone and its surrounding tissues, usually on the front feet...it doesn't get better.

Try to go see a different veterinarian - just to have a second opinion on the matter and to have new x-rays and radiographs done on his feet.

Good luck!

Answer 3

It sounds to me like he was misdiagnosed. That doesn't just go away. I worked at a vet's office when I was younger and watched a navicular surgery. They actually remove part of the nerve to relieve the pain. Your horse probably had a bad torn muscle or just injured his nerve and is now healed. I would have him checked only if he starts to favor it.

Answer 4

It is possible that he was mis-diagnosed.  He will need to have radio graphs done and read by a vet that knows what to look for.  Navicular does not go away, it is not curable, and it is progressive.  It can, however, be managed for a while.  There are several treatments available from special shoes with wedges, to surgically cutting the nerves.  Surgery should be a very last resort because it will make part of their foot numb and they won't feel pain and could be injured and not know it.

Answer 5

My understanding of navicular was that it never went away, but will sometimes stop progression at a certain point. Now that he's has some rest and a chance for the imflammation to go down, he is probably a lot more comforable, so the treatments you have done are working, but I really doubt his navicular has gone away. You might want to chat with your vet about how to maintain this current soundness so that you get as much time with him as possible.

Answer 6

The best thing to do is get another set of x rays to see if it has changed, or if it was misdiagnosed in the first place.  It's not impossible for it to become less inflamed after being rested, and then gradually or even suddenly become painful again when you resume riding.  It's a good idea to get periodic x rays anyway with navicular, just to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment you are using.

Answer 7

Get him re-diagnosed.  I have cared for horses with navicular and they never get better, just some are kept under control by painkillers etc so it might not be navicular disease that he had.  It might have been about poor shoeing etc.

Answer 8

Get him re-diagnosed.

Answer 9

A horse in the barn I ride at has nevicular.  When he was diagnosed after looking lame, and we found out he had nevicular and took him off of lessons (he is a school horse) for about a month.  He rested and we turned him out a lot and then put him back on lessons with small children on his back, and he looked better, and now even adults can ride him again, and he is looking better than ever!  From what I know, no, nevicular won't go away.  It can come back, you are giving him the perfect amount of excersise to keep it under control.  If you do keep it under control, it shouldn't worsen.  You can have him rediagnosed if you want but they might still say that he has nevicular.  He may have been misdiagnosed but I doubt it if he always looked lame before.  It seems like you are fine with what you are doing.  The only advice is not to overwork him or he'll definatly get worse.  Keep him at the steady amount of excersise you are giving him now and he should be fine.  Remember on days he looks a little sore, not to overwork him, but streatch him out by doing a light excersise.  Good luck with your horse!

Answer 10

I'd get him re-xrayed to see how it's progressed (It does NOT get better!).  Then I'd go from there.

I take it he's barefoot right now.  

A LOT of navicular pain is caused by misshoeing.  When the shoer doesn't give the horse a LOT of room on their heels, the pinching worsens the pain.  

In recent years they've come out with some wonderful shoes for navicular and foundered horses.  I currently have an 18 year old QH gelding who has navicular (I bought him that way.) and he's a GREAT lesson horse.  I tried some of the plastic shoes from Epona and I can't believe the difference in him.

http://www.eponashoe.com/