Navicular horse - Trying barefoot route

[Dances with Hooves]

For a number of reasons I am taking a navicular horse down the barefoot path despite a profund toe first landing.

Thought I'd give it a shot as his buddies some rescues and just arrived from the rescue organization to my clients home are a horse who has fondered and is on a 4 week schedule and a draft who has arrived with cracks and will also do well on a 4 week schedule. So why not try him barefoot as well.

Gave him some time to cool down from the plain open heeled shoes no pads shaped to the perimeter of his hugely distorted dished toe that had been applied to "help him with his navicular" and he went from the most exaaggerated toe first landing that I have ever seen to just the typical toe first landing of a typical navicular patient over the 1st 4 week cycle. I trimmed him using the NB protocol for the second time the other day and hope we can get him flat when I see him next month.

So ive got a chance here to try and see if I can get a flat to slight heel first landing on a horse that I normally would use a wedge pad and IM on. And my intellectual curiosity wants me to try. They dont ride him hes just a companion for the draft. I told the customer we will try just trimming for another cycle or two but if we don't get him landing flat we will need to use the wedge.

What is a reasonable amount of time to try and aquire a slight heel first landing barefoot? My training and my experience tells me that my task is to bring about such a landing and then the horse will do as well as he will be able to do. Usually I'll go with the pad if a horse lands toe first but thought since he is just hanging around the pasture it was worth a try going the barefoot route but I don't want to drag this out at the horses expense.

[caballus]

Hi George ... you *should* be able to get the horse landing heel first with the first trim IF the 1/3:2/3 ratio of the weight bearing surface (the back 2/3rds of the hoof should be the primary weight bearing portion of the hoof with the 1/3 from the breakover to the toe being rockered and not weightbearing.). That being said, I can assume that perhaps the ratios are not as they should be with the front hooves and that the toes are still too long. Did you rocker the front toes? On the other hand, is the horse needing to grow sole? If so, the rockover might be a bit too much for the hooves to handle right now without causing soreness. Thus, in lieu of a full blown rocker taking your rasp from solar and rasping at about a 70* angle at the toe around to the quarters to give a good mustang roll will help. Then, from the top, finish off the backing of the toe and the mustang roll. I also leave a bit longer heels than what I would do on a sound hoof so as not to change the angles too much as cause too much excessive strain on the DDFT and lateral cartilages. (Plus, most horses coming out of shoes exhibit some heel bruising and you don't want to exacerbate that, but, instead, allow for healing.) Plus, the frog needs time to grow, widen and callous and the DC needs time to grow more fibrous cartilage (vs. fatty cartilage) for better shock absorption. All these factors come into play when taking a horse from shoes to barefoot. I bring the heels back to the widest part of the frog but try to leave maybe 1/4" in height from the live sole at the seat of corn. Just enough so the frog has a bit of passive ground contact. I've found that the first couple of trims after removing shoes have to be minimal and I don't touch the soles at all. I will level off an area slightly around the toe callous area and if the bars are higher than the heels or overgrown, I'll take them down to heel height but leave any overgrowth if it doesn't come off easily. Next time around I usually see that the overgrowth has exfoliated itself for the most part. But the most important part of getting the heel-first landing is getting the toes back and the hooves in balance AP as well as ML. It may take the horse a few rounds to get that "heel first" landing and it actually may take up to a day or so. It feels strange to them at first. But, if you get that 1/3:2/3 ratio plus the balance then you *should* see marked improvement before you leave the premises. Otherwise, take a good look at the length of the toes again.

Hey, George ... got photos?

--Gwen

[runtolive]

hi there, I would suggest reading pete ramey's book the guide to natural hoof? In his section about navicular and barefoot, he goes over this in detail or look up his website www.hoofrehab.com and go into articles, then the book up date, it has a navicular section in there too...he suggests taking the heels down to the height of the frog so the horse can use the frog again to get the digital cushions being used, this will thicken the digital cushions and the horse should start landing heel first....read the section...it is great and very easy to follow.

[matryoshka]

I also trim a navicular barefoot horse. It's hard to get a flat landing, let alone heel first. His hoof was so elongated that it took several trims to get him landing flat, or I would have had him so sore he couldn't walk. I left the toe callus and trimmed the wall back just shy of the while line. I gave it a good roll to ease the breakover. I let the live sole guide how low I took the heels. That was the problem--his growth says long toe low heel. His hoof is now growing at a slightly more upright angle, and he seems more comfortable. It is not nearly as dramatic a change as I've had on TB's with long toes and low heels. Navicular hooves just don't seem healthy.

I think he will eventually go back into shoes, but he needed a year off to recover from contracted heels (his frogs were actually recessed up past the sole). The heels opened up almost right away and the frogs got healthier, but the long, narrow hoof conformation isn't changing. He looks a lot more comfortable than he did a few months ago, but after a while, it's hard to remember how it was in the beginning. His condition is complicated by a club foot. That's the one that is most tender, and it is hard to trim correctly.

Oh, and at first I trimmed him every two weeks. He'd get really sore if I left him for 4 weeks.

Good luck,
Pam

[Wheaties]

BUMPING UP TO ACTIVE.

Brought this thread back to life for a moment to ask.

Hey, George, Its been a month now for this navicular horse to be in no shoes and Im wondering how he/she is making out."

[Dances with Hooves]

Update.

Trimmed him again this week 4 wks from last trim. Pre trim walk showed there was still a slight toe first landing. BTW the barn aisle is concrete and its a quiet private barn and do you know you can actually hear the difference between a toe first and a flat to slightly heel first landing? His hinds and the feet of his buddies land with a "plop" while his have 2 beats to the landing if you listen closely. Thought that was cool most barn situations are noiser and I dont often listen to the landing.

Sorry for the digression back to the horse. Did a maintenace trim, used my sharpie to diagram the foot... looked hard to make sure no parameter was out of the NB guidelines. Worked on the heels with my rasp re rolled the toe nothing special typical 4 week interval work.

Walked him post trim and had aquired a flat landing (he now goes "plop")so rescheduled a trim at 4 weeks. He has gone from profoundly toe first (moved like the paint pony in genes video) to flat. Key issue for him I believe was removing the open heeled flat shoes that had been perimeter fit to the distorted toe as a "treatment" for his diagnosis of palmer foot pain. I wish I had shot some pics as I wonder what the guy was thinking who shod a navicular horse this way.

In any event with the insult of the long toe removed he's heeling. The frog now loads slightly things are looking normal footwise. I strive for slightly heel first but accept flat landing especially in lameness cases.

The owner just rescued a laminitc horse so this stop is sorta reserch lab for me in what will work barefoot. They have a nice draft there too good feet just trim him at 8 weeks.

Speaking of research. I had a TB dink that I could only get one NB front shoe on one of his the hinds due to behavio. I thought the "Stiller Method" would work for him and had planned of course to do both feet but it wasnt going to be possible that day. So I come back to pull shoes (shoe?) for winter and lo and behold the leg that had been stillerized with the front shoe (which was the bad one) was now much better greater range of movement quite comfortable. The other foot which was left bare but trimmed to NB had not improved its leg and was now the less comfortable hind end to get under. Ethicaly I would never treat one side and leave the other to just see if the treatment works but since he was trying to kill me I had no issue with this experiment.