My barefoot horse was diagnosed with navicular

[Petalstorm]

:( I am at a loss. I bought my mare off the track as a three year old, she is now 5. Right after I bought her I found out that I was pregnant and so I was unable to ride her. I pulled her shoes and bred her, we have her lovely WB cross yearling. I looked into Natural hoof care and found a practitioner with a great reputation in my area. He is certified by the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Providers. I have been having him do all my horses for well over a year. I have my horses in large paddocks with 24/7 turnout. They have gravel in the paddocks, they eat grass hay. ..
This mare has been progressively getting more ouchy on hard ground since April. She seems 99% comfortable on soft footing except in a tight circle. I took her into the vet last Thursday and after a thorough exam he suggested x-raying her feet. He also commented that her heels were too low. One heel more so than the other. The x-rays showed that there were lesions on the navicular bone. He rated her x-rays a 6 out of 10. Now he wants her on Isox and egg-bar shoes...
Help! I am confused, sad for my horse, just downright sad...
Are we natural hoofcare dropouts?
Here is a link to some pics of my mares feet.
http://devildoc.googlepages.com/horsepage
Any thoughts out there?
I live in Englewood Colorado. Anyone have a reccomendation of someone that could help my horse?

[Phil Armitage]

Did your Vet do the following as part of diagnosis or just take radiographs?

Nerve Blocks to determine if the pain is actually in the navicular area of the feet?

Were hoof testers used as part of the diagnosis in all areas of the foot?

Was the horse observed at a walk and trot on a flat hard surface going straight and turns?

[Petalstorm]

Did your Vet do the following as part of diagnosis or just take radiographs?

Nerve Blocks to determine if the pain is actually in the navicular area of the feet?
No.

Were hoof testers used as part of the diagnosis in all areas of the foot?
Yes, she didn't show too bad of a reaction to hoof testers.

Was the horse observed at a walk and trot on a flat hard surface going straight and turns?
Yes, she was very lame on the hard surface but not on a soft surface.

[Phil Armitage]

Did your Vet do the following as part of diagnosis or just take radiographs?

Nerve Blocks to determine if the pain is actually in the navicular area of the feet?
No.

Were hoof testers used as part of the diagnosis in all areas of the foot?
Yes, she didn't show too bad of a reaction to hoof testers.

Was the horse observed at a walk and trot on a flat hard surface going straight and turns?
Yes, she was very lame on the hard surface but not on a soft surface.

The lameness observed on soft footing and not on hard footing does not mean the foot is sore. It is possible the sorness is somewhere else. You might want to get an equine message therepist or chiropractor to go over his entire body and see what they find. I like to rule everything I can out. Seen many situations where one thinks the problem is navicular in the front feet and the horse is lame in the hind, shoulder, back etc... Anyways my point is the problem needs to be diagnosed in a manner that determines exactly where the pain is, front or hind, left or right or both. High in the body or lower. Blocking is a good way to determine if the problem is actually in the foot or not. Normaly what takes place is the vet has you trot the horse off and observes the horse's movement before blocking the nerves to the foot. Then after blocking the horse is observed again if the horse goes off sound after blocking then you know the problem is in the foot, however this only says in the foot not where. Blocks can also be done to determine which side of the foot and I think can be done to determine if it is front or back half of the foot. Sometimes what we see on radiographs look bad, however have nothing to do with the lameness. Just did a complete lameness exam with a very good Vet in my area and this exact thing happened to us, X-rays showed one thing observation, hoof testers and blocks showed another.

As the owner you can make notes of everything you see and what the Vet sees and tells you. Gather all the info you can and sooner or later you will have enough data to figure out what is going on. The more information you gather the better. Shoeing can be done for protection and support and see what happens after you shoe the horse. Maybe this is all the horse needs.

[Rick Burten]

I looked into Natural hoof care and found a practitioner with a great reputation in my area. He is certified by the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Providers.
You may find that at least on these forums, that appellation isn't worth squat. :eek: :)
This mare has been progressively getting more ouchy on hard ground since April. She seems 99% comfortable on soft footing except in a tight circle. I took her into the vet last Thursday and after a thorough exam he suggested x-raying her feet. He also commented that her heels were too low. One heel more so than the other. The x-rays showed that there were lesions on the navicular bone. He rated her x-rays a 6 out of 10. Now he wants her on Isox and egg-bar shoes...
Sounds resonable with the provision that he further delineate the protocol as noted below.
Are we natural hoofcare dropouts?
IMNTBCHO, Yes! For this horse at least.
I live in Englewood Colorado. Anyone have a reccomendation of someone that could help my horse?
One place to start is, IMNTBCHO, at www.hopeforsoundness.com Contact those good people and see what they have to say.

Also, your vet has prescribed a specific(more or less) treatment program. You might want to consider following it. That said, I think the farrier will need a few more details in the prescription and you should insist that your vet provide them in writing. Things like does the vet want wedges or a wedged heel shoe used? How much wedging? Does he want mechanical frog support? where does he want the breakover set? How much should extend out past the heels/widest part of the frog? What interval schedule for hoof care does he feel is optimal?

[calshoer]

I see a lot of little issues with your horses feet, all combined probably contributing to heel soreness and *Possible* navicular.
The trim you are getting is not really in the same form as a healthy, truly natural foot. Too much heel. no frog support . Looking at a ferw items in your horses feet ,and with the diagnosis of navicular, I can bet your horse lands toe firat at a walk.
A toe first landing contributes directly to navicular pain. Heels that are not trimmed correctly can contribute to heel pain and a toe first landing. Most "navicular" is cirable bcause it does not yet involve the bone.It is mostoften the soft tisues(ligaments and tendons) around the bone. Those can heal. But not if the horse is landing toe first.
If your AANHCP trimmer has not gotten this horse landing consistantly heel first at a loose walk, he/she has missed the mark in creating correct hoof function.
As well, thoroughbreds are notorious for lacking supportive cartilage internally and this looks like one of those kinds of feet. What hapens in those cases is the coffin joint (including the navicular bone) are not lined up correct and the boen and surrounding tissues get stressed. Weak footed horses often do not do well without supportive shoeing because they need artificial help in both support upward through the frog to align to the joint internally, and in moving the point of breakover further back under the toe than can be accomplished barefoot. It is vital to be able to get that breakover point back to reduce tension on the tissues sorrounding the navicular bone as the horse moves.
I do not use EGG bars because they only end up exacerbating heel pain later on, and they offer no support up through the frog ansd coffin joint which is very important to help heal these horses.
Egg bars do not adrress the hoof imbalances (internaly and externally) that are causing the problem.

I second Ricks suggestion to study the Natural Balance website. (of course since I'm a certified NB farrier, how could I not.... :rolleyes: )
NB is NOT the same as other 'totally barefoot' so called natural trim methods, and has much more independant science to back it up. Even the NB barefoot trim would look a little different from what your horse has now.
There are good NB farriers available in Colorado, you can contact the folks at EDSS inc(the company) for a farrier reference up northward, near you. If none is available that far north, you can haul down here to Gene Ovnicek and he'll fix you up. He also does quite a bit of work in Colorado Springs. (the halfway point)

If you look into Nb and choose to go with NB protocols instead of the vet recomended Egg bars, be prepared for NB shoeing instead of NB barefoot, because I think your horse needs shoes. Patty