Retired Reiner diagnosed Navicular Plan of Action?

[shoerbee]

Hi all.
Have a new client with a retired high powered Reining mare (competed hard until she essentially broke down), potentially a broodmare, who has been diagnosed with Navicular (details? I know no-thing :) ).
She has mega long toe/low heel.
We have trimmed her twice, where I have attempted to take heel down to healthy straight horn and taken lots of toe. Rolling toe to ease breakover without taking TOO awfully much at a time. Her feet are way contracted and she is sore in general. She seems to be improving getting some of that darn toe off though.
My question: What kind of plan should I implement for this mare?
She probably will not be ridden again, or much anyway, though may be bred....
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
I realize it is not tons of info to go on....but anything will help! Thanks!
Brigitte

[Gary Hill]

Roll the toe by trimming or shoe her with a rocker toe shoe. Go to the Hopeforsoundness web site and look at the trimming protocal. Good Luck! Gary

[slidinPlate]

brodgette i have to agree with Gary research the hopeforesoundness.com site. It will help tremendously in getting the toe under control, and preparing a base at the back of the foot to incorporate loadsharing through the frog, digital cushion, and lateral cartliges. Good luck on your endeavors.

Don

[calshoer]

I would recommend they let you use shoes instead of trimming barefoot, for several reasons.
You can ease breakover to a greater the****utic degree with shoes,wihout injvading the foot itself. And you can better ease breakover al laround the foot to ease stress o nthe impar and suspensory ligaments of the navicular bone, AND you can help support and align the coffin joint with a frog support pad (wedge or flat)depending on the situation ,or a rigid flat plate as needed to insure best alignment of the joint.
After a time the horse may be able to be barefoot, but you can sure "jump start" the healing process with the right type of shoeing. Explain it to the horse owners like this....It is kind of like trying to heal a bad sprained ankle with no splint versus with a splint.The right kind of Appliances can help.
Of course the BONE may be already damaged and ireversible, but the impar ligament and everything else around the bone it is also usually involved and will probably respond to the right shoeing faster than barefoot. . Patty

[Phil Armitage]

Totaly agree with Patty. I did this with a horse that broke down real bad at a young age, 6 years old could barely walk and had to be turned out alone so other horese would not make him move. I got things under control pretty much in the first shoeing. The feet looked great after a couple of shoeings so we tried to go barefoot again, they were OK for one cycle and then we noticed he started to get sore as time went on and had to go back to shoes with frog support, he was so bad that trainers and Vets thought he would not be able to be ridden again, however he is very comfortable with the shoes and pads, walk and trot with a rider. The horse I am working on looks like he will always need shoes with frog support. When I run into situations where the horse needs pads all the time, I like to find times of the year when I can let the feet breath or let them go barefoot, because I am a firm believer that pads also can cause problems if left on for too long it needs to be strictly managed and use commen sense. In our part of the country the best time of the year is winter when there is snow on the ground or early spring during mud season. After the ground drys up and hardens up I go back to shoes and pads.

[shoerbee]

Thanks for all of the great info you guys!!! Can you direct me to some frog support pads, or whatever your choice of frog support is, to research?
brigitte