|
|
Veteran
Posts: 161
 
| Has anyone ever had any dealings with reoccurring navicular bursa soreness?? My mare came up lame, so after several months of rests showing no improvement we done an MRI... MRI showed inflammation of navicular bursa... we have done IRAP injections along with relugar steroid and HA.. even tried mixing them... the mare is shod like a navicular horse.. she wears wedges right now so we can keep her angle up to at least 53-55 degrees... i just do not understand why this keeps being a problem... is it not something you can treat?? What would be causing them to be so inflamed??? How can I help her??? | |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
| I will start by saying don't give up. It's super frustrating. I have recently dealt with the same issues.
#1 Make sure you have FULL confidence in your farrier and vet; they need to work together on this. If not, fire them and move on.
#2 wedges DO NOT cure anything
#3 all navicular horses are not the same nor require the same shoeing
#4 Is your horse really navicular? Does he show rotation? Or are they just using that term because of the soreness?
So, one question I would ask the farrier is about sole depth? My mare had too much sole which put pressure on the bursa, along with her contracted heels...so essentially her foot was not balanced for the weight she carried. Once we got her foot balanced, with the corrective shoeing...things began to turn around. She now wears a bar shoe, the bar is grooved to not put pressure on her heels, yet helps stabilize the foot and evenly distributes the weight. They also have a roll to the toe which brings back her point of break over. Because if you pay attention your horse probably sets that foot down toe first or stands with that toe pointed a lot?? You may also have some tendon soreness you don't know about or even calcium deposits if this has gone on for a long time...all things to check out.
I would start asking more questions to your vet and farrier. In this situation, IMO, a good farrier will make or break you. | |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 928
Location: Northern CA | Make sure there is nothing going on with surrounding structures, for instance, I had a horse with a DDFT tear, his bursa was severely inflammed, though the bursa/navicular bone were not injured at all. Addreessed the DDFT issue and no more bursa inflammation. I am going to assume that since you had an MRI, these things would have showed up, but never hurts to make sure. | |
| | |
 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Horseluva97 - 2017-12-05 12:48 PM Has anyone ever had any dealings with reoccurring navicular bursa soreness?? My mare came up lame, so after several months of rests showing no improvement we done an MRI... MRI showed inflammation of navicular bursa... we have done IRAP injections along with relugar steroid and HA.. even tried mixing them... the mare is shod like a navicular horse.. she wears wedges right now so we can keep her angle up to at least 53-55 degrees... i just do not understand why this keeps being a problem... is it not something you can treat?? What would be causing them to be so inflamed??? How can I help her???
I hear ya.
My horse has heel pain as well. Now I've not gone to take him for an MRI (because I've used a few different vets and all agree it would not change the treatment program) but ultrasound and x-rays have always been clean. But when he's put into regular riding, he is just slightly off. I keep him in wedge pads and shoes on the front, and inject as needed (have only had to do it twice so far) and have him on Equioxx.
I suppose he just has inflammation, just like a human may get rheumatoid arthritis ... or multiple sclerosis ... or any other time of inflammatory problem. At least, that's my rationalization!!
| |
| | |
The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| From my experience navicular bursa sacks if inflamed and the horse is off again on again lame, can indicate an infection in the navicular bursa.
The vet would have to do a tap in the navicular bursa and sent the fluid away for culture | |
| | |
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 899
Location: Idaho | Horseluva97 - 2017-12-06 10:48 AM
Has anyone ever had any dealings with reoccurring navicular bursa soreness?? My mare came up lame, so after several months of rests showing no improvement we done an MRI... MRI showed inflammation of navicular bursa... we have done IRAP injections along with relugar steroid and HA.. even tried mixing them... the mare is shod like a navicular horse.. she wears wedges right now so we can keep her angle up to at least 53-55 degrees... i just do not understand why this keeps being a problem... is it not something you can treat?? What would be causing them to be so inflamed??? How can I help her???
I would look into a second opinion? I had a gelding with navicular pretty bad. The navicular bone was deteriorating though, and they had suggested that we bring his angle up and put wedge pads on him. The reason for the angle is alleviate the pain and relieve the bone from rubbing on the tendons/ligaments that run across the navicular bone which prevents further damage, which was causing the lameness as the damage was already done the bone.
I would get Xrays done of your horse to make sure that the navicular bone is NOT damaged. If this is not the case, then I would take those wedge pads off and start working on the inflammation because I don't think that changing the angle of the hoof would actually decrease the inflammation, it would actually irritate it further. Also look into getting a GOOD barefoot farrier that would help balance out of the hoof.
Originally I put wedge pads on my guy, and it made him very uncomfortable. So I decided to pull them and found a barefoot farrier that specialized in navicular horses. She made him comfortable enough so that he could work properly enough to do a big show I entered 2 weeks after he was diagnosed, still ran good. He was supposed to be retired after that. I kept him on a strict 5 week schedule, and he was pretty sound and comfortable. Was still able to ride, get exercise in, a lot of walking as suggested by my farrier and vet. Exercise is important when you have a navicular horse, even just walking will loosen up those ligaments and tendons. I also started him on a joint supplement, that had glucosamine and msm. I had soft rides for him that I put on after hard work outs, and if he was sore at all they would go on for about two-three days at a time then would come off. They worked great for pulling out that soreness. After 6 months of the strict schedule, he was sound and back to running barrels barefoot, and eventually he got moved back to an 8 week schedule, with barefoot and regular shoes on his front feet and he remained sound till he passed away.
Good luck!
Edited by DashNDustem 2017-12-06 1:35 PM
| |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: OK | Trailer | |
| |
|
Navicular Bursa research