SmokinBandits - 2016-09-17 6:46 AM No uplifting stories but a story nonetheless. Whatever you do, make a solid decision and go with it full force. One way or another. Don't do what I did. I farted around with it for years. I'd try something and then I'd think, ah, this is not going to work. I don't have the money or the time for wild goose chases.... And I'd quit him. Then a couple of years later I'd see him out there in the field and he's so spectacular and beautiful, from all appearances a perfectly sound horse, and so I'd try him again. Then I'd think, ah, this is stupid and I'd quit him again. Now he's 18 and I'm thinking about trying it again! 



Same deal. I've had this horse since he was a baby. Never taken a lame step in his life. To this day, he has never limped. But he started stumbling. One time fell at a barrel race. He also grows a long toe and low heel. I've had a dozen farriers over the years and they just cannot get it right. In fact, I think one of the early farriers exacerbated it. At first when I would call the vets out because he was tripping, they'd talk me out of X-rays. He wasn't lame. He wasn't tripping continuously and they'd say, "He's fine! I don't want to waste your money!" And so I'd go with that because I don't want to waste my money either! But finally I got him X-rayed by my new vet and we discovered old sidebone (not ringbone), and possible navicular changes. I say "possible" because it is so minute that she is not sure it's the problem. She also doesn't think the sidebone should be causing the stumbling because it's been long set, is not causing any pain, and though there is less mobility in a foot that has sidebone, she doesn't think it should be causing it. On top of that, he's lazy. With Bullet, his tripping is probably a combination of all three things. But I don't know!



I'd hear a lot of success stories and I know a horse who was regularly successfully barrel racing with navicular so we started him on Bute and Isoxsuprine. He stopped tripping but you can't keep them on Bute for long periods so we switched to Previcox. I don't think it was working as well. I can't say for sure because I quit him again. I'm on Farrier #57 and I can't help but wonder if this whole time he hasn't been trimmed right. If that's really the whole problem. Farrier #57 was leaving all their toes too long. I complained and it appears that he fixed them by dubbing the toes, rather than correcting the angles. So even though the feet are short and the toes look short now, I think in relation to the heel, the toes are actually still too long. I'm in farrier nightmare on top of everything else.



Anyway, my advice to you is to make a decision and go all out with trying to "fix" him. Or retire him right now. You don't want to be where I am now with an 18-year-old horse you're still grappling with. We've heard both good stories and bad stories. Maybe we heard the good stories because they really gave it their all? Looking forward to seeing what everyone else says.







 

Junebug1 - 2016-09-17 2:19 PM I bought a really nice, consistent 3d, mare in 2009. After 5 months she was off. Took her to the vet and he said caudal heel pain, and the start of navicular. I didn't know much, but we did shock wave therapy, and started her on every joint supplement known to man. Knowing what I know now, I'm glad I have a great shoer, and glad I kept with the same one!!! Shoeing, to me is everything. To this day, the mare is now 21, she gets her feet done like clockwork, and she is still very active??

casualdust07 - 2016-09-17 2:21 PM are you determined to keep him barefoot? If you are okay with shoes, I would put shoes on him. We have a 5 YO who I noticed an intermittent grade 1 lameness. Every 4th or 5th stride she would give an off step, and then would look sound for a few strides, only visible at a trot and in a circle. Vet radiographed her and noticed a few very mild navicular bone changes. We put her in an aluminum wedge before trying any sort of joint injections or oral pain meds, and so far that's been the trick. I have another mare, actually my best barrel horse, who doesn't have the best front feet. They like to grow long toes and low heels. My farrier does a great job of backing her up every cycle, but she still will show lameness that blocks to a PD somewhat consistently. She's managed on coffin joint injections and no more than 6 weeks on a shoeing cycle (none of ours go over 6 weeks, but she sometimes gets done at 5 if she's growing fast). i tried Osphos with her and honestly not sure it did anything or not. She has completely clean radiographs, so the next recommendation was to MRI, but it won't change the course of action with her. Your treatment options are: bisphosphonates (and remember osphos can take up to 60 days to start working and may last somewhere around 6 months, so hard to say if it works or not because the results take a long time to show, but it still may be doing something. and there's also tildren which is IV and more expensive) corrective shoeing, joint injection with corticosteroids, or further diagnostics. Getting an MRI will potentially tell you a bunch of information about the soft tissue structures of the foot. From that information, you will get a clinical recommendation to consider bisphosphonates like Osphos or Tilden, which are still fairly new drugs and some vets love them, some don't, inject with corticosteroids into the coffin joint or navicular bursa, corrective shoeing, long term stall rest and rehab, or retirement. They may also give some suggestions for other therapies such a stem cells if there's a core lesion in a soft tissue structure they can reach. Unfortunately, there's not a ton of options for navicular changes that traditional vets will prescribe. You may get some results with supplements that people on here recommend, but we don't have a ton of proof that they do or don't work, so it's hard for a vet to give a recommendation to try those things. However, they will usually tell you it won't hurt anything, and if you want to try supplements to go ahead and give it a shot. If it were my horse and I wanted to keep trying, the first thing I would do is put shoes on and see if it helps, maybe even just a regular shoe without a wedge at all. If that doesn't work, I would proceed with coffin joint injections once and see how long they are helpful for. Hopefully, the idea is with proper shoeing and the occasional injection you may be able to get him comfortable for a long time. He may even become comfortable just with shoeing.