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 Expert
Posts: 1568
  
Location: Texas | Contemplating nerving my son's heading horse. We have been corrective shoeing and a few feed supplements to no avail. Just took more xrays and the foot has not changed in 2 years.
Has anyone out there tried any alternative treatments outside of nerving?
Edited by Dudette 2015-10-06 12:51 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1037
| What kind of shoes have you tried?
Mine is now in PLR's (wedges and pads did not work at all) and he is doing great.
Also have him on Adequan, Platinum CJ.
He has not been injected since Feb and is more sound now than right after injections.
I know I am just prolonging de-nerving, but this is helping him right now.
Pic below is the pad he is currently in but no wedge to the shoe.
Edited by kboltwkreations 2015-10-06 1:21 PM
 (navicular-plr-fig.jpg)
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 navicular-plr-fig.jpg (44KB - 162 downloads)
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 Expert
Posts: 1355
| I would personally try OsPhos or Tildren first, then nerve as a last resort. | |
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Regular
Posts: 50
| My boyfriend had to nerve his head horse this year. It has been very successful, the vet that performed it, did a partial nerve and was able to only nerve the heel, so the horse can feel his toe. He still has corrective shoeing on top of that, I recommend the shoes with the "heels" as I call them, because I do not know the real name, but no pads, the last thing you want is pressure on the heel, even though the horse can't feel it after being nerved. He just has to be careful to always clean the horses feet and keep him off hard ground, since he still has feeling in the toe, and to watch for bruising/abscess formation, since the horse will not be able to feel if he has any pain resulting from those. The horse was on stall rest for a month, limited movement to make sure the nerves stayed as dead as possible and didn't regenerate. He laid him off for about 3 months from surgery and hasn't been lame since, has about 80% more energy, and has gained about 200 pounds. I truly believe it helped contribute to all these things from being relieved from constant pain. Happy, healthy, and still ropin' steers. It can be scary, to consider doing it, but it can be successful. I would just make sure that you talk to your vet about the surgery and possible outcomes, good vs bad. The surgeons and vet did this with my boyfriend prior to him making a decision. There is always a great risk with horses that nerving does not work, they regenerate as soon as they cut them and the horse is infinitely lame, but that is a very rare occurrence according to my understanding. Also, based on the age of the horse, typically it is a procedure that needs to be repeated in 5-7 years because the nerves will regenerate at one point. So also cost is a factor you would like to consider. My boyfriend's horse is 11, so we figured in 5 years that another $1000 surgery should be worth the use he can get out of the horse with best case scenario and returning to full function after the surgery. Hopefully this has been helpful! | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | RHRanch - 2015-10-06 2:38 PM
I would personally try OsPhos or Tildren first, then nerve as a last resort.
If your horse in a candidate for this then I agree. It saved my guy's career. | |
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Regular
Posts: 50
| Also forgot to add, you can always try injections, they're about $60 every 3-6 months depending on the horse. My boyfriend's horse was past the point where
corrective shoeing/ injections was helping him, that's why we opted for the surgery :) | |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| Have you tried injections? From what I've been hearing about Tildren and Osphos I'd definitely be looking into both of those options as well. And I know I sound like a broken record anytime nerving is discussed on here, but I personally wouldn't nerve without first doing an MRI. I was given the option to nerve or do an MRI, and we chose to start with the MRI. After the MRI the vets took away the option of nerving and basically said to not ride my gelding anymore because of how much damage they found. The biggest issue was that his navicular bone was sawing through his flexor tendon. | |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| I would try the cur Ost supplements before nerving | |
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