I've been hearing about a lot of horses who suffer from this condition in our area lately. I had never run into it at home - probably because I'm so far removed from the jumper world. I was told that the black pony we had here last Summer suffered from it.Of course they weren't calling it navicular syndrome, rather Hufrollenentzuendung and I was like, "What is that?" They explained and ahhhh.. navicular.
I guess it's about time I learned all these parts in German too. I'll be happy if they don't have several different words for the same part like we do. Do we have a word for what is labelled here "Hufrolle"? I haven't seen that.I found some photos of treatment packages for navicular. Since navicular is often a catch-all diagnosis, I would hate to think of putting these on a horse inconclusively. Toe first landings can also be cauesd by simple thrush. Ah ah, my tendons!
"The better to kick you with."
See the screws so the height can be adjusted? Dr Strasser believes that navicular syndrome is caused by poor hoof form, period. Certainly long toes+underslung heels can cause it, because the DDT will be putting more pressure on that bone. But that's not the only cause, just the most common denominator among the cases.One thing I'm sure this device will not do is to cause heel growth. Traditional treatments seem to go from rubber heel risers to these things. I am confident correct trimming alone can help, and hope more people are open to the idea of treating the cause and not the symptoms.
I found a few other things unrelated to navicular but still odd. This is said to be for temporary use only. No, really?
Another treatment for "one-sided high walls." I think this speaks to our need to do something creative and expensive to help a horse, because "less is more" is just too simple.
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My late horse injured his navicular on a portion of steel fence post sticking out of the ground. He was shod with a normal shoe but had a leather wedge between the hoof and shoe.
Pain, pain, and more pain is what I see when I look at these setups. Do they not understand biomechanics at all? That first bit of engineering looks like it's specifically designed to get the coffin bone to spear out of the sole. Crazyness.
Rosalie, thank you for commenting - this substantiaties that navicular is not only from poor trimming. Damage to that area can be caused by several things including trauma and genetics/workload/lifestyle.
Smazourek, I was hoping you'd enjoy these photos: ) I don't know what to think because I don't know if it's been proven that this setup can help. I wish the site where I found these photos had case histories that could explain how (if) all of this effort helped. It's tough to say no to a professional who is trying to use his expertise to help your horse; I sympathize with the owner but much more with the poor horse.
All I can say is "Wow."
I guess it just goes to show that people can come up with ideas to help that don't enough about biomechanics to be making such decisions.
WHOA!!!
All I know is the vets in the states and shoers,farriers are trying the "EASYWALKER" horseshoes for these things and have has Excellent results!
I've mentioned many times the eye-popping shoeing jobs many of the retirees show up with. The latest one came with 2 shoes and 3 pads PER HOOF up front. And no, he's not a walking horse or any type of gaited horse where build-up shoes would be common. This was done to address his ringbone. And people wonder why their horse is lame? Seriously???!! The scary part is his shoeing job was courtesty of the vet/farrier at Rood & Riddle in Lexington, KY, one of the premier equine vet clinics in the world. I'll never hurt for business. What a shame.
Yikes!! Those are some scary shoe jobs. wow, wow, wow.
I had a mare that was diagnosed with navicular. She is a big foundation quarter horse with feet that were too small for her. After much deliberation and consulting with lots of people we decided the kindest thing was to remove her shoes, go barefoot and live in a 40acre pasture where she could be constantly on the move.
A huge change in jobs for her from the jumper ring to a part time 4H horse that gets groomed and loved on by city kids for a couple weeks each summer.
Before retiring her we tried some solutions like medication, pads in her shoes. That lasted for about 2 years and when that was not enough to make her comfortable we decided enough was enough, time to retire.
Navicular is something I feared when I got Fiddle--she is So Big and was So Clumsy as a "youngster" (until she stopped growing at age 7), I was supersupersupersuper conservative with her early work--everything was slow, gradual, no trotting downhill, no jumping AT ALL until this year (she turned 9 this week), because as you say, workload is a huge part of navicular.
My vet AND farrier recommended keeping Fee barefoot for at least a year while I was starting her under saddle, and of course now we are very careful to keep her heels up and toes shortish...alas, her natural angle is a bit low, so it's always something that the farrier will need to help with--both barefoot and shod.
Those funky shoes = very weird. And yet, the great racehorse Dan Patch had a funky LH stride that was assisted by a shoe that was shaped normally on the outside and almost STRAIGHT on the inside. Apparently the shoe looked strange but was totally functional for him. His other 3 shoes were normal.
Good heavens those are some crazy shoes. I agree with your last comment. It's all too much. I like shoes and shoeing, but I think sometimes we go too far. That half shoe was ridiculous. Great post!!
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the ground.
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