Navicular - your experiences please

[hoofhearted]

Hi, the vet thinks my pony may have navicular and I just wondered what other peoples experiences have been? There seems to be a lot of evidence that going barefoot can help, although the vet only mentioned possibly needing remedial shoeing and pads? Thanks.

[shaiarabians]

http://www.equinebarehoofcare.org/art_sparklenav.html

http://barefoothorse.com/

http://www.equusite.com/articles/health/healthNavicular.shtml

I hope some of these help in giving you the answers you need.

good luck
Liesl

[Gill]

http://www.hoofrehab.com

Best of luck.

[horselover1002]

i know a man who has a horse who has navicular. the horse wears eggbar shoes and uses extra saddle pads and blankets. it seems to help, but sometimes when he walks extra padding or not he still limps but only on the walk. Try to trot your horse and see if that helps. if not research it online.:D

[Arabesque]

Horse at my school had egg bar shoes for Navicular. He deteriorated over the years and I think his owners only had him for 3 years :( .
I'd definitely try the barefoot route. Speaking to someone knowledgeable about the mechanics of the horses foot that philosophy makes a lot of sense.

[eeyore]

pull those shoesies!!
i've honestly never heard of a Navicular horse that wasn't cured by going barefoot.

i got my horse, Ben, knowing he had (possible) Navicular Syndrome (though the farrier said it was only underrun heels).
we went on corrective shoeing for 10 months which had hardly any effect and after seeing one day when he pulled a shoe that he could cope, we decided to pull the other and call in a barefoot trimmer.

he was extremely footy for the first couple of weeks but he soon improved, and 2 and a half months later the vet said he was 100% sound!

photos of his progress are in my signiture.
please consider it - it's tough, it really breaks your heart to see them hopping about for a bit but you have to remember it's going to do them so much good in the long run!

[Yann]

Have a look at www.barefoothorses.co.uk too. I know very little about navicular but have read about a lot of cases where horses came right without shoes, even apparently fairly hopeless cases. Well worth looking into.