Navicular and riding??

Wow! Thanks for all of your replies! The RI said that he wasn't in pain and just rested his legs to deal with the navi- to me that's suspicious and I did say about the bute every day but this woman does not listen to ANYONE and so she won't stop but I won't be riding this horse again.

She said he sometimes had lame days but was generally very sound, stiffer in the mornings, I'd ridden him directly after someone else had for an hour so he was loose for me. She also said he cost £25,000 as a 4 year old and is now only with my RI because of the navi which is the only thing that prevents him from doing advanced dressage.

He really did move very nicely and didn't trip at all the whole lesson, he was not unwilling to extend either so maybe it's mild but even still I won't be riding him again.

Thanks again :)
 
To be fair, my horse is on a daily bute, but isnt lame... partly because of the bute and partly because of the cortaflex for his arthritis...however, horses only rest the back legs, and only rest the fronts if they are in pain......

Perhaps he shouldnt be ridden twice in a row....
 
6 year old mare i work with has navicular, got it partly as a result of suspensory damage, she is totally sound ridden with heart bar shoes, to say a horse with navicular should never be ridden is ludicrous, each case differs in severity, ferns will probably worsen with age but for now she is happy and sound!

i agree tho, bute is not a permanent solution
 
My RI has a horse who was written off as a four year old with navicular, but he is now 18 and still competing at Elementary dressage, in full health now.
Another person at my old yard has a pony with navicular, but manages it well.
Neither of them jump, but enjoy doing dressage and hacking :)
 
There's a young horse at our yard who suffered the same fate. Shoes were pulled and he was turned away and is now sound as a bell :)
 
Well from all of replies I reckon he's not got to severe a case but I agree about the not being ridden twice in a row (because he's so sharp and I'm nervy now he'd have to be ridden for an hour before I rode him anyway so it's not really on.

And I was thinking about the resting of the legs thing, when my legs hurt at work I do it, I shift the weight from one to the other, not in a resting kind of way, like horses with the back legs, but in an ow, kind of way...so basically I'm a horse :D and he probably is in pain :( poor boy :(
 
you could voice your concerns to the woman, and although she will undoubtedly say he is fit for it, say that perhaps the horse would benefit from an hour off between rides.....
 
Julz said:
you could voice your concerns to the woman, and although she will undoubtedly say he is fit for it, say that perhaps the horse would benefit from an hour off between rides.....
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This is the thing, I mentioned the resting forelegs as I walked up to him, he does it under saddle too. And I said about the bute every day- she just said as you said, perfectly sound and fine. She doesn't listen to people!!:rolleyes::(
 
ClaireBear_nz said:
Personally I wouldn't want to pay to ride a horse who had to be bute-d up for it, especially if they were resting forelegs as this is a sign of pain. Sammii on here has a horse with navicular, I think, so possibly ask her?
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Yes, I do, I'm touched that somebody does read my threads and remember things about me & my horse :D

So, yes, I have a 14.3hh 15 year old gelding cob who was diagnosd with navicular 3 years ago. After about a year of remedial shoeing, Red is now back to normal shoes, which are changed every 8 weeks. The only time he is abit "footy" is when the ground his hard, when which does not have a heavy workload and when he his due to be shod.

The key thing to helping prevent excessive pain is to ensure that the horse is carrying as less weight as is healthy. Red, as you can see from the videos I post below, is carrying alot of weight which we are now working on getting rid of. He is moving much freer and has lost around 100kg in 6 weeks, this has worked wonders for his movement and the pressure on his legs/feet. Red was turned away for 2 months during August - October, and he hated it. Life as a field ornament didn't suit him at all. He has been ridden, what, 4 times since he's been back into work. Each time, he's been alert, forward going, wanting to go faster, collecting, extension, lateral work, galloping & jumping. These are not activities I would expect a horse in severe pain from any foot disease to want/U] to do.

I think I read on this thread somewhere, someone posted that warming-up is a very important process in the exercising of a horse with navicular. Red takes a good 10-15 minute walk, along with the next 5 minute of walk-trot-walk transitions etc, before we can even think about serious schooling. This suits us both down to the ground because we know it'll be much less hard work afterwards. :)

Below are two videos, the movement of Red free-schooling and under-saddle. I think you could say that his movement is pretty much the same in both videos, therefore the riding cannot be affecting him as much as people would presume it would.

His short-striding mostly comes from his breeding and his weight, just because he has navicular doesn't mean that any foot-related issue he has is because of it. :)





I would voice your concerns with the YM/RI whichever, you feel most comfortable talking to. I think, with the horse in question, to be doing extension/collection etc, it must not be suffering alot. I'm not able to comment on the resting forelegs though, as have no experience of them.
 
Yann

I am getting a bit stressed about your reporting here

As you know I owned that horse you keep referring to

His navicular bones are not fully formed - He cannot cope with heavy work, not only were his shoes pulled off, his work and lifestyle are completely different.

He does not hack, he only works on sand, he is probaly only ridden a couple of times a week I am guessing for about 40 minutes max. That work will be flat work with a very good light weight rider

I gave him to the yard owner because I knew he would have that sort of life and he could cope with that.

You write about him as if he is going out taking on the world. He has not had a miraculous recovery but he has a happy life.

People need to think very hard about what they do with a horse with navicular - Having him put down was a serious option for me
 
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