 |
|
 |
| • Home • Rehab Center • Case Histories • Horses in Rehab • Clinic • Articles • Blog • Contact • About • Links •
|
What is it? How is it remedied?
I want to talk about Navicular Syndrome for a minute. Unlike Laminitis or Founder, Navicular Syndrome is hard to see in a picture and almost impossible to predict by x-ray.
In fact, when we talk about Navicular we are talking about heel pain in our horse.
If your vet says your horse has Navicular changes but your horse is perfectly sound, then do these changes really matter to you or your horse?
Usually you will only get a Navicular series of x-rays if you are doing a pre-purchase exam or if your horse is lame. If there is no pain at the pre-purchase exam and the vet says he sees changes in the Navicular bone, practically speaking, it really doesn't mean anything. If your horse is lame and your vet says he sees changes |
I have never treated a horse
diagnosed with Navicular Syndrome
without entirely relieving it of the
heel pain it had at diagnosis.
It's hard to see in a picture, and it's hard to see in an x-ray, but the proof is in the soundness of the animal. Over the years, I have refined my technique of rehabbing Navicular horses down to a time frame of eight or nine months. In some cases, we have a working horse on its way to a complete recovery in as little as 3 months. |
in the Navicular bone… you got it, it doesn't really mean anything.
That is because you cannot predict lameness with a Navicular series of x-rays that show changes in the Navicular bone any more than you can predict soundness with a series of x-rays that show no changes. You can have heel pain with a clean Navicular series just as easily as you can have soundness with an x-ray series that shows changes. While this may seem incredible, I challenge you to ask your vet whether or not he or she can accurately predict Navicular bone pain or heel pain in any horse strictly by viewing an x-ray of that horse’s Navicular bone.
So where does that leave us? While a Navicular series of x-rays can leave a person more confused than ever about the best course of action to take for their horse, let me say very clearly that:
 |
Successful rehabilitation of Navidular pain involves booting, daily exercise, constant testing of the feet, and adjustment of the remedial pressure that is exerted on the frog and sole. This is virtually impossible to achieve if the horse is kept at home and trimmed only once a month. It is for this reason that all horses receiving treatment from the Equine Rehab Center are stabled on site, tended to daily by our well-trained rehab technicians, and checked on and adjusted regularly by myself. Ours is literally a daily, hands-on treatment program which is the only way I’ve found to achieve the rapid, consistent results I’ve described.
|
