Thursday, January 15, 2015

Symptoms And Treatment Of Navicular Syndrome

By Enid Hinton


When your horse is said to be suffering from navicular disease, you are likely to panic and avoid it because you do not understand the condition. The availability of scanty information about navicular syndrome does not mean that it cannot be managed. The condition requires early intervention before it gets worse and reduces the lifespan or competitiveness of your horse.

There are early signs that your horse is headed towards lameness. The severity of the condition in each case will determine the best approach. The position of the navicular bone makes the condition worse especially when quick action is not taken. The surrounding tissues are very soft and therefore the hoof will become very painful.

The grinding motion of bones around the distal area causes them to wear out. It results as hooves changes angles while your horse is in motion. The tendons are eaten away as the legs bends forward and backward while in motion. The resulting damage on tissues makes the toes very painful.

Bones and tendons that are eaten away become very painful. There are other conditions that are likely to cause pain and still display similar signs. They include inflammation and injuries on this area. This is a common occurrence especially if yours is a performing horse. They sometimes get chronic leading to front lameness.

There are breeds with more cases than others because of their disposition. They include Warm Bloods, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. There are more cases reported of these breeds than others. In most of these cases, the horses were aged between 7 and 14 years.

When the forward or backward axis breaks, your horse will experience caudal heel pain. Under run heels or abnormality in the conformation around the hoof also cause pain. Sheared and contracted heels cause a lot of pain. Horses with disproportionately small hooves or with mismatched hoof angles are likely to be affected.

Lameness affects one leg before it spreading to the other. You will observe this because each leg is affected to a particular degree. The first signs are swapping of legs around the corner or at tight angles as well as shorter strides. When swapping the legs, the affected one is placed inside.

The style of landing will also tell you if your horse is sick. The normal landing pattern is from heel to toe. A sick horse will land from toe-to-heel. The best way to spot lameness is to record the horse in motion and later observe the video in slow motion.

Diagnosis is carried out using the wedge and frog pressure tests. These tests involve exerting pressure between the toes of the horse and trotting it for a while. In case of an inflammation, lameness gets severe with time. Since other conditions may give similar clinical signs, other confirmatory tests are carried out.

Treatment can either be conservative or aggressive. It depends on the severity of the condition. Begin by restoring balance over time. Do not take any drastic measures during treatment and restoration. Shoes may be used to reduce ground contact and restore balance. Anti-inflammatory drugs are also used. Surgery is the other option where the hoof is un-nerved.




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