Hi Dr. Teskey,
I am a professional trimmer with a successful
practice. There is one current challenge I would love to post to you. I have a
client with a newly rescued horse. He is 5 and retired for over a year from
roping (heading) due to 'navicular' diagnosis. Long story short his hooves were
a wreck! Typical HIGH heels and very forward foot. I have trimmed him 2x and he
is improving, but does have rough days too. His owner had him X-rayed a few days
ago and the vet called me to tell me this horse needs 'ridiculously' high heels
to feel better and the usual bute and isoxoprene with wedge shoes,etc.
Sigh. Well I listened and thanked her and got off the phone. There is
considerable navicular bone loss according to her. As a matter of fact she said
if she had seen ONLY the X rays she would have expected the horse to be much
more lame (like I said he is improving). My question is at what point of bone
loss is a barefoot recovery not likely? The owner is beside herself. It is
very hard for people to go 'against' the norm and their vet. Any input would
be greatly appreciated!!! I feel I haven't had enough time to encourage the
healing of this hoof, but if we never get a chance to see these cases through
how do we ever know? Do you know of any case studies?
Sincerely,
P
Hi P,
Navicular
bone "loss" isn't common. Coffin bone loss is as you know with chronic
founder. I'm wondering if the veterinarian just means navicular bone
changes/degeneration, but I suppose she could be seeing a large amount of
pitting or cysts which could mean "loss" to her, rather than remodeling, which
is more likely. Keep in mind that the NB changes are in the largest sense
resulting from changes in forces/footfall/circulation/heel structures atrophy.
Whether the horse has soft tissue scarring is the real important stuff, but
x-rays are poor to find these changes. More and more MRI studies are being done
and we're finding impar-ligament, collateral ligament, joint
capsule, scarring.
Five
years old, just a kid not even "grown up"! Give it time and see how good you
can get him. Age is on your side on this one. Pads inside boots are magical
for these cases...have you seen the domed pads from Easy Care? I'd say that
I've yet to see a case of lameness NOT get better with natural hoof care
approach/boots. Of course there are many that are dead because that wasn't good
enough. Most of those were due to human factors not living with the horse's
needs. There's lots of case studies out there. Some are on the 'net, and
others, like mine, have never been published! I'm working on that.
Take
care,
Tom
T.
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