When buying a horse, the prospective buyer comes with many expectations. The most common is that through a thorough examination, they will be able to isolate the horse that will suffer the navicular syndrome. Even though this is possible, it is not easy. This is due to the fact that the veterinarians have not been able to come up with a single cause for this disease, in fact, they use syndrome instead of disease due to this fact. However, this should not send shivers down your spine, with the proper management program, the condition can be contained and the horse brought back to the level of its previous performance.
As such, your concern should be the techniques to manage the condition. But this cannot be possible unless you are in the position to isolate the syndrome and help the veterinarian to diagnose the disease. Normally, the clinicians resort to clinical tests in addition to radiography as the proper diagnostic procedures. While the radiography or x-ray images can be used to rule out other possible causes of lameness like a heel bruise, sole bruise, and coffin bone crack, it cannot fully diagnose the disease.
Since the condition can result from one of the several pathologies within or close to the navicular bone, the radiographs show changes in the bone upon examination. However, the said changes can be observed and yet the animal does not develop the syndrome. This is why it may not be used as the only examination technique when buying a horse.
In clinical diagnosis, the vet looks into the history of the horse lameness, particularly at the front legs. Normally, this lameness is gradual and is rarely chronic. The horse starts to stumble more often and develops a choppy gait.
There are a number of risk factors that the vets look for in their diagnosis. These are the breed and the horse age. Generally, the horses with bigger bodies supported with small legs are at higher risk. These include the thoroughbreds and the quarterhorses. In regards to age factor, the disease onset is at the age of 7 to 14.
When it comes to treatment and management, Bute is known to reduce the inflammation and the associated pain. The other most common option is to inject the horse with steroids as it helps deal with the pain that originates from either the coffin joint or the navicular bursa.
The horse should also be given more time to rest and a way to increase blood circulation be increased. There are several alternatives to boost blood circulation. The horse can be administered with Isoxsuprine as it dilates the small blood vessels. It reduces blood clotting ability and the pony should be closely monitored for bleeding. The magnetic shoe and the anticoagulant warfarin also serve the same role.
The vet may also go for the corrective shoeing technique in chronic conditions where the shoe is trimmed to conform to started parameters. For the long standing chronic conditions, the vet may resort to drastic measures such as the neurectomy in which the nerve is cut above the fetlock. This means that the horse does not feel the foot and it might stumble a lot. It is not recommended for a very active horse.
As such, your concern should be the techniques to manage the condition. But this cannot be possible unless you are in the position to isolate the syndrome and help the veterinarian to diagnose the disease. Normally, the clinicians resort to clinical tests in addition to radiography as the proper diagnostic procedures. While the radiography or x-ray images can be used to rule out other possible causes of lameness like a heel bruise, sole bruise, and coffin bone crack, it cannot fully diagnose the disease.
Since the condition can result from one of the several pathologies within or close to the navicular bone, the radiographs show changes in the bone upon examination. However, the said changes can be observed and yet the animal does not develop the syndrome. This is why it may not be used as the only examination technique when buying a horse.
In clinical diagnosis, the vet looks into the history of the horse lameness, particularly at the front legs. Normally, this lameness is gradual and is rarely chronic. The horse starts to stumble more often and develops a choppy gait.
There are a number of risk factors that the vets look for in their diagnosis. These are the breed and the horse age. Generally, the horses with bigger bodies supported with small legs are at higher risk. These include the thoroughbreds and the quarterhorses. In regards to age factor, the disease onset is at the age of 7 to 14.
When it comes to treatment and management, Bute is known to reduce the inflammation and the associated pain. The other most common option is to inject the horse with steroids as it helps deal with the pain that originates from either the coffin joint or the navicular bursa.
The horse should also be given more time to rest and a way to increase blood circulation be increased. There are several alternatives to boost blood circulation. The horse can be administered with Isoxsuprine as it dilates the small blood vessels. It reduces blood clotting ability and the pony should be closely monitored for bleeding. The magnetic shoe and the anticoagulant warfarin also serve the same role.
The vet may also go for the corrective shoeing technique in chronic conditions where the shoe is trimmed to conform to started parameters. For the long standing chronic conditions, the vet may resort to drastic measures such as the neurectomy in which the nerve is cut above the fetlock. This means that the horse does not feel the foot and it might stumble a lot. It is not recommended for a very active horse.
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