Understanding The Navicular Disease In Horses

By Annabelle Holman


The navicular region denotes an area on the anterior feet of horses near the hoof. Navicular disease in horses may not be categorized as a deadly illness. It simply is like a bad leg in humans. The situation does not normally mean that an individual will never walk ever again. The illness can be cured helping the individual to feel well again. This article studies some material on navicular illnesses and different methods of treatment.

The diagnosis of the Navicular disease is based on observations and radiographic evidence. The veterinarian usually takes a series of x-rays to back up the observation of the physical appearance of the foot in order to conclude that the horse is sick. This is because there are many other causes of lameness and the doctors would not want to give the wrong medication.

A horse that suffers from this illness shows various signs. Some of them include signs of front leg lameness. For some it is shown on one leg while on others it is usually both feet. One leg may show signs of being worse than the other. These horses may be seen stumbling when this happens. It can happen to a horse of any age but it is most common on those between the ages of 7 and 14 years.

There are numerous tests that may be carried out tangibly on the horse so as to detect this ailment. You can first observe the actions of the horse when settling down. If it takes the front feet frontward a little to put more weight on toes and not the heels then it might have the ailment. Hoof testers may be used to assess its reaction to pain. You may also observe the magnitude of the hooves for the sick one is likely to be smaller since they could have been dismissed from weight for a while.

One can also identify this illness by using anesthesia. This medicine anesthetizes the foot so that the horse stops feeling any type of pain in that area. If the horse ceases the abnormal actions such as staggering then you will recognize the area with the problem.

Correct shoeing is possibly the easiest way of handling this ailment. The horseshoes used ought to be able to stabilize the hooves well from all sides. The disease can also be cured by the use of medications that widen the blood vessels helping the stream of blood to rise around the navicular region. Most horses react well to this cure but in diverse periods of time.

The disease can also be corrected through some exercise practices that will aid in increasing the streaming of blood in affected areas. The exercises ought to be done no less than six days per week for 30 to 60 minutes. The main objective of the exercises is to teach a horse to stabilize the amount of weight applied on the anterior and posterior legs.

There are horses that do not respond to any of the treatments above and in this case surgery may be the only solution. The operation involves cutting of suspensory ligament on the navicular area and also neurectomy of the digital posterior nerve.




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