Impacts Associated With Navicular Disease

By Mattie Knight


It is one of the most common causes of chronic forelimb inside wound in horses. It is associated with swelling of the boat-shaped bone and leads to significant problem for the horses. Since there are various of dealing with navicular disease, infected horses can still head back to their normal health conditions.

One of the main symptoms of this sickness is where the horse places its weight on toes most of the times. The horse does this to hinder pain and pressure on the scaphoid bone. Another sign is that the horse delays to stop the strides it takes. Horses who are victims of this illness keep on shifting their weight when standing to reduce pain on the heel area. This makes the horses to place most of their weight on the toes making the gait hard resulting to pain mostly on the shoulders. Such condition disappears after the animal rests. Presence of long toes and under slung heels is another symptom found in horses with navicular sickness.

Interference with blood vessels surrounding the navicular bone is a major cause the navicular ailment. Damage appears to the deep flexor, tendon and the tissues causing pain. This illness is often found in horses between five years and above but the ailment can be controlled using different measures.

Identification of this kind of illness can be done by veterinarians either physically or by use of x-rays. Physical identification is conducted by use hoof testers. The tester is pressed on the fore feet and if the sickness is present the horse tends to move. Back feet should as well be checked and reaction compared to that of front feet.

Treatment of illness can be done through several ways. The foundation of treating any horse with the above mentioned symptoms is correct shoeing. This means following the essential tendency of balancing the hooves front to back as well as sideways. The most common problem in horses bearing this ailment is presence if long toes. To correct this problem the long toe is trimmed.

The third aspect of controlling scaphoid bone sickness is using drugs. A drug that has successfully been used is isoxsuprine. This drug helps in enlarging blood arteries surrounding the scaphoid bone hence allowing free flow of blood. Eighty percent of horses treated with isoxsuprine have responded to it. This is according to the latest studies conducted.

Exercising of horses by riding them at intervals of thirty to sixty minutes six times a week is a recommended way of dealing with scaphoid bone complaint. This highly improves blood circulation in the navicular bone. With this technique, horses are trained to use their back legs in supporting most their weight. The last way of dealing with navicular illness is through operation. Horses who fail to respond using drugs, exercise and correct shoeing, surgery is recommended.

In conclusion, the ailment is not a death sentence. With the types of medication mentioned above and much care, the sickness can be managed and victims can head back to their normal health. Awareness on how to deal with this affliction should be created so as to save as many horses as possible.




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