Please enable JavaScript to access this page. Medicine And Fitness: More About Navicular Disease In Horses

More About Navicular Disease In Horses


The Navicular area is the region on the front feet near the hooves of the horses. Navicular disease in horses is not a terminal illness. It can actually be compared to an athlete who has bad feet. The bad feet do not mean that the athlete cannot run ever again. It can be cured helping them to get back to their normal level of performance. This disease can also be cured. This article looks at some facts about this ailment including the causes and treatment.

In order to identify if a stallion has this sickness, the vet typically uses radiographic proof and also the bodily observations. A chain of x-ray checks are usually carried out to show that the bodily signs are not as a result of any other causes of lameness. This can help the vet to avoid allocating the wrong medicines.

There are different signs that show this ailment in horses. For example, the horse will demonstrate lameness on the anterior feet. Some undergo the lameness on all front feet with one foot being lamer than the other and for others it usually is one foot. If this takes place, stumbling will be witnessed during locomotion. The illness can be detected on horses of different ages but it is popular on horses between seven and fourteen 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.

Another way of treatment can be through exercise. The main cause of the illness is decrease of blood circulation in this area but adequate exercise will help to increase the circulation. The exercise can be done 30-60 minutes every day six times per week. This exercise involves training a horse to bear more weight in the hind legs to reduce the pressure on the front feet.

There are nonetheless some horses that rarely respond to the treatment methods mentioned above. In such a case, a surgical technique is usually applied to cut the hovering ligaments in the navicular area. It also includes neurectomy on the back digital nerve.


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