The navicular bone of a horse may degenerate, causing disease in a horse. The disease is called navicular syndrome while others call it caudal heel pain. The bone gets inflamed and degenerate, causing significant and sometimes disabling lameness of the horse. Early diagnosis and treatment, however, is important if the horse has to get better.
To diagnose the disease early, horsemen should watch out for particular signs or symptoms. One of the signs is how the horse rests its weight while walking. A horse sick from caudal heel pain will rest its weight on the toe as it tries to avoid the painful and inflamed heel. It will also take longer to stop the stride while walking due to pressure on this toe.
Another sign to look out for is whether the pony shifts its weight from time to time while standing. If the pony is sick of caudal heel pain, it will continually shift weight in an effort to remove pressure from the heel and relieve the pain. The continuous shifting of weight causes the shoulders to grow lame and the gait to become rough. In addition, the horse will walk demonstrating lameness which gets better only after resting.
If you observe one or more of the above signs and symptoms, call a veterinary doctor right away. They will carry out tests to determine whether your horse is sick from the paining heel. The vet may use a hoof tester to tell whether the frog area is inflamed. It applies pressure on the area and if inflamed, the pony will feel pain and flinch.
Another tool for the diagnosis is a local anesthesia. The anesthesia works by severing nerve supply in the affected area and therefore relieving pain. If the pony has a paining heel, it will walk normally until the anesthesia wears off and the lameness comes back. If the syndrome was not responsible for the lameness, then the horse will still be lame even after the anesthesia.
There are several treatment options available for dealing with paining heels in horses. The options range from conservative to aggressive and involve medication, surgery and therapeutic shoeing. Since it is not easy to predict the response to treatment, veterinarians work from conservative methods up to more drastic measures gradually. As these treatments are ongoing, you will notice a positive response from the pony depending on the option that worked best.
Corrective shoeing is used to relieve pressure and pain from the heels. Medications used to treat heel pain include anti-inflammatory and vasodilators. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as phenylubutazone are prescribed to relieve inflammation while vasodilators increase blood circulation to the affected area. Surgery has been the most widely used and involves cutting off the nerve supply on the back of the foot to stop the sensation.
It is hard to say which breeds are most affected but thoroughbreds and warm-bloods seem to have the highest incidence of caudal heel pain. On the other hand, the Arabian breed is rarely affected. Even though the disease does not always spell a desired outcome after infection, diagnosing it early enough and subsequent treatment helps the horse. The pony also gets back to its service fully, if luck is on your side.
To diagnose the disease early, horsemen should watch out for particular signs or symptoms. One of the signs is how the horse rests its weight while walking. A horse sick from caudal heel pain will rest its weight on the toe as it tries to avoid the painful and inflamed heel. It will also take longer to stop the stride while walking due to pressure on this toe.
Another sign to look out for is whether the pony shifts its weight from time to time while standing. If the pony is sick of caudal heel pain, it will continually shift weight in an effort to remove pressure from the heel and relieve the pain. The continuous shifting of weight causes the shoulders to grow lame and the gait to become rough. In addition, the horse will walk demonstrating lameness which gets better only after resting.
If you observe one or more of the above signs and symptoms, call a veterinary doctor right away. They will carry out tests to determine whether your horse is sick from the paining heel. The vet may use a hoof tester to tell whether the frog area is inflamed. It applies pressure on the area and if inflamed, the pony will feel pain and flinch.
Another tool for the diagnosis is a local anesthesia. The anesthesia works by severing nerve supply in the affected area and therefore relieving pain. If the pony has a paining heel, it will walk normally until the anesthesia wears off and the lameness comes back. If the syndrome was not responsible for the lameness, then the horse will still be lame even after the anesthesia.
There are several treatment options available for dealing with paining heels in horses. The options range from conservative to aggressive and involve medication, surgery and therapeutic shoeing. Since it is not easy to predict the response to treatment, veterinarians work from conservative methods up to more drastic measures gradually. As these treatments are ongoing, you will notice a positive response from the pony depending on the option that worked best.
Corrective shoeing is used to relieve pressure and pain from the heels. Medications used to treat heel pain include anti-inflammatory and vasodilators. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as phenylubutazone are prescribed to relieve inflammation while vasodilators increase blood circulation to the affected area. Surgery has been the most widely used and involves cutting off the nerve supply on the back of the foot to stop the sensation.
It is hard to say which breeds are most affected but thoroughbreds and warm-bloods seem to have the highest incidence of caudal heel pain. On the other hand, the Arabian breed is rarely affected. Even though the disease does not always spell a desired outcome after infection, diagnosing it early enough and subsequent treatment helps the horse. The pony also gets back to its service fully, if luck is on your side.
