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[RC] Navicular? (Long) - Benedikte WhitmanHi all, Just had a look through the archives but decided to float this question since there is so much knowledge here. My 18 year old CTR hrse has been "off" for a while with unspecific issues. At her ride in May she came up slightly lame although it resolved with massage, overnight rest, and she was sound the next day again. In the last two months she has been a little gimpy and I took her to a chiro who worked on her. Her pelvis was rotated and her shoulder joints out of alignment (which is probably what was wrong in May as someone pointed that out to me then). Fixed that but in the last 2 - 4 weks has still been noticably gimpy on her right front. Definately walking off on it, standing with it out in front of her or just keeping the knee slightly flexed so there is not full weight on it. On Wednesday I noticed that she was slightly swollen on the inside right front and that it was hard to the touch instead of spongy as I expected. Took her to the vet today and had her xrayed - first the pastern/fetlock - and there is a definate swelling on the bone in that area and my vet said it was a bone bruise. Then we did a nerve block on both sides of the foot, in the rear third, and after that she was fully sound even at a trot - no head bob, nothing. My vet said that this also brought up the possibility of navicular since that exact result could be from that probelm and he xrayed for that. (BTW - remove your Ground Controls if you are exraying the bottom of the foot. The really interfere with the process). The xrays looked clear - none of the enlarged openings where the blood vessels go through the bone, a very slight shadow that may / may not be a lesion or may be due to the GC inteference. No clear roughness or disintergration of the bone - in short nothing to support that diagnosis. Since the bone bruise will not resolve probably for a number of months, we really won't have any better information until that clears and we see if the lameness goes away as well. In the meantime, my vet has advised that we treat it as though it is an early and mild navicular case so that if it is, it isn't another six months untreated before we are sure. He has put her on 2 grams of bute a day, and 40 Isoxsuprine Hydrochloride tablets a day. He also wants me to have her shod in a slight wedge next time to lift her heels. My questions are, is there a serious issue with treating her for the disease if it turns out that she does not have it? She is a corral horse so self exercises every day, they have free feed hay all day so her tummy never is empty, so I hope ulcers will not be a big threat. Also, is there anything else I can do that would streamline the choice to one or the other or is my only option to wait out the bone bruise? Finally, is there anything I can do to help the bone bruise reslove any faster - soaking, walking, not walking? The horse was a high level show horse in the first part of her life, brood mare, and then pasture queen, so she really does not have a lot of miles on her, and as an older show horse, she was of the era when they still had bone, nice sized feet, etc. so that is not immediatelt identifiable as a problem. Any thoughts, help, or experience you can share would be appreciated. Thanks, Benedikte =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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