Navicular Problems in Horses

Hi, I'm Danvers. I'm the Hoof Health Consultant for SmartPak. And today we're going to talk about Navicular concerns. The navicular bone is also known as the distal sesimoid bone, and it's nestled at the back side of the short pastern and the coffin bone. It's slung to form a false joint by the deep digital flexor tendon, that would be similar to our Achilles Tendon. It functions in the same way as the proximal sesimoid. So you have the distal sesimoid and the proximal sesimoid, and they both create false joints that allow for hyperflexion and attend to issues of hyperflexion. As our diagnostic procedures have improved, our ability to understand that this is not a condition, but a myriad of conditions has improved greatly. They would be a history of lameness, an intermittent lameness, a horse that when you block one leg and he goes sound on it but he goes lame on the opposing limb, lameness on tight circles, lameness on hard surfaces, and, of course, radiographic evidence. So, it's that preponderance or collection of concerns that comes up with the navicular syndrome issue. Veterinary diagnostics have done wonders for our ability to address navicular concerns. So now you don't see so many references to navicular disease. In fact, we don't even see as many people talking about navicular syndrome. We talk about heel pain, caudal pain, and then we start isolating to very specific locations and looking at the issues in a more specific manner. In terms of trimming and shoeing, the traditional approach has been to protect this area. You can see from the bottom, the navicular bone, and putting a bar across that bone to protect from concussion is a traditional approach. Using a heart bar shoe to not apply pressure, but apply protection to that area has been an approach. And of course, using pour-in pads and other materials to provide cushion and support in the caudal aspect of the hoof is a traditional approach. Many of our approaches have involved wedging the foot and increasing the angle of the hoof. Dr. Balker's recent research says that we need to re-examine that. Potentially, actually, go the other direction. So it's a wide open arena for further study and more involved research. I think the most important thing you can do is to encourage good vascularity and circulation. Getting a good blood supply to this digit is never easy, but it's a key thing, and one of the best ways we can do that is to encourage activity. Don't let the horse stand idle, don't let him be static. Let him be dynamic, let him move and stimulate blood flow. In addition to that activity, we can encourage that with a good supplement. So a good supplement that supports vascularity is also a key element. Issues related to the navicular bone, navicular disease, navicular syndrome, caudal heel issues are very complex. This is just the beginning. You'll definitely want to involve your health care professionals in any further discussions. Stay with us at SmartPak for more issues related to hoof care.