It is a chronic disorder of the navicular bone in horses which causes lameness in the front feet. It mostly describes an inflammation of the scaphoid bone and its surrounding tissues mostly in the front feet. This navicular disease is manageable with time by using drugs or other kinds of treatment.
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.
A major cause of sickness is interruption of supply of blood to the bone. This damage occurs to the deep flexor tendon, the burse and the bone tissues resulting to mild pain. This condition is often found in horses with five years or more. However, the illness is manageable with time.
Diagnosis of navicular ailment is based on both clinical and radiographic signs. This simply means physical and x-ray diagnosis respectively. Veterinarians use hoof testers to conduct physical diagnosis. The testers are applied on the front legs of the horse and if the sickness is present, the horse flinches. The same is done on the hind legs to compare how the horse reacts.
Medication of the complaint is done through various techniques. Appropriate shoeing is one of the techniques of dealing with this illness. It is simply balancing of hooves forward to backward and side wards. Since the most experienced impact of this affliction is long toes, this can be corrected by trimming the front hoof.
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.
Exercise is also another way of navicular condition treatment. As explained earlier, the main causes of this illness is decreased circulation and trauma to the bone. Riding infected horses with intervals of thirty to sixty minutes six times per week helps in the exercise treatment. The horses are trained to bear more weight on the hind legs. The last kind of treatment is surgery. This is highly recommendable to horses who fail to respond to drug, exercise and correct shoeing treatments.
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.
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.
A major cause of sickness is interruption of supply of blood to the bone. This damage occurs to the deep flexor tendon, the burse and the bone tissues resulting to mild pain. This condition is often found in horses with five years or more. However, the illness is manageable with time.
Diagnosis of navicular ailment is based on both clinical and radiographic signs. This simply means physical and x-ray diagnosis respectively. Veterinarians use hoof testers to conduct physical diagnosis. The testers are applied on the front legs of the horse and if the sickness is present, the horse flinches. The same is done on the hind legs to compare how the horse reacts.
Medication of the complaint is done through various techniques. Appropriate shoeing is one of the techniques of dealing with this illness. It is simply balancing of hooves forward to backward and side wards. Since the most experienced impact of this affliction is long toes, this can be corrected by trimming the front hoof.
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.
Exercise is also another way of navicular condition treatment. As explained earlier, the main causes of this illness is decreased circulation and trauma to the bone. Riding infected horses with intervals of thirty to sixty minutes six times per week helps in the exercise treatment. The horses are trained to bear more weight on the hind legs. The last kind of treatment is surgery. This is highly recommendable to horses who fail to respond to drug, exercise and correct shoeing treatments.
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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