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.
Horses with this ailment tend to exert most of their weight on their toes which are usually Iong. This a common indication of the illness where such animals try to avoid using their heels. Another symptom is that horses with condition take long to stop the slides they take. They also shift their weight often to decrease pressure and pain on their heels which tend to be under slung. Similar indication of this ailment is presence of an inside wound in the shoulders since horses exert much weight on their toes making the gait rough. The lameness tends to disappear with rest.
Interference with blood vessels surrounding the navicular bone is a major cause the navicular ailment. Damage appears to the deep flexor, tendon and the tissues causing pain. This illness is often found in horses between five years and above but the ailment can be controlled using different measures.
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 summary the disease is not fatal. With the mentioned ways of controlling it, infected horses can return to their healthy lifestyles. Masses should be educated on how to control the ailment to save horse species.
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