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By Michael Schmidt


Horses are among the first animals domesticated by humans. Even in modern times, they remain very much useful as working animals, sporting carriers, and even pets. Notwithstanding the use put to them, its very much imperative, either for profit or affection, to ensure that theyre getting the best care possible. As it is, theyre very much vulnerable to a host of ailments, just like the infamous navicular disease in horses.

The navicular bone is a canoe shaped structure located inside the middle of a horses hoof, at the back of the coffin bone and pastern bone. The related disease, which is also called caudal heel pain syndrome, involves the inflammation and degeneration of this particular bone and its surrounding tissues. Its more commonly occurring on the forelegs rather than the rear.

So far, no one has been able to pinpoint one definitive cause of this syndrome. As anyone may guess, however, there are many theories pitched in by scientists, veterinarians, and horse owners alike. Indeed, its occurrence and recurrence are more common in some breeds and circumstances than in others.

Even when one is a horse lover and fancier, and is very much willing to take care of a horse that he or she can no longer cater to leisure but still takes up food and lodging, there are still caveats. That is because equine lameness is more serious than is warranted in other species. If, in other cases, bones snap or break apart, in horses, they shatter, that which you cant just put together, even with a nifty surgery.

Also, when other animals become lame, like a dog or cat for example, theyre usually perfectly able to transfer their weight on their other limbs. For humans as well, its not a problem to append a remaining leg with prosthetics or some such. These solutions, however, are not at all applicable to our equine friends in general.

To know whether or not your horse has this syndrome, its important to pay attention to the way its walking. For example, their gait is typically toe to heel, rather than heel to toe. The painful heel will also be often pointed and forwarded slightly than the other foot, so that it might bear lighter weight. Horses with this condition have difficulties in turning bends, going downhill, or walking on hard surfaces.

Navicular disease is on the same mold. As you can probably guess from the appellation, the navicular is a bone located in the hoof of horses. It is more accurately a syndrome rather than a disease, since it more often than not involves the intricate connection in the hoof system of the horse.

There are also medications such as vasodilators and anticoagulants that improve the blood flow to the hoof, and there are anti-inflammatory drugs to treat pain. Neurectomy, or denerving, is the last resort by which the palmar digital nerves are severed, and the horse therefore perpetually loses sensation in its foot. It goes without saying that the farrier, veterinarian, and owner should orchestrate their efforts so as to better the condition of the horse.

The problem must be nipped in the bud. There is a nearly one hundred percent improvement in horses that are immediately treated within months, as opposed to those who have been corrected in a year or more. One mustnt wait for the degeneration to advance, to the point that the horse is irreversibly lame. With the progression of more months or years, the horse may be nonresponsive to treatments and there is nothing that can be done about its condition.




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