Tips For Managing The Navicular Syndrome
by Francis Riggs
When buying a horse, the prospective buyer comes with many expectations. The most common is that through a thorough examination, they will be able to isolate the horse that will suffer the <A href="http://www.naviculardisease.com">navicular syndrome</A>. Even though this is possible, it is not easy. This is due to the fact that the veterinarians have not been able to come up with a single cause for this disease, in fact, they use syndrome instead of disease due to this fact. However, this should not send shivers down your spine, with the proper management program, the condition can be contained and the horse brought back to the level of its previous performance.
As such, your concern should be the techniques to manage the condition. But this cannot be possible unless you are in the position to isolate the syndrome and help the veterinarian to diagnose the disease. Normally, the clinicians resort to clinical tests in addition to radiography as the proper diagnostic procedures. While the radiography or x-ray images can be used to rule out other possible causes of lameness like a heel bruise, sole bruise, and coffin bone crack, it cannot fully diagnose the disease.
The syndrome can be as a result of one or more underlying pathologies in or anywhere close to the navicular bone. However, changes can be seen on these bones from the radiographs (x-rays) during the examination when buying the horse and it never develops the condition in its lifetime. This implies that such changes alone do not confirm the diagnosis, and that is why clinical tests like the selective nerve blocks are necessary.
The clinical diagnosis involves several types of tests, including the selective nerve block test which is very common. In addition to this, the vet looks if there has been a history of lameness on the front limbs. If it is a gradual lameness, then it is a tale tells sign.
In a suspected case, there are risk factors that can help the vet to build a stronger case in diagnosis. The fast one is the breed of the horse. The thoroughbreds and the quarterhorses are built in such a way that they have a massive body resting on small feet and are thus at highest risk. The onset of the syndrome is also more common at the ages of 7 to 14.
There are several methods that have shown some level of success in managing the condition. The first one is the Bute. This is a medication that helps minimize pain and inflammation and best used in the early stages of the disease. The second alternative is the injection with steroids reduces pain originating from the navicular bursa or the coffin joint.
The horse should also be given more time to rest and a way to increase blood circulation be increased. There are several alternatives to boost blood circulation. The horse can be administered with Isoxsuprine as it dilates the small blood vessels. It reduces blood clotting ability and the pony should be closely monitored for bleeding. The magnetic shoe and the anticoagulant warfarin also serve the same role.
The vet may also go for the corrective shoeing technique in chronic conditions where the shoe is trimmed to conform to started parameters. For the long standing chronic conditions, the vet may resort to drastic measures such as the neurectomy in which the nerve is cut above the fetlock. This means that the horse does not feel the foot and it might stumble a lot. It is not recommended for a very active horse.
Discover useful facts about <a href="http://www.naviculardisease.com">navicular syndrome</a> in horses by reviewing the posts online. Get access to the articles that relate to this disease at http://www.naviculardisease.com.
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New Unique Article!
Title: Tips For Managing The Navicular Syndrome
Author: Francis Riggs
Email: nathanwebster335@live.com
Keywords: medicine, health, treatment, healthy
Word Count: 594
Category: Medicine
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