Wednesday, July 1, 2015

What To Do In The Event Of Navicular Disease

By Francis Riggs


Navicular syndrome is a term referring to soundness issue affecting horses. The typical complications involve swelling or erosion of navicular bone and the surrounding matter on the feet at the front. Navicular disease most of the time leads to severe and debilitating lameness.

The factors that have been identified to cause this include conformation, genetics, diet and activity level of the horses. Horses which are used to compete in sports have a higher risk to suffer compared to those utilized for recreational purposes only.

Clues which may lead you to realize your animal has this syndrome include a decline in flow of blood and increasing pressure in the hoof. This is as a result of straining and the inflammatory process on the ligaments which support the bone. Heel pain is the commonest symptom . The degree of lameness is usually intermittent at first but progressing thereafter to become significant.

The animals come to land on their toes. This is to ensure the heel is protected as much as possible. Therefore you may witness tripping or coordination issues with the animal. The lameness may be present on each of the feet or switching from one to the other time to time. This is tied to overcompensation and its consistency is not usually apparent.

Having the animal go round in circles or work on hard surface is when you can easily pick out any presence of lameness. With the disease going on for some weeks, the feet shape begin changing with the affected one been hardly hit. This makes it become more upright and narrowing may happen too.

Traditional methods available to manage this syndrome deal with relieving the symptoms temporarily. They therefore are not effective in reversal or halting deteriorative effects of the disease. They do not result to structural progress either. The focus is on increase of the animal comfort level and coping ability in the short term. However the physiological level of condition continues to progress.

If the animal is experiencing bone complications, equi-bone should be given to supplement nutrients used to build bones in the body. As the nutrients reach the required levels, more of calcium mineral will be absorbed into the bone improving the density of bones. This makes it stronger and also less sensitive as it goes through rebuilding process. While rehabilitation from erosive diagnosis or injury is underway, the loading rate of supplement is fed for a 5 month period and a switch to maintenance therapy thereafter made to support the achieved results.

The results of equi-bone feeding program are to be maintained. An animal has to go about remodeling by its own and to supplement this is important in order to make sure the process goes on consistently. This minimizes return of the condition over time. One scoop, two times a day of equi-bone are fed as maintenance protocol. This ensures for soundness and good health of the animal.




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