Navicular syndrome is possibly the most common cause of font limb lameness in horses today. This lameness is caused by navicular pain and it usually limits the performance of the affected horse. The main cause of this syndrome is hard to prove because it is not easy to pinpoint the source of this pain. In the past years, the cases of true navicular illness have reduced but most veterinarians categorize this as every pain in the front limbs.
The navicular region can be found in the front legs of horses around their hooves. Sometimes, this area gets affected by some infection that makes them experience some distress which makes them perform very poorly. However, it is not a terminal disease and therefore cannot disable or kill the animal entirely. It is just a mild infection that one can easily prevent or treat.
There are various signs that doctors look at to determine if the cause of lameness in a particular horse is as a result of navicular syndrome. Aside from the physical evidence that they are in pain, there also are some radiographic tests that must be done so that the correct medication is issued. This is because there are various other reasons apart from this that a horse may be in a painful experience.
There are various major signs that can help to tell if a horse is lame. For instance, they land in an unusual way because they want to put more weight on the back feet than the front ones. Other physical tests that can be used include the use of hoof testers. These are things that will help to show how they reacts to this painful experience. They can also check the size of their hooves because the ones with the illness have smaller front hooves since they try as hard as possible to reduce the pressure exerted on them.
Anesthesia can also be a good medicine used to detect if a horse has this illness. Once the anesthesia has been injected on the feet, the will become numb and the animal will not be capable of feeling anything. This means that they will stop acting weirdly because they are not distressed anymore. This will prove that pain is the main reason for their unusual behavior.
After diagnosing this illness, there are various measures that must be taken immediately. The first and the most logical thing to do is to correct their shoeing. The shoe should be able to balance all sides of the hooves so that none of them has more pressure than the other. After this the horse should be given some medicines that will help its blood vessels to open up.
After the medication has been given, various physical tests can be done on the horse to help increase the blood flow of the front limbs. Better blood flow will help the horse to have better balance that will exert the same pressure on all limbs. These exercises should be done an hour every day of the week.
Not every horse has the same response to the treatments. Sometimes the horse might even be resistance to all treatments leaving the only option being a surgery. The surgery helps to cut out the extra ligaments that make the horse uncomfortable thus causing distress.
The navicular region can be found in the front legs of horses around their hooves. Sometimes, this area gets affected by some infection that makes them experience some distress which makes them perform very poorly. However, it is not a terminal disease and therefore cannot disable or kill the animal entirely. It is just a mild infection that one can easily prevent or treat.
There are various signs that doctors look at to determine if the cause of lameness in a particular horse is as a result of navicular syndrome. Aside from the physical evidence that they are in pain, there also are some radiographic tests that must be done so that the correct medication is issued. This is because there are various other reasons apart from this that a horse may be in a painful experience.
There are various major signs that can help to tell if a horse is lame. For instance, they land in an unusual way because they want to put more weight on the back feet than the front ones. Other physical tests that can be used include the use of hoof testers. These are things that will help to show how they reacts to this painful experience. They can also check the size of their hooves because the ones with the illness have smaller front hooves since they try as hard as possible to reduce the pressure exerted on them.
Anesthesia can also be a good medicine used to detect if a horse has this illness. Once the anesthesia has been injected on the feet, the will become numb and the animal will not be capable of feeling anything. This means that they will stop acting weirdly because they are not distressed anymore. This will prove that pain is the main reason for their unusual behavior.
After diagnosing this illness, there are various measures that must be taken immediately. The first and the most logical thing to do is to correct their shoeing. The shoe should be able to balance all sides of the hooves so that none of them has more pressure than the other. After this the horse should be given some medicines that will help its blood vessels to open up.
After the medication has been given, various physical tests can be done on the horse to help increase the blood flow of the front limbs. Better blood flow will help the horse to have better balance that will exert the same pressure on all limbs. These exercises should be done an hour every day of the week.
Not every horse has the same response to the treatments. Sometimes the horse might even be resistance to all treatments leaving the only option being a surgery. The surgery helps to cut out the extra ligaments that make the horse uncomfortable thus causing distress.