Rosie's New Pasture Mate

When Rose first moved to her new home at the stables near the Columbia River, she was given a pasture mate who unlike her previous stablemate was much younger-almost 20 yrs younger. Chester, a 12 year old palomino quarter horse was lame when I met him. The diagnosis-navicular disease. His owner had spent the previous six years trying everything to improve his gait and relieve the pain in his left foot. It had been agonizing for both horse and owner and had finally led to a surgical procedure to remove a piece of calcified bone that had grown off of the navicular bone. After complete stall rest for months and shoes to protect his heels, Chester was no better and his owner had resolved herself to keeping Chester as a "pasture pet", perfect to keep 'ol Rose company.

I had begun revising my trimming technique with Rose and putting her boots on more regularly, when I began talking with Chester's owner. I explained that I had begun trimming my own horses after I became disillusioned with traditional veterinary and farrier management of founder and navicular. I had learned that Rose's navicular condition had begun when she was put into shoes at an early age, before her heels had a chance to grow into tough, well developed cartilage deep inside, covered by a wide, healthy frog, necessary in every horse in order to tolerate the physical demands of an active 1000 lb animal. Each year as Rose ran around in shoes, her heels took the full impact of her weight, without really being able to absorb that impact. She then began walking on her toes to avoid the pain. Soon after, pads were put between her foot and shoes. That worked for a short time, but eventually Rose would begin walking up on her toes, and finally would shift her entire body forward to avoid a heel first landing.

In addition to putting shoes on horses at a early age and inhibiting the normal development of the thickened tough cartilage called the digital cushion, horse's can become lame and avoid contact with their heels if the frog is constantly being shaved off with trimming, or if the sole is thinned to put a shoe on, bringing the coffin bone closer to the ground and the angle of the heel going the opposite direction. This can lead to contraction of the heel and lack of stimulation to the internal structures, mainly the digital cushion. With the steep angle of the foot, the natural deep flexion of the tendon at the back of the foot becomes shortened and the joint space narrows as the navicular bone rubs against the adjacent bone and nerve. Pain becomes inevitable and the horse avoids walking on the heel more and more. Shoulder pain follows as the horse's gait shortens and becomes tense and stiff. As the bones rub against each other, a "spur" develops that is simply calcified bone created from chronic inflammatory damage, followed by attempts by the body to repair the bone.

When Chester finally went in for surgery, a piece of bone was removed that was 1/2 to 3/4 inches in length. Now almost 18mos after surgery when we met and still in shoes, he was in pain and being given daily bute or some subsitute for it. I explained the process by which navicular syndrome occurs and offered to trim Chester in what became "the last resort" for his owner. I told her that his shoes would have to come off and we would be using boots with pads on him to help with the transition-this would be a must! She agreed and a week later I began trimming Chester. This was July, just 3 mos ago. His left foot looked like this when I began:

The tip of the coffin bone was pointing down with the bulge of the hoof wall at the toe, a sure sign that the bone had moved forward in the capsule. In addition, evidenced by the shallowness of the collateral grooves at the apex of the frog, his sole was less than an 1/8th of an inch thick

and the coffin bone was JUST UNDERNEATH IT. His heels were contracted, very common in horse's with long standing pain in their heels or shoes that create a narrow width to the foot, depending on which comes first. The most important part of rehabilitating navicular syndrome is to encourge heel first landings-lots of them. Chester was put out with Rose and allow to move around on soft ground for hours, grazing. When brought in to exercise, he wore hoof boots with pads for his heels. In this way he can put the full weight of his body into a heel first landing, encourage stimulation of his inner structures, digital cushion as well as lateral cartilages, so important in side to side movements. Chester was really hard on boots, having ripped offf the gaiters on two different boots, so it was a good thing that his barefoot walking in the pasture was working to stimulate his foot. By September, there was a definite improvement in his ability to take heel first landings without pain. The structure of his foot was changing and his coffin bone while still close to the ground (no concavity of the foot yet) was beginning to level out to a ground parallel (or close to it) angle.

It's now November and Chester has begun going out with younger geldings like himself. He has been running around the arena with his owner at full speed, changing direction, trotting with his head held high and no signs of pain. He is no longer on any med for pain or inflammation and his owner plans to saddle him up for the first time in years. He is a fit 12 yr old whose life could have been cut short by a completely preventable condition. I hope his days of running and playing are all in front of him and that more horses get a second chance, thanks to the wonderful teachings of Pete Ramey and persistent owners like myself who want to help the horse who depends on us entirely for his care. Chester's owner told me that she would share her experience with barefoot trimming with his previous caregivers so that they may learn another method of caring for horses who in the past were considered lame and hopeless.

More good things to come I'm sure!!!!!!