Thursday, November 12, 2015

An Article On Navicular Syndrome In Horses

By Mattie Knight


Many people love horses. To an extent, they are a sign of wealth. They also have other beneficial uses. Information regarding the lives of horses is scarce and especially the diseases they suffer from. They are greatly affected by a number of diseases reason being they have a wide range of exposure in addition to their living conditions. As said earlier, horses suffer from a large number of diseases. For this case, navicular syndrome in horses will be the focus.

Also referred to as navicular disease, navicular syndrome is a disease which involves inflammatory process on the navicular bone. The surrounding tissues could also be affected. Inflammation may result to degeneration of these tissues. The front feet is commonly affected. Lameness could be the end result of this situation. The area on the hoof, posterior to the coffin bone in the limb of a horse is the navicular area. Several ligaments and tendons attach to this area. These include deep digital flexor and impar ligament. They aid in strengthening the bone.

There are many theories suggesting the causes of this infection. However, there is no single proven cause. Compression of the bone under the connecting tendon is the first factor thought to be causing this syndrome. Due to compression occurring repeatedly, degeneration of the cartilage occurs. Due to this, erosion of cartilage occurs which is the shock observing matter in the joint.

Exertion of stress or tension onto the bone and cartilages is what the second theory suggest to cause this condition. They perform a lot of activities. In the process, they exert a lot of tension on the bones and ligaments. This may lead to inflammation in addition to disruption of blood supply. These combined together can result to navicular syndrome.

There are several contributing factors to this disease. Conformation of the horses feet is the first factor. Some conformations including long toe, low heel conformation contribute to this syndrome. This is because they exert tension or stress on the navicular bone. Poor hoof shape, an inherited condition is also said to be a contributing factor.

Other contributing factors include shoeing and how the horse is trimmed. Basically, the hoof of a horse usually expands and contracts during movements. This is important in ensuring sufficient blood supply. Use of metal shoes for example does not give space for this movements thus inhibits blood flow resulting to inflammation.

Work and the body weight of a horse are other contributing factors. Working on steep hills or jumping contribute to this disease. This is because they exert stress on the bone. Regular exercise on irregular grounds also increases the risk of getting this syndrome. Those with high weight to foot size ratio have increased chances of getting the disease. This is due to stress on the foot.

Heel pain which leads to tip toeing, changes in appearance of hoof or even lameness are the most common signs and symptoms of this disease. The remedy to this include good trimming practices, proper care for hoofs, reduction in exercises and medications. If all this fail, surgery is the last option.




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