What do you do if you have horse with navicular issues, but sensitive Suspensories? Hope to get some nice discussion going on.
I would box rest the horse until the suspensories calm down some..what kind of navicular issues? Disease, Syndrome or caudle heel pain?
Good question....... Lets say some remodeling has occured. Underrun heels, long toe for centuries. lol Horse was in use regularly in that condition.
find out when the next trailer load is going to Mexico or plan on making the Vet's boat payment for a long time
Try to figure out what his best hoof angle is, trim the feet, removing as much of the underrun heel as possible/pragmatic, back the toes up too, and shoe him with enough wedging to restore his angles correctly, but not more, use a half round or classic roller shoe long enough to support the back of the foot properly. Add Impression Material if he can handle it. Alternatively, you could consider a banana shoe and appropriate wedges. I would think that some NSAIDs are also in order. Limited, controlled exercise. Don't do this unless you have current radiographs to reference.
Would a banana shoe lend to him rocking too far forward if he stepped wrong? Thinking of the suspensory issue.
Actually this situation is fairly common in long term navicular cases as the mechanics for treating one condition can aggravate the other. IME the best outcome involves getting the breakover point back to a plumb line dropped from the tip of p3. Think open toed eggbar if possible a "W" a shoe. Open toed eggbar is just a regular shoe nailed on backwards Gives excellent fast breakover and good support for the suspensories at the same time. Rick is spot on with the idea of restoring natural angle and not going any higher.
Tom, do you think it would hurt to close the open end with a straight toe? Almost like a heart bar nailed on backwards.
Possibly. However, the banana shoe is also known as the 'self adjusting palmar angle shoe so I think the benefits outweigh the potential risks. Remember, in this instance the horse's activities are to be restricted/controlled, so the risk of further injury is better mitigated. And, since you determine how much the degree to which the curvature of the banana is created, you can always start with minimal curvature(rockering) and adjust from there.
Not Tom but here's my $.02 anyway. If the horse has sufficient sole depth/ is non-reactive to hoof testers in the area of the bar at the toe, and if you roll the edge of the bar, then probably not. However, the bar adds weight and torque, two things the horse doesn't need. My preference is a W shoe without the toe bar but I have applied both. I would also consider using a wide webbed aluminum shoe at least initially. That would have the advantage of weight reduction, helping to keep the horse on top of the surface rather than sinking into the surface, rapid wear so that the horse can easily find/maintain a 'comfort zone', and also some torque reduction even though aluminum can be more 'sticky' on some surfaces(remember, we're going to restrict the horse's activities for a period of time).
I would probably want to avoid a significantly "squared off" toe section which may force turnover on a line perpendicular to the toe set. I've gotten good results on these types with no shoes at all and chopping of the toe perpendicular to the ground about 1/4" behind the white line. I had Duckett do that to a horse I brought to a clinic and the horse became immediately more comfortable every step it took.
