Treating Navicular

Question
More than a year and a half ago my 13-year-old Appendix Quarter Horse
Bugsy first started showing signs of lameness, coming up short going round
corners in a ring. Until last spring, I fear his recurring lameness was
misdiagnosed so I finally moved him to a new barn and got a second vet's
opinion--at which point he was diagnosed with ligament issues. After
months of rest, etc.--when he didn't full recover--I eventually took Bugsy to
Cornell, where they didn't find any ligament issues but diagnosed him with
fairly advanced navicular, complicated by palmar projections limiting the
kinds of suitable navicular shoeing. This was not quite three weeks ago and,
partially limited by weather, as well as waiting for Bugsy to recover from
thrush, among other factors, I'm still in the process of bringing him along to
see how sound he'll now become. While he has navicular shoeing from the
Cornell farrier, I've heard stories of horses who've had their shoes pull and
feet specially trimmed/conditioned and made significant recoveries from
navicular syndrome but I've yet to find a local vet, farrier or other equine pro
who thinks this is a viable approach. If you think it may be, can you
recommend someone in the Sussex County, N.J./Orange County N.Y. area I
can turn to for help? Thanks for whatever info you're able to provide!

Answer
Hi Evan and Happy New Year!

There are a couple of online sites that have listings of trimmers. I, personally, do not know of any in your area but you may be able to browse the listings and find one:

http://www.tribeequus.com
http://www.thehorseshoof.com
http://www.barefoothorse.com
http://www.americanhoofassociation.org/

You might also want to try Jaime Jackson's org. at: http://www.aanhcp.org

Also, please know that I, personally, do photo consultations. If you have photos and radiographs that you could send to me via email attachments then I would be more than happy to take a look at them for you. Perhaps I could make some recommendations for your next hoofcare specialist. Please go to my Hoofcare site at http://www.barefoottrim.com and under "Services" you'll find directives for taking photos for consults.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help to you at this time. Good luck in your journey.