Radiographic changes-no lameness.

Question
I have an eight year old Thoroughbred who was never raced, upon purchasing him there were apparently some changes evident in the navicular area. He'd never been jumped before and had a ton of training using Dressage as a basis(of course this was extremely light and lower level). I originally wanted him for upper level jumping glancing at his pedigree, conformation, and personality, and was convinced that he'd be superb.

The changes that the vet spoke of were lollipops, category 5/10. He's got a porportionate foot of sufficient size, not at all small but not huge. His movement was and still remains absolutely superb, very long and reaching, he's never been lame due to hoof issues-and only once because he managed to hurt his shoulder in the pasture.

Since then, I've decided to pursue Dressage, but after incidently jumping out of the 5 foot pasture fencing easily and if anything was cocky and proud afterwards displaying no lameness whatsoever, I was wondering if there was any hope for jumping? I know some argue that lollipops can be normal development for larger horses, but he's only 16.1 and I'm fairly certain they were referring to warmblood-sized horses? I was also told to consider vaxamine eq, a natural anti-inflammatory, it makes sense considering lollipops are enlarged blood vessles, but would it work? I've also considered special shoeing including the "Easy Walker", but I was told this can aggravate navicular because the clips used to attach the shoes can cause circulation problems-the terrain out here is anything but sandy, so they'd have to be attached very tightly. I've also been told about shock-absorbing aluminum shoes.


In addition to this, I've heard of a european drug Tildren aiding in bone regrowth for spavins and navicular, however to get a liscense to use it over here, it's extremely expensive and I can't spend that much if it's going to make him worse in the long-run or be completely ineffective.

I know that's a lot of info, but I'm desperate for answers, I suppose my major question is, will he be able to pursue jumping?  

Answer
Hi Jessica. First off I have to tell you that I am not a farrier - I am an independant Natural Hoofcare Practitioner meaning that I pull shoes and remediate and rehab barefoot horses. So I cannot advise you as to what kind of shoe. I also use herbals and homeopathy remedies so am not familiar with Tildren. Certainly have heard of it but have not personal experience with it so cannot fairly answer you concerning that, either.

Now, on a positive note ... the Navicular horses that have come into my practice have had their shoes pulled and been remediated with correct trimming of the hooves. And yes, gone onto jumping, endurance, dressage, working western and other. To be perfectly honest I don't see why an 8 year old who is perfectly happy jumping out of his own paddock wouldn't be successful at competition jumping AS LONG AS HIS HOOVES ARE MAINTAINED CORRECTLY. And yes, the horses I mention above all compete barefooted. No shoes.

What I would do if this horse were mine would be to pull the shoes, get corrective trimming and maintain the hooves correctly. Go into the discipline slowly, giving him time for conditioning. Lots and lots of movement, say on trails, to condition his hooves AND his mind. Constant schooling is hard on any beast be it horse or human or dog or ... *grin* If you want to use an effective anti-inflammatory (although getting the hooves balanced and leveled will correct and diminish the changes in the navicular as well) I'd look into an herbal or a homeopathic remedy that will help his own body fix itself instead of simply treating the symptoms.

Hope some of this has helped.

:) -- Gwen