05/19/2025
I wanted to share a success story because they can be few and far between, and when we get it right, it really feels good. In my opinion, the success of this horse is equally shared among myself, the vet, the body worker and the owner all on the same page and working together. Good things happen when we can all work together towards the common goal of getting this horse as sound as possible. This horse fractured his navicular bone and came up 3 legged lame. After the initial xray, we decided to start out with just a bar shoe. The horse improved in 6 weeks but progress seemed to halt and he began really pointing his foot out in front of him again. I decided at that point to add a 2° leather wedge with soft dental impression to elevate the heels and take some pressure off of the navicular area. I re-shod the horse with the pads and barshoes and the horse immediately began to get better and gain confidence to move again. Now, 3 weeks later, he is back to his full riding capabilities and the owner is successfully getting him back into shape. I really want to reiterate that because we all worked together, we were able to get him back to soundness. Its a win, and it feels good. You can see in this photo that the horse is now standing comfortably under himself and his posture is relaxed.
