I'm a avid stalker on the COTH forums. While I technically do have a name, I post like twice a year so I just say I stalk. A few days ago a post popped up on my radar about a horse with bipartite navicular. I was, of course, immediately intrigued. Since then, I have acquired the e-mail address of two other ladies who own horses with bipartite navicular! How cool! This makes three people total that I've spoken to with horses like Digby! One has not e-mailed me back yet (it is Memorial Day weekend, she's allowed to be busy I suppose) and the other has e-mailed me back a few times so far. We chatted a bit about our horses, what we've done with them, what we've tried, what's worked, what hasn't. It's just SO refreshing to find someone who is going through a similar problem! Turns out, this woman has a gelding with it and she de-nerved him with much success. I will definitely be mentioning her success to my vet when I call her early next week to let her know about Digby's soundness!
I'm not sure I want to go that route but it's definitely worth mentioning considering her success, isn't it? De-nerving isn't 100% guaranteed to work on any horse, even if the surgery is successful. It also has it's risks. The nerve can grow back thus making the horse lame again or a neuroma can develop. A neuroma is a large bundle of nerve fibers that cause pain at the site where the nerve cut took place. Not exactly ideal.
This is why I LOVE forums. I found people who have experience in something that is extremely rare that I would of never even remotely been in touch with. My vet wouldn't have talked to them, I wouldn't of, my farrier wouldn't of. Now I get to talk to someone who has a similar problem. We can commiserate and share successes! If I can find TWO people with bipartite navicular horses, I'm a firm believer that you can find just about anything online! :)
In other news, have a great Memorial Day weekend! Be safe and have fun!
Okay, I want to know who the OTHER person is!!!! Have you heard back about their horse???
ReplyDeleteI PMed someone and got an e-mail of a friend but have not heard anything back from them yet. :(
ReplyDeleteHey ..... I am glad the de-nerving worked for them. I might be doing a de-nerving in my horse that has navicular disease in the near future. He keeps having more and more lame days as of recently :( But I always worry about the contra-indications. Do you know how long the horse has been de-nerved for without issues?
ReplyDelete~Julia~
I personally know a draft horse that's been denerved for 6-7 years and is still fine. Gets used for driving almost year round and does some shows in the summer. The other person is actually who commented above (blog is at http://ridingthroughthefear.blogspot.com/) and I believe she's had her gelding denerved for about 2 years.
DeleteThe "bad things" about denerving worry me too. :( Plus, they can't feel anything so it might come down to a time of ok, your horse couldn't feel this injury and now it's beyond repair and he needs to be put down immediately. Sigh!