horse people: possible navicular in Cuesta

[Ginevive]

I am not in a good mood today. Our farrier came out to trim feet, and it has been true that Cuesta has been sore, on and off, for awhile. We think that Cuesta has navicular. We bought her about 18 months ago, and she would vary with appearing sore and not when walking. (she is an 8 y/o.) The "owner" who had her before us, would keep her in a filthy stall, and had her shod though she probably did not need it; then she would let 6 months go by without removing the shoes or getting a trim; I know this from my farrier, who used to work on her. He says that this is a possible cause or contributing factor to how she is now, as her feet have been bad since that person owned her.
Here, she would appear fine for awhile (usually after a trim) and then revert back to acting sore. I thought it was a sore shoulder for a time, because she took a nasty fall while my other mare was chasing her in the pasture back in April 2007. But the last few weeks have not been good; Cuesta used to be the lead mare, but now out other mare has taken over, and I attribute some of this to Cuesta's shoulder. I am still turning them out, and Cuesta does no act like she is in enough pain to be sluggish in he pasture or lay down a lot; she is always up and grazing. (there is no founder or suspect founder, and she is used to being on grass.) She ges hay when brought-in for the night; grass hay.
I am calling the vet that my farrier works with to come out and x-ray Cuesta. Then we can finally get to the bottom of this. I am not currently riding her; have not in the past year or so because of time and also because I do NOT want to add to her soreness. I do take her for light in-hand walks around the house on the soft mowed lawn, and the pasture is neither bone-dry nor swampy. Her stall is concrete with generous straw bedding over shavings.
If she can never be ridden again, I don't care. I will never breed her again (her last breeding, for her '06 filly, was done while staying intermittently at my friend's farm, after being at the horrible place she was neglected at.)
Any thoughts on her future? I know that it depends on a) if she even does have navicular.. and b) how bad the degeneration could be and if or if not corrective shoeing helps. But I am in it for the long haul for her; I love this mare. my farrier said that most people who have navicular show up, just ship them to auction.
She is a pretty "typey" quarter horse type paint. She is actually a Doc bar granddaughter. I was told that these types of things have increased since now, people like to breed for smaller feet on QH types for better halter peformance.

[SatanicIntention]

My vet actually has a horse with navicular(the bone is actually cracked in half), and she went and got the nerves cut. He acts like a completely different horse now. She said today that he runs around the pasture and whinnied at her! He has never done that, LOL.

I would worry about getting radiographs first, and then going from there. She may be good with corrective shoeing, and some mild anti-inflammatories(phenylbutazone- my horse takes it for her arthritis as she was a barrel horse and has it in her hocks). Just work from the feet up and see where the problem is. Exercise helps too.

And even if it is navicular disease, you can easily get nerve blocks done to make her VERY comfortable, even enough to be ridden.

Let me know what the vet/shoer says!

[Ginevive]

Wow; I was reading about the nerve blocks, and that sounds awesome. It is fascinating what they can do; seems like it would be gruesome at first, but as I read more into it, it is so logical.
My farrier showed me a foot of a (deceased, of course) horse that had horrible founder. I could see where the bone is that is rubebd against when a horse has navicular. This was more helpful than any description he could've given me (he actually asked if I would be grossed out by the foot, but then said "oh you keep snakes and feed them rats, so you're probably not easily grossed out) lol..
I am going to get a vet ou next week, because I cannot work my schedule around anything this week; would you recommend bute just yet, or wait on that?

[Ginevive]

Does anyone know, roughly, what the cost of x-rays and possibly the nerve surgery is?

[SatanicIntention]

Radiographs might run $100 or so depending on how many views they take, size of the film, etc.

If you can't get her seen this week, the bute is fine once a day in the morning. You want her lame when the vet/shoer is there so they can actually find the problem. They will use the hoof tester to pinch her hoof and the underside to find the sore spot. She may even have a stone bruise(those HURT and take awhile to go away) and it might not even be navicular.

[Ginevive]

Thanks I will definately keep posting about this as things develop.