Can Navicular Syndrome be the pain caused as a result of the bruising of the solar corium? Is it the pressure from the descending coffin bone or is it the damaged bone that is painful? Under X-rays the bone is shown to be deteriorating. These enlarged areas and lack of bone structure could be a result of congested blood, and lack of circulation causing the arteries to swell. When the arteries swell, can they then push against the bone and be the cause of deterioration to bone spongiosa? Coupled with the stress on ligaments and tendons, and the irritation of connective tissue, pain results. The horse is diagnosed Navicular. We have bar shoes applied and the horse walks off sound. We think the bar shoes are a fabulous cure for Navicular, when what is really happening may be just the opposite. Even less circulation! In a normal horseshoe shape the frog still was making some contact with the ground and blood was flowing through. Now with a bar across the heel circulation is further limited. The horse walks off sound, because he cannot feel. His hoof is numb and the damage continues.

Horses were first shod before we understood the physiology of the hoof and certainly before we had our current level of technology. Today's compounds have far greater shock absorbing features than metal. If you take a metal shoe and bang it against a rock, you will feel the reverberation all the way up your arm. Horse boots can absorb concussion, rather than transmit it, so that the sensitive Lamellae of the hoof is not compromised but supported. The main support system of the coffin bone can remain strong and integral when the high frequency vibration of impact on metal is not constantly jarring.