Unsound but Not Unwanted the Fall and Rise of Mr. Cruise Control

I shouldn't have said it to him, I was half joking, but the quirky gelding that refused to enter a wash stall, hated the barn, took two twitches, a nose chain and a spry Spanish farmhand to nail on a pair shoes, had my heart. . "Now," I said, holding him by his halter, "If you become irreversibly lame, you'll have to come home with me. I never thought he'd listen.
      The horse had once been famous. "Mister Cruise Control" is his name. Ridden and shown by the equally famous Boyd Martin, Cruiser appeared on the cover of Practical Horseman at 4 years old. He also starred in a how-to video "Introduction to Water Jumps" http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/eventing/water_jumps_041009/ at 6 years old, he developed 'mystery lameness' and went from a $60,000 horse, to a give-away.
    The farriers before me tried barbaric tactics, backward shoes, reverse wedges, bar shoes, and then finally gave up. He bounced from several farms, and ended up with my client, a manager of a busy barn. Cruiser was never really 'right'. His soundness was iffy and he managed to do a few light lessons, but his mystery lameness progressively got worse.
    He was always labeled as "Navicular" (degenerative changes to the navicular bone- the navicular acts as a pulley for the deep digital flexor tendon, and small holes develop in the bone, and the once smooth surface 'scratches' the tendon causing pain). I can usually spot a navicular case without ever picking up the foot. Typical Navicular horses have small, upright hooves that are oval in shape. They often have contracted heels, long toes and poor frog quality. This usually shows up in older horses.
   Cruiser had nice, round hooves, and is only 8 years old. This prognosis just did not match this horse. We tried several options, Equisocks hoof wraps, gel padding, rubber shoes, and they all worked. . . for a little while. I suggested to my client that Cruiser needed some more extensive therapy work, perhaps a diet change, hand walking in therapeutic Hoof Rx pads, and a chiropractor.

   The busy barn just didn't have the time, and she asked if I would like to give my favorite, naughty gelding a new home. And I did just that! (here he is getting his mane pulled by my little girl)

        Mystery hoof pain can come from many sources- after x-rays, and coffin joint injections failed for Cruiser, I did the most simple thing I could do, and change his diet. Some horses with mild insulin resistance (basically equine diabetes) will show mysterious hoof pain. This is just my observation, my theory is that circulation may be compromised.
      Cruiser was exhibiting some strange behaviors after I got him home. He would eat inappropriate things, dried leaves, bark, even a good bite out of a rotten pine log. He was clearly missing something in his diet, and since I suspected insulin resistance, I took him off grass completely until I could straighten out the diet issues. I took him off all processed feed and switched him to "Just Add Oats" by The Natural Vet http://www.thenaturalvet.net/cgi-bin/genesis.exe/RepsitePage.html?p_get_webid=nhn&p_catid=1&p_prodid=404

      We also began our 30 day therapy plan with the Hoof Rx pads- http://www.naturalfarrier.com/index.html/page15.html The hoof Rx pads are a thick closed cell foam, and when you put them on the horses foot, they form to the bottom of the hoof like Memory Foam. It presses into the crevises of the frog, stimulating the internal structures. You can put the pads in boots, or in this case, recycled blue jeans. (we didn't have boots big enough to fit him)

Here is his used pad, see how it conformed to his frogs. You can use this over and over. They should last about 2 weeks if you walk every day.
   I hand walked cruiser every day for a month, and had an excellent chiropractic work done  by Dr.Jim, http://www.eqvet.com/services_available A new diet and TLC, he went from so lame he couldn't trot in the pasture to galloping in a month.

   Now, six months later this is Cruiser today. . . winning reserve champion in his first show in almost a year! What a blessing it has been to have this fabulous horse in my life. Many lameness issues can be overcome- with time and patience and a good farrier.