09/18/2025
Solution, Versus Stereotype.
When Dominique was diagnosed with navicular syndrome, I was advised corrective shoeing. Corrective shoeing was the norm, but I saw so many horses ending up being retired or put to sleep with the corrective shoeing approach that I considered a solution instead of submitting my horse to the accepted stereotype. Yes, in his research, Ostblom says, “The disease is, therefore, considered to be reversible and may be alleviated by altering the load on the navicular bone by special shoeing.” Gravity acts from the body down to the hoof. While the stereotype focuses only on how the hoof absorbs forces, I found a more efficient solution: reducing the load on the navicular bone by improving overall balance and enhancing limb kinematics.
From the day he was born, Dominique blew away all the stereotypes. He was built like a pick-up truck, and yet he was a superior athlete. He was now my horse, and I decided to find a solution instead of condemning him to the stereotypes. I analyzed the forces loading the navicular apparatus from the back. I found two problems. One was the intensity of the forces loading the navicular apparatus. Dominique was a Grand Prix horse. He was in balance according to the show ring stereotypes, but he carried too much weight on the forelegs. The half-halt type of balance is not balance; it is a restriction that gives the illusion of balance. I reduced the load on the forelegs, teaching him authentic balance. As for humans, balance is the capacity to center the forces around the center of mass. Authentic balance is not explained in books or any school of thought. The Science of Motion’s navicular course explains and shows how to fill this gap, translating modern imaging into a model that includes spinal coordination and back-to-hoof force transmission.
Dominique had an inverted rotation of the thoracic spine, shifting the dorsal spine toward the right. The inverted rotation loaded the right front leg, creating abnormal kinematics, inducing excessive load on the right navicular bone and adjacent soft tissues. I asked the farrier to balance the hoof properly, but to stay away from corrective shoeing. If an abnormal force loaded the hoof, I needed to know it and identify and correct the root cause from the back.
It took me a year, but Dominique regained soundness and an active life. Dominique was 17 years old when the navicular episode occurred. He regained soundness in a little less than a year and remained sound until he crossed the rainbow bridge at 36 years old. Interestingly, correcting the back dysfunction went beyond restoring soundness. Before the development of the navicular episode, Dominique had great difficulty performing tempi-changes. I rehabilitated him from the distal sesamoid problem, correcting the thoracic spine dysfunction that altered left lateral bending. This was indeed the source of the difficulty he had performing tempi changes. The first day I asked him for the move, months after soundness was restored, he executed a long series of tempi changes nonstop. Indeed, if instead of accusing Dominique of laziness, stubbornness, and all the nonsensical behavior of the traditional education, the previous rider had analyzed Dominique’s physical difficulties, the navicular episode would have been prevented.
Jean Luc
Navicular Online Course – Science of Motion
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/navicular_online_course.html
