Mr. Eby, I would like to tell you how grateful I am that I “happened” on your research paper (http://naviculardisease.com)on Gallium Nitrate for horses with navicular syndrome.

Just a little about my background with horses before telling you my recent experience. I have been seriously involved with horses, primarily show hunters and jumpers for more than 60 years – and in the past 15 years dressage horses – which tells a little about my age but I am certainly not ignorant where horses and lameness issues and proposed treatments are concerned. I have also been an active breeder of Trakehner horses for over 25 years and worked for an orthopaedic surgeon (people type) for 26 years (now retired). I believe my background should take me off the “kook roster” where horses and medical treatments are concerned.

I have a 17.2 hand Trakehner gelding with wonderful potential in dressage. I sold him as a 4-year old as a dressage prospect and he did very well for a couple of years and then began having soundness issues. I bought him back when he was 8; he was completely unsound and I took him to the Cleveland Equine Clinic where he was diagnosed with “moderate to severe” navicular syndrome. I was told he would probably never be really sound again at least not for showing. I went the usual route with medications and corrective shoeing. I have one of the best farriers in the country and the corrective shoeing helped a little and was able to ride him up to 15 minutes at a time but then he would become “off”. I worked with him for over 2 years and had just reached the decision to have him euthanized when I stumbled over your research paper on gallium nitrate.

I honestly thought it was probably just another ‘off beat’ treatment that wouldn’t really work but since I was really desperate and ready to send Fiddle off to the final pasture, I felt it was worth a try. I ordered a bottle of the 42% and started him on the protocol on July 12th, 2008. To my surprise he became sound after about one week. We waited another 2 weeks before starting to ride him. He remained sound. He is now (Sept 1, 2008) working 30-35 minutes a day and progressing daily. He is ABSOLUTELY sound and has not taken an unsound step since early July. The ONLY thing we have done that wasn’t being done previously is give him your gallium nitrate.

I have a very talented jumper mare that I have leased to a friend as a broodmare as she has some arthritic changes in a knee and hock that were starting to become a problem. I will be getting her home in December of 2008 and plan to start her on gallium nitrate. She is only 11 so if we can help her to become sound again she will be able to continue her jumping career. As an aside – I have arthritis in my left hand that causes swelling and almost constant discomfort and an inability to ‘make a fist’. I have begun soaking my hand in the gallium nitrate solution that I make up each morning for Fiddle. The swelling is gone and my hand is almost pain free and has almost complete mobility.

I would be happy to discuss my experience with this treatment with anyone who has questions about it. It may seem expensive but it certainly isn’t any more expensive than many of the NSAIDs that are so popular or the many joint supplements that are available plus it really does work. If the problem is muscular it won’t help but if the problem is orthopaedic, my experience is that it works very well. Fiddle will go to his first dressage show in 6 years in October. We expect great things from him.