“She hasn't taken a lame step since.”

A show horse who loves eating.

"Kira, my 15-year-old Appendix Quarter horse, came to me when she was 3 years old and I trained her myself," Lauren wrote. "We competed in a local horse show series and came in 3rd at the end of the year in the Schooling Hunter division. She loves people, being ridden, eating, being groomed, eating, running around, eating and did I mention eating?"

But Kira had navicular disease. Special bar shoes kept her sound and comfortable, until they didn't. By the time Lauren started looking for something more, Kira had been lame for about six months and was in pain all the time unless she was on Phenylbutazone, the equine painkiller most owners know as bute. The next option on the table was nerving her foot.