Dr John Crowley with the help of Ian Mitchell from Medivet performed the first equine Navicular stem cell procedure ever done in Australia.

Medivet's Adipose Stem Cell therapy was undertaken on 14-year-old Rum and owner Min Beacham from Picton said she knew something wasn't right when she bought the purebred warm-blood five years ago.

"Rum was a dressage horse that has always had trouble with his legs," she said.

"He's had a course of Circulon and Tildren but nothing gave him long-term relief.

"I have also tried different styles of hoof-trimming, and at the moment, he's wearing some new plastic glue-on shoes imported from Germany, which do seem to improve his condition, but I am looking for a permanent fix, and stem cell therapy could be the answer."

Navicular Syndrome is one of the most common causes of lameness in horses, beginning with inflammation of the bursa between the Navicular bone and the tendon of the deep digital flexor and usually affects both forefeet.

Medivet stem cell therapy involves taking a small sample of Rum's adipose (fatty) tissue and extracting viable stem cells.

These stem cells are then activated using state-of-the-art LED light technology and then injected into Rum's forelimbs where they work to regenerate the damaged area.

The whole procedure cost about $4000.

"If successful, this procedure will open up a whole new market around the world," Mr Mitchell said.

The treatment has returned amazing results on horses suffering arthritis and tendon injuries with a notable improvement in knee joints and associated problems.

The Adipose Stem Cell procedure has also been used successfully on dogs, cats and sheep, however this was the first Equine Stem Cell Procedure to treat Navicular disease in Australia.

European scientists have had recent success curing osteoarthritis in mice using stem cell treatments and were confident it would work in humans.