I am no expert but have seen a lot of horses shod by different farriers and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nail that high before.
Well, least we can rule out the nail. It’s kind of a game of eliminating possibilities rather then finding the treasure of an immediate, definitive answer.
Arthritic changes in the fetlock should not cause the dip and bulge in the hoof. Generally it’s the result of an injury or something going on inside the hoof. Don’t panic, it might be old and never bothered him. But it might be something that different shoeing options will better suit and prevent future changes.
Hence need for simple front foot x rays.
Far as soreness due to changing long time bad shoeing angles, it shouldn’t create any substantial soreness in the hoof itself at all. Some get sore from the weight distribution and joint action changing leg mechanics, sign to go slower with the changes. But you mention he’s positive in the heel? He might have something going on the new angle has aggravated. Hence the need for x rays.
IIWY, I’d pull the shoes for a couple of cycles, at least, work closely with your new farrier, who sounds very competent, on frequent trims making only slight addjusments. Allow those feet to heal themselves and “self correct”. Remember to really fix the hoof, you need to grow a new one. One of the few supplements I believe in is a good hoof supplement, like Farriers Formula. The better ones are pricey but it’s because they really work, you want to double the recommended daily amount for the first month or two. FF is proprietary so you can not match ingredients, it’s my first choice for situations like this. You can go to something else after you get that hoof grown out about halfway down, 6-8 months. If you leave him barefoot for 2 or 3 cycles, the cost offsets shoes.
You might need to adjust your routine as he adjusts to barefoot. Maybe you’ll get lucky and he’s one that will thrive barefoot. Expect him to be a little tender for awhile, normal. But he needs some help getting good hooves under him and growing out all the old nail holes.
Expect updates from you. Good luck, it’s a journey.
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And don’t forget to check hip and back soreness as well. I thought a horse was footsore once, only to have the vet press a few spots just above his the points of his hips and get a major flinch that shouldn’t have been there.
Hopefully a little bit of time will also be a healer for your horse. 
@OverandOnward very true, but I always find it AMAZING how fast the rest of the body corrects and relaxes once feet are fixed.
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So true that!
This is a definite possibility. I wish I had done it when I first bought him in Jan since I gave him a couple months off, but to be honest I don’t think the farrier I had at that time was up to it anyway. When the new farrier came to check the nail she suggested pulling the shoes and using Equicast to help him during the transition. I don’t have any personal experience with that but it sounds like what is described here: http://www.hoofrehab.com/Hoofcast.html. I love that she’s brainstorming about how to improve the horse rather than just maintaining the status quo.
(Funny side note: I googled Farrier’s Formula and one of Google’s suggested searches was, “How much formula should a farrier eat?” :lol:)
I will definitely update after the vet appt, hopefully not with any terrible news. I’m a little afraid what we might find when we go looking because of his track mileage.
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Here is another product that has done well in Europe and is new in the U.S., that is an improvement over some of the previous methods.
One of the best things about it is that it puts horses back in work. Horses are even racing with it.
If you go one of these routes, it is very important to get it applied by someone with experience, the more experience the better. They can be tricky to put on correctly. And messy!
I used Equicast to transition a horse to barefoot post-injury. I even learned how to apply them myself. It worked well for me and my situation. They don’t last long, and they don’t create the healthiest environment for hoof tissues, but they offer support and protection for hooves while allowing the hoof to flex similarly to how it does barefoot. The fact that they wear down quickly and need to be replaced every 2-3 weeks also allows the hoof, particularly the heel, to expand more than metal shoes can allow.
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Well, crap, we have a much bigger problem. Horse is grade 2 neurological. Some of his symptoms suggest EPM and others suggest wobblers. Neck x-rays showed some areas of concern but nothing super clear-cut, of course, because that’s my luck. I should know EPM blood test results by the end of the week and unless it’s negative I guess we will try treating for that first, because the next step is a $2k myelogram. I never thought I’d be hoping for EPM but it’s the best-case scenario now.
As far as his feet, he was off on the RF today with some sensitivity on the lateral heel. When the heel was blocked, it switched to the LF a little bit. I showed the vet a video of him trotting on the longe from a week ago and she said he was definitely lame on the LF then like I thought, so he has some bilateral hoof soreness that we hope is just from the shoeing. He’s packed with Magic Cushion now and is going to get Equioxx for a few days. X-rays showed that his palmar angle is about zero right now so we have some more work to do there.
In other news, I’m taking golf lessons…
So sorry for this news, for you and for your horse.
It is very hard when the firm diagnosis is floating around somewhere, like trying to catch butterfly in a net. It’s hard to know whether to recommend lots of wine (for you, not the horse), or to caution about lots of wine … :o
Those golf lessons may be just the thing. It can be very satisfying to clobber the #@&^= out of the little ball. Hopefully the driving range has an endless bucket for you to work through while the vets sort out exactly what’s going on with your good horse.
Your horse is very lucky to have you on his side. <3
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Sh*t. 
Ugh, I’m so sorry. That sucks. I had a horse on trial after some borderline neuro findings on the initial PPE which could have been attention/behavior problems. He was great the whole month except was really weird about having his feet picked out. He was generally super fussy and trying to pull them away and had a few sitting/tipping type episodes. The follow up PPE with a different vet had even more subtle neuro abnormalities, likely super early stage EPM. It seems like it was probably a balance issue the whole time. Good luck with your guy!
Oh Crap! This does suck.
How old is your guy? Even if it’s wobblers, you may still have hope. Anecdotal: Back in the day at Canaan, there was a boarder with a Negro baby diagnosed with wobblers as a 3-4 year old in Southern CA. He was really bad with the farrier because of balance. By 8 he was much improved for some reason and very rideable (although not great with farriers and balance). I had no idea watching him go and riding him, but she showed me by picking up his feet one day. He did require a very patient and very good farrier. By 16 he was training I1 and 2 with a famous So. Cal. trainer. Vets were not 100% sure why he improved from 4 to 8. I know this isn’t the case for most horses with wobblers, but this was always a ray of hope in my mind (also was the outlier Negro baby in terms of sweetness). The owner was convinced the farrier had much to do with it.
I hope your guy can get things straightened out with his new farrier over a few cycles. I’m so sorry that you are going through this, but if anyone can give this guy a fair shot at health, it’s you. There’s a unicorn waiting for you down the road, I’m convinced.
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Not good news I’m afraid. His EPM test was negative and the vets believe that the only other possible diagnosis that fits his symptoms is wobblers. I’m so sad and discouraged.
My last horse purchase (not counting adorable Craigslist project pony) was a Hanoverian yearling that I bought from a reputable breeder well known to my trainer. I researched his breeding and even rode (and loved) a half-sibling out of the same dam. He passed a vetting. Then by age 5 he was crippled by DSLD.
This time around I bought something with a bit more age and mileage, thinking there couldn’t be latent congenital defects at that point. Within 6 months, this one is deemed unrideable too.
His fetlock xrays weren’t great but he passed the neuro part of the PPE. Thinking back, the PPE vet didn’t do the tests that show his deficits: tail pull, small circles, and walking with head raised. I guess I know what to ask for on the next PPE, if I can ever stand to buy a horse again, but how many more of these lessons do I have to learn the hard way? My confidence in vets is at a pretty low point.
Has he been tested for Lyme? 10 days IV oxytet would not be excessively expensive given what you’ve already tried.
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Oh, no, well this is one case I definitely am sorry to know I was right. My former client’s horse that I mentioned was doing this last year, and while he’s still doing ok as a pasture pet, it’s not good. He was about 14 when we started diagnosing neck things and he had these behaviors. While he did have significant arthritis, his whole C6 vertebrae was abnormally formed, and in hindsight, he probably did have minor deficits for many years (client had him starting at age 4). I’ll never buy another horse without neck xrays. I’m with you on the hard lessons.
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Libby, we do not deserve this shit. Call or see Dr Amy Johnson. She is in the neuro dept. at NB and, after Waldo and Goober and now Linus — I think the world of her. How do we get ourselves into these messes?
I calmed one horse down (he was a mental case, not neuro) by holding him in the aisle, close to the horse being trimmed, so he could watch the process. I did this a-lot. We did not even try to shoe him until he was bored about standing in the aisle. This de-sensitizing (plus drugs) turned him into a horse who could be shod…
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I’m so sorry.
Maybe it’s not totally fair to you, but maybe you are a compassionate answer for a horse that might have had a sadder fate were he not yours.
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Libby, I’m just SO SORRY!! I can’t believe what terrible luck you’ve had. I just want to give you hugs!
I’m afraid I have no words of wisdom (and I lost a 3yo WB to wobblers, so I know what a heartbreak it is), only words of sympathy and support.
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I’m so sorry. How does this keep happening!!!???
Can you do a second opinion, though? I’m having a hard time rationalizing in my head how this boy could have lasted so long on the track without issue…
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