It’s funny you say that. Owner and I both went “hmmmm” at that spot.
a third view of the pedal bone might be helpful. This older pony may need a more thorough exam including soft tissue evaluations so a maintenance plan can be established. It sounds like he has been a good worker and now needs some special care in his older years.
A good QH is a special kind of wonderful
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A-MEN!!!
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I would personally go to the vet school. I found through hard experience that you can putz around with the local vet and end up having to go to the Big Clinic and spending more than if you went straight away.
I would simply present the horse and his history and records and be guided by what they feel is necessary for diagnostics.
It took an MRI to find my horse’s DDFT injury down in his hoof. (No, I didnt have insurance!) He made a full recovery with small paddock turnout and some chemical calmers!
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101% agree with MsM an in depth work up with the vet school for the best long term plan
That is owed to this sweet sounding friend
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He is an absolute rockstar. He definitely put his owner through the wringer when we were kids, but he is one heck of a pony.
I’m sure she will do everything in her power to get him comfortable, and he’s got a home for life regardless. It’s just so hard to know where to look for answers when you’ve got a vet giving advice that just doesn’t seem right (unless you’re like me with a pasture pet that’s trying very hard to stay that way - you learn to question EVERYTHING 
).
I have passed everything here onto the owner, and will be sure to update if any answers come down the pipeline.
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My brain is saying soft tissue. Like the collateral ligaments in the foot. As far as I know, you need to do an MRI to look at those. Otherwise you diagnose by process of elimination.
I had one a few years ago, never sore to hoof testers, blocked sound and came super sound on a little bit of ketoprofen. Only treatment was a massive amount of time off and hope for the best.
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I’d agree. Otherwise, I’d say abscess (having dealt with a very sneaky, similar one last year), but we at least would see intermittent improvement there as it moved around the foot.
