OP, I’m so sorry. I would keep the appointment. Chances are that you guys will continue down this road. He will be lame, you will be frustrated and upset.
It sounds like you’ve went above and beyond. He’s very lucky to have you. Others would pass him down the road or let him slowly suffer. You are doing the right thing.
the hardest thing about making the decision to Euth is stopping looking for the next ‘hope’.
There is always some hope to be had, and someone always knows a horse that responded to x, y or z treatment.
If you have MRI and films, and they show degeneration, the horse isnt sound, no matter how he appears right now. And I know you dont ride the xray, but in your case, you couldnt ride the horse either.
Letting go is the hardest thing, and sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same thing.
There is no right or wrong answer here. I am lucky (unlucky??) in that I cannot afford to have a young retiree live in a barn for 20 years, so pressure is on me to make a decision quickly. When I put my 6yo down recently it was the hardest thing I ever had to do, because he looked healthy and fine. I couldnt sleep, id start crying all the time, I looked at every treatment in the world. Once it was done a relief for both of us just rained on me, he had enough too I know that. In fact now, my biggest regret was letting it go on so long. I really had to be pushed by the vets after I had them for more diagnostics, hysterically crying saying ‘what about…what if…’ to understand I was actually all out of moves.
@summerfield - no matter how much you have done to try to make this horse comfortable, no matter how much time and money you have spent trying to get and keep him sound there will always be people asking have you tried this or that or consulted this vet, etc. Always.
You are done when you realize that all the things you tried, all the time and money you spent have just won short respites of some degree of soundness. You are done when your budget for chasing this wild goose has run out (an amount set by YOUR budget). You are done when you are unwilling to chase that wild goose any more. You are done when you can’t keep looking at your horse in pain or drugged knowing it’s never going to get any better than this.
All of these things are personal limits. No one can tell you how much money and time you must spend. No one can tell you how much pain your horse must suffer.
And that’s okay.
But it is still going to be hard. You’re still going to second guess yourself. It’s natural when you love the horse. Just remember that you love the horse, and you know him best. You can see the new shoeing has won another mostly sound respite. Mostly sound.
I have euthanized two of my horses. The first one gave me the gift of confidence to trust myself. Trust that I did know him. The second gave me the gift of the right question. Not “Can I” but “Should I keep him going?” Winter is a big deal here so for me the question was about weighing the risks of keeping him through another winter or not.
I believe in letting them go before the bad days outnumber the good. While they are still enjoying going out with buddies, snoozing in the sun, etc. If I were you I would say thank you for this respite of mostly sound, enjoy him a last few weeks, and let him go before it gets worse again.
Trust yourself. Accept that it is going to be hard and is going to hurt emotionally. And trust yourself.
(((Hugs))) 
Hugs, and keep the appointment. A horse that cannot freely and comfortably move is in prison, and breaking yourself mentally, emotionally and financially is not justifiable.
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