Leg Heat - Need a little input

Okay, here it is in a nutshell. Tuesday I found my horse had a partially off twisted shoe on his left hind. He was standing on the clip and the nub of one of the nail ends. I took the shoe off and checked for punctures. Nothing. Wednesday the farrier came out and put a new shoe on. Everything appeared fine, but my horse was very fussy with that leg. He kept pulling back like he wanted to put it down. Today I went to clean his feet and found heat in that leg from bulb and about 6" up the leg. No further. A little swelling, but you'd have to be looking for it to see it. There is a little scrape near his coronary band that he got about a week ago which I have been putting ointment on, so I don't think that's a factor. I hosed the leg, iced it and wrapped it keep it from swelling more, but am a little baffled on what he did. The hoof itself is not hot, and this farrier is very good with TB feet, so I do not suspect a close nail. I don't feel any pulse in the bulb, so that's good. I'm thinking maybe he was playing, spun around and twisted his ankle, thus the twisted shoe? Any guesses or suggestions for treatment?

Oh yeah, and he's walking fine. Didn't try trotting, why bother.

I'd think he hurt it like you said, when he twisted the shoe. The heat is up the back of the leg? Or is it all around the front too? Try backing her - that can sometimes show lameness. If you are handy with bandages, why not put a sweat on it? You can use anything to sweat pretty well - alcohol, green cool, whatever. Put on lots of saran and see how it is the next day.
If she was fussy withthat leg, is it out of the realm of possibility that he drove a bad nail when she was moving about? If there is no heat in the foot, though, I dunno...
I'd hose, sweat and wait it out. JMO!

I think what your doing is fine. I'd wait it out a day or so to see if it improves, keep in mind I am not one to call the vet for every little thing...... If he took a shoe off he was probably jacking around and tweaked his leg. If there's no improvement in a day or so I place a call.

They can get sprains any number of ways and spinning/twisting on a foot while they're putting a lot of weight on it is one of the favorite ways I see it happen in one of our mares. The hosing/icing is the best, especially if you don't see any limping. We give a little bute in addition if they start limping...at least for our mares once it swells enough to pain them into limping, the bute reduces the swelling a lot faster than the ice.
Just keep an eye on him over the next day or two...just like in people, the 2nd/3rd days tend to be the worst for swelling.

ColdFlex Vet Wrap from SmartPak Equine

Yey, heat's gone. I'm keeping the work light this week to let him get back into the swing of things gradually. Also, it's like a zillion degrees out, so who wants to ride anyway.

I got to use this new cold wrap I got a few months ago. It feels like a gummy bear and you wrap it around the leg like a polo wrap. I can only use it about 20 times before I have to toss it, but it works fantastic. It draws so much heat out of the leg, it gets hot on the outside. For anyone else on a serious budget, this is the best $20 you'll ever spend for your emergency kit.