Newbie here with a fetlock question

<<Waving>> Hi everyone! I'm new here and I've got a question I hope someone might be able to answer.

My boyfriend and I are owned by a flock of animals ranging from cats, dogs, fish and horses. We have 5 horses, two TN Walkers and 3 Quarter Horses. One of our Tennessee Walkers, Misty, we're having a problem with. Misty is a chronically foundered mare. About a year ago, we had a farrier (ex farrier now) come out and do some trimming on her. He stood her up so far on her toes, it caused her tendons in her legs to bow. She was lame for 3 months before the swelling started to go down and she was able to walk, slowly. Needless to say, after he did that to her, we no longer use him.

We've moved on to a wonderful farrier who preaches natural hoof care and natural trimming. We don't shoe any of our horses as they all walk around on nice, soft grass with the occasional puddle of mud or patch of pea gravel. We don't show or breed any of our horses either. They are just 1200 lb yard ornaments.

Anyway, about 2 months ago, Misty started having issues with her fetlock joint popping forward. The only way I can describe it on this board, without posting photos is if you stand with your knees locked, then slightly bend your knees forward. Our farrier says she's trying to take the pressure off her legs thanks to what our former farrier did to her.

We're looking for a support brace/boot for Misty to keep her fetlock back in place. If anyone has any ideas or similar stories, we're all ears. We live in an extremely rural area about 60 miles from the closest "big" city and vets won't come out to this part of the area where we live. Misty is not able to be trailered for an hour or more to ride into town to see a vet. So unless by some miracle we can get a vet out, I don't know what to do. We did almost get one vet out, but it's a 200 mile round trip for her and she charged $3 per mile plus an off site office visit, and x-rays. She stood us up, so we didn't go back to her.

I don't expect Misty to ever be able to be rode again and I don't want to ride her again. I've got 4 others I can ride. I just want to see her walk without pain and without any stiffness and I know that fetlock joint popping over has got to hurt.

I do have photos of what Misty is doing if anyone wants me to email them to you or if it's okay and if HTML tags are allowed, I'd post them here.

You can post pictures here, just click upload picture located above the box you write in...(if that makes sence.) we would love to see the pictures...

Also, Is there anyway you can talk about the problem over the phone to a veternarian, thats better then no vet at all. :)

Oh wow, we do have that box barnrat lol. I never noticed it before.

ISaidWhoaDangIt: i am gunna call you ISWDI coz its to annoying writing ISaidWhoaDangIt all the time lol. That is horrible what your ex farrier did :( I'm sorry, i don't have any suggestions, but i hope you find something for her.

This is a photo of the bottom of her hoof. It's wet because we just finished cleaning it. She threw her medicine boot and had gotten some mud in it.



This is how she stands. This is her front right foot. Her left foot does it slightly, but not to this degree. When she puts her weight on it, she straightens up but as soon as she takes it off or shifts to the back, she pops it out again.

We're looking for any type of support brace or anything to help keep that fetlock back in before we wind up losing our horse.

We are going to email these photos to one of the vets our farrier uses. We're going to see what he has to say too. I just hope we get good news. Misty is in wonderful spirits. She nickers and bumps her head on the wall wanting to be let of her stall if she's the last horse in the barn. She doesn't walk too badly either. She's a little stiff, but she doesn't head bob when she walks. She does graze and she is mobile. It's really confusing us.

Wow that's worse than I thought it would be. Its going to take a long time for her feet and legs to go back to normal if they do at all. Sometimes the damage is so severe that they are lame for life. That's something that I'd definitely be working with a vet on. Good luck with her. I'm interested to see if you find a brace or something to help her out.

GET A GOOD VET AND FARRIER OUT THERE ASAP!!!!

Thats Awful!

Your old farrier should NOT be shoeing horses by the look of that!

Our farrier travels 4 hours to come see us.

After calling 20 equine vets in 3 states, we can't get a vet who will drive out that far and she's not stable enough to trailer into an equine vet's office. The closest vet is about 60 miles and he only does large animals one day a week. The closest equine vet is over 200. We've done an email consult with a vet earlier this afternoon, but she hasn't responded back.

We're at our wits end. Misty doesn't act like she feels bad. She was head bobbing ever so slightly today, but the ground was still frozen so she may have been just sore.

OMG. that's really serious get someone out asap!!!!!!

I cried when I saw your pictures! Are you sure she isn't suffering? Forgive me, please, but I am questioning whether or not this horse can recover from this. It looks severe to me. How old is she?

Hi,

I agree with Bentley's last comment, are you sure this horse is not in alot of pain, if this horse if not putting weight on the legs properly that to me sounds like pain, horses unlike humans will not lie down to let injuries heal, that is a nasty underhoof, are those abseses on the sole, or is it infection.
I know this sounds harsh, but I'm not sure it can recover from this either..........i'm not a vet however, but that looks very bad.
would however suggest the horse is kept away from wet areas, except to clean it.
does the horse have much weight on, this to will also cause stress on the leg.
would agree a vet is needed ASAP.

good luck hope it ends up ok.