Saddlebred w/clubbed foot-getting worse please help!

[dobilover]

I rescued my 7 y.o. Saddlebred gelding from severe neglect/starvation last June. Among other problems, he has a clubbed foot (front right) which (in my unskilled opinion) is somewhere around a grade 2. I have a attached a couple of pics. He has a hard time keeping a shoe on due to the narrow width and side chipping of his foot and there is significant front dishing. My farrier has been raising the heel of the non-affected hoof and growing the toe of the clubbed foot (I'm reading here that this is wrong? :confused: ). He is currently barefoot. My horse is lame off and on, usually after light riding, but seems lately to be more lame than not. He was not lame at all when I rescued him. I’m not sure if I should have him x-rayed because honestly, I don’t think my current shoer would know what to do with them. Can you offer any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know his foot will never be pretty, but if we could reach some degree of soundness I would be overjoyed. Also, can anyone vouch for Farrier's Formula? Someone suggested I put him on that in the meanwhile. Thank you,

Aretha &
"Danny Boy"

[Jeanie Connors]

Aretha, don't give up on his feet yet :) . Raising the heel on the good hoof will only cause problems on that hoof and up that leg. Long heels bring nothing but trouble, and pain :( . Letting the "toes grow out" will give similar results on the club foot. It isn't made to have long toes, and letting the hoof grow out unnaturally is asking for trouble. The right front doesn't look terribly clubbed to me, but it's hard for me to tell.

The hooves *are* in pretty rough shape, though. You mention he's barefoot, but I would recommend lowering both heels and start working both feet back into a better shape. That club foot may turn out to be more of a poor hoof management problem than was thought. If so, a regular hoof care program and a good trim will get his feet healthy again :) . Even if it is a club, each hoof needs to be trimmed how it is designed for them to be healthy and functional. Unfortunately, at his age, you cannot trim or shoe to try and erase a conformational problem, but just trimming and lettin ghte hoof be what it wants to be will often make a sound hoof :) . I hope that makes sense, and I hope it helps. Good luck with him!

[Ronald Aalders]

Hi Aretha,

Yes I agree this looks like a grade 2 club to me, but it's hard to tell from a picture. Looking at the growth rings the coffin bone is up a lot. This is one thing you want to deal with.

I'm happy to explain what you need to do, but before you try this, be sure you have an experienced vet ánd shoer team present to work on this horse! This is NOT a Do-It-Yourself instruction.

To help you understand what needs to be done, you have to learn what is going on in such feet.

The clubfoot is a foot where the coffin bone (P3) is being pulled in an unnatural position by the deep flexor tendon (DDFT), which attaches to P3. In fact this DDFT pull causes P3 to rotate. (Interphalangeal rotation) The front side of the bone drops down, while the backside (the wings) gets pulled up. Because of this malalignment inside the hoofcapsule, the hoofcapsule changes shape like you noticed on your horse.

To help correct this you DO NOT raise the other foot to match the club. Doing this would leave the club with its tip down (because of the rotation) and crush bloodvessels between P3 and the sole. Also this malalignment puts a lot of strain on joint surfaces tendons and ligament.

The thing to do is to try and derotate P3. This is where the X rays come in. You CAN NOT do without, even an experienced shoer would have a hard time derotating P3 correctly without X rays!

You need a sharp well taken X ray from the club. The 'primary beam' (there is no such thing my wife tells me, the center of the beams would be a correct description -just keeping you on your toes here-) should be aimed at the palmar surface of P3. My guestimate would be that's around 3/4" from the bearing surface in the middle of the hoofwall here. Your vet will know what to do.

In another thread I posted a picture. Look at the "OMG Look at this foot -what should we do?" thread in the Farriers helping horse owners with White Line Disease etc." The picture explains how to draw a line along the palmar surface of P3 and a parallel line as far a way from it as possible, the last one being the line that you use as a giude for trim.

If you do this, you will have derotated the foot. But by doing so you also increased the distance between the origin of DDFT and its attachment to P3. Which means you have put more strain on that tendon! Leaving it like that will make problems even worse then they are!

After derotation ALWAYS address breakover! What I like to (and has worked very well for me over the years) is after derotating P3, raise the foot with a wedge pad. In a case like this I would definitely use a banana shoe with a wedge pad on the derotated foot. In such cases there is no better shoe!

However if you shoer is not comfortable with the banana (not too many will be) don't ask him to do it. Let him use the NB shoes with rails instead.

The point here is you need to reduce DDFT pull (and breakover forces) aggressively. If you fail to do this, the derotation will only serve to make the horse worse.

This is what you need to have done when you want to do something constructive here. Applying this 'method' is no guarantee by the way the clubfoot will be fixed. If performed correctly it will make the horse a lot more comfortable. When the club does not improve, not even after a few resets, there are some veterinarian procedures you could discuss with you vet. However if your aim is not to turn this horse into a performer, your horse will do just fine after derotation and reducing DDFT pull.

Good luck,


Ronald Aalders

[Phil Armitage]

Those feet look like there in big trouble. How long was it before the last Farrier work was done when you took those pics? The hairline shows a ton of imbalance on both feet. At a minimum they need to be properly balanced and shod. I don't know what your Farrier is trying to do, but it does not look like you guys are going in the right direction to me.

[TE Couch]

Get some xrays - this does not look like a true club foot to me - looks like a high heeled founder case with likely bone loss to the right front. Looks salvageable from the top, post sole views, but do get xrays and an experienced trimmer / farrier
TE

[calshoer]

TE, You say that a lot. (that a club foot is really founder) when in fact they probably are NOT.
Club feet and chronic founder certainly have very similar charicteristics though,on the outside. But the cause and therefore the lamineller conections are different. The laminellar conection is a lot more strong in the club foot bcause it has been there a lot longer and was not begun by a disease process that rapidly destroyed the laminae,as it would be in laminitis.
So the amount of possible correction is also different.
Saddlebreds are notorious for having inherited club feet. It shows up when they are BABIES ,and usually their mother had it too, and is therefore not really founder.
And club feet are usually less correctable than founder. You can't fix everything that was there since the horse was a baby by barefooting them. (well Dr. Strasser tries, and abscesses them and places them in pain for a year or more ....)
Please Quit confusing the club foot issue by thinking so many of them are founder when the yare not.I have seen so many horses through from youngsters to adulthood with *inherited* club feet who never,ever foundered . Especially saddlebreds and arabians.
Patty

[dobilover]

Thank you all for your input. I have learned more from you all in one day than I have in months of searching. I have a couple more questions (triggered by some of the responses).

First to Phil: The pics I posted are actually a bit old. They were taken when I first rescued Danny Boy last June, and then in again in Oct of 2004. The overall condition of his feet has improved, but not the angles (or the dish) of the clubbed foot. What did you mean by "properly balanced"? Also, he has been shod, but doesn't hold shoes well (especially during the rainy season) so we were keeping him barefoot through the winter. He is due to have shoes go back on now, but I wanted to do it right, hence my questions here.

To Ronald: Wow! I think I've hit the jackpit! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge. I am going to print your post and hand it to my vet with instructions "Here, do this please" :D Seriously though, what is a "banana shoe"? Will most shoers know? You mentioned in another post how to get a good x-ray using a wire or tack in the frog. Is this what I'll want the vet to do? Will he know where to place the wire or tack? Finally, if I post the x-rays here, would you be able to suggest the best angles to trim on to "bring down the heels? And how often would you reset him?

Finally, to the group: Can anyone suggest a competent farrier in the greater Los Angeles region who'm I could trust to readjust my horse? I love my current shoer, but I think this process may be a bit beyond his scope.

Thanks again,
Aretha

[hoofnhound]

You need a sharp well taken X ray from the club. The 'primary beam' (there is no such thing my wife tells me, the center of the beams would be a correct description -just keeping you on your toes here-) should be aimed at the palmar surface of P3. My guestimate would be that's around 3/4" from the bearing surface in the middle of the hoofwall here. Your vet will know what to do.

So Ronald...you are married...oh well...!!! ;)

[Ronald Aalders]

Hi Aretha,


A banana shoe is a shoe with a curved ground surface, allowing the horse to rock back and forth. (On a hard surface that is.....)

The reason you want to use a banana shoe (or as Dr. Redden calls them 'rock 'n roll' shoes) is when you want to reduce the (natural) breakover lever (attachment of DDFT to P3 - the tip of the hoofcapsule or toe of the shoe) to almost zero.

The mechanics of a shoe like that in my experience allow the sole to grow very well, reduce forces acting upon the hoofcapsule and reduce the force needed by the DDFT to breakover.

On these boards you'll find remarks by Dr. Rooney and Dr. O'Grady stating the effects of the banana shoe is not scientifically proven, but I can tell you I have not yet heard of a correct apllied banana shoe that did not have these results.

One draw back of the banana shoe is that you really have to know what you're doing using this shoe. It's hard to apply for an inexperienced shoer. And you'll find a lot of experienced shoers that probably never heard of the banana shoe. Since I feel that in applications we're discussing here (the clubfoot scenario) easing breakover is vital to at least have a chance on improvement, I mentioned the banana shoe. However it's easy to make mistakes with that kind of shoe so maybe you should settle for the NB shoe. Although you can mess up there too, at least those guys have a nice website that explains clearly the DO's and DONT's.

Do post your X rays, I'm interested in pisc combined with rads. If you have chance take a pic from the side with your camera. Really straight from the side. You'll need to get down on the ground to do that. (Patty, I never could find those drawings you made! Where are they?) That would be the position the X ray will have too.

If you follow the (minimal) instructions on how to take an X ray you read about, it would help a lot. The wire should start at the hairline and go down to where the wall turns in and becomes bearing surface. I can not tell you where exactly to trim other then when you have a clear, straight well taken L-M rad of the foot, you'll be able to use the "parallel line trick". The second line (away from the palmar surface of P3) should be as far away from the first line as possible, but at the same time take off enough heel to provide a surface for the horse to stand on. Experience helps here.........

When to do resets depends a little, (and you should have X rays taken again, if you want to be a 100% sure) but I guess here every 5 or 6 weeks.

HoofnHound, you making me blush! :o


Ronald Aalders

[TE Couch]

Do not know where you got that Patty as I cannot recall commenting on many or any club feet, you must have confused me with someone else and I certainly do not need a lecture from you - take a further look at the photos -look at the dip in the toe, and the difference in wall growth - from those photos I do not see how it could be accepted as a true club foot. Here is a an made club foot.
TE

TE, You say that a lot. (that a club foot is really founder) when in fact they probably are NOT.
Club feet and chronic founder certainly have very similar charicteristics though,on the outside. But the cause and therefore the lamineller conections are different. The laminellar conection is a lot more strong in the club foot bcause it has been there a lot longer and was not begun by a disease process that rapidly destroyed the laminae,as it would be in laminitis.
So the amount of possible correction is also different.
Saddlebreds are notorious for having inherited club feet. It shows up when they are BABIES ,and usually their mother had it too, and is therefore not really founder.
And club feet are usually less correctable than founder. You can't fix everything that was there since the horse was a baby by barefooting them. (well Dr. Strasser tries, and abscesses them and places them in pain for a year or more ....)
Please Quit confusing the club foot issue by thinking so many of them are founder when the yare not.I have seen so many horses through from youngsters to adulthood with *inherited* club feet who never,ever foundered . Especially saddlebreds and arabians.
Patty

[calshoer]

TE, If you are not the one who has said it here in the past, then very sorry. but at least THIS time I got it from YOU, in this very thread... and I just get reallty tired of people (including too many veterinarians) mistaking a unilateral club foot for founder. Patty

Get some xrays - this does not look like a true club foot to me - looks like a high heeled founder case with likely bone loss to the right front. Looks salvageable from the top, post sole views, but do get xrays and an experienced trimmer / farrier
TE

[Phil Armitage]

First to Phil: The pics I posted are actually a bit old. They were taken when I first rescued Danny Boy last June, and then in again in Oct of 2004. The overall condition of his feet has improved, but not the angles (or the dish) of the clubbed foot. What did you mean by "properly balanced"? Also, he has been shod, but doesn't hold shoes well (especially during the rainy season) so we were keeping him barefoot through the winter. He is due to have shoes go back on now, but I wanted to do it right, hence my questions here.


The best thing I can do is direct you to the Natural Balance Web site, you can get to the site from this site, it is called Hope for soundness. There tuturials explains trimming and shoe fitting really well. The dish in the club foot needs to be removed, a real club foot is smaller than the other foot and should not be left longer in an attempt to match the feet. The two feet need to be trimmed and shod individually to achieve proper balance in each foot. There is a lot to explain when it comes to trimming and balanceing the feet. I could go on forever, some basic things the Farrier should do is access the horse while standing square and then observe the horse move. Post more recent photos, include bottom view, side rear and front views. Good luck and I hope all works out.

[dobilover]

Hi all, I am attaching some updated pictures. Please don't be too harsh on me, I know he's not in great shape, that's why I'm here. He is overdue for a trim, but I wanted you to see him before any work was done. One is a side view of the clubbed foot, one a bottom view (the little rock in his toe was removed) and the other the left fore (non-clubbed) hoof. Ok, I await your further comments.

Aretha
P.S. Vet coming out this Friday to take X-rays.

[TE Couch]

Glad you are getting xrays - update the list when you have the results - you can take a photo of the xrays and post - either on the light board at the vets or held up to light outside.
TE

[Jeanie Connors]

Hi Aretha, I agree that X-rays are a good idea. That *does* actually look like a foundered hoof to me. The sole view does show very long, overgrown heels, and just a mass of excess horn, and the toe is overgrown as well. I think a good trim could certainly start getting things back into shape and start allowing those hooves to heal and grow properly.

[Peggy Dolan]

It looks to be foundered to me as well. If the xrays prove it to be true, only one foot involved, is it the result of trauma? Does it change the shoeing diagnosis? This is a very educational thread for me, I want to thank the owner for keeping us up to date. I hope that it all works out, my feeling is that your horse will come through this and he is lucky that you rescued him.

[calshoer]

I took a couple of the pictures and marked them up with lines....But remember I do NOT have Xray vision,just loads of experience reading feet, so I strongly recomend getting some Xrays to help the farrier.
From experience with ton of these however here is what is likely in there.
On the lateral view,the red line is the likely angle of the coffin bone. The bone follows the angle of the hoofwall at the very top of the foot. before the wall has pulled away from the bone nearer the bottom. And the bone is probably deteriorated in the tip due to the long term trauma of being so upright AND the trauma of having the toe left long, thereby prying the wall away from it's attachment. This is probably NOT founder, just the result of a genetic bad club foot not managed right from the horse's youth. (get over it barefooters, they are mostly not founders. Same basic result ,very different cause. )
The yellow line on the front of the lateral pic is to illustrate how much dead stretched toe needs to come back on the lower third of thewall. That flared stretched toe is doing nothing exept leveraging the toe away from the bone and delaying breakover, (which is why you cannot keep shoes on him, that foto is slower getting off the ground).
The dotted line is the amount of heel that MAY need to be trimmed. Hard to say without seeing him walk and seeing the amount of heel that has grown past the sole. The reason I put the question mark is that unless the farrier is planning to apply wedges to the shoeing package after he trims, do NOT take all that heel off at once! I use EDSS when I do them, so I can wedge rail them back up if needed to insure a slight heel first landing. A slight hel first landing tells me the tendon is not under excess stress. VERY important. If you are not going to wedge, then only trim a LITTLE, and walk them to see how they land before you trim any more!

The other view, the bottom of the foot shows where the edge of the coffin bone probably IS, (the yellow dotted line). and how much the sole and toe has stretched beyond that. In fact hte edge of the bone is probably just a bit behind that line. I could drive a nail right through the sole ahead of the line and not hit blood or anything live. Guaranteed.
The red lines are the widest opat of the foot(enter line) the rearmost weight bearibng support(the back of the frog) and where I would probably place the the front edge of the shoe. Usuallt thesefeet ntake a smaller shoe than the other one and that is fine they will not, and should not, match.
It is also vital to NOT trim ANY sole from the front half of that foot (ahead of the center line) .
Also vital is to leave a little bit of hoofwall past the sole in the toe corners so the shoe can clear the sole. Or if the sole is prolapsed beyond the hoofwall in the toe, build the wall back up a little bit with some artificial material or use a rim pad until he can grow the wall back on his own. It only takes a few thousandths of an inch of clearance to insure no pressure so it doesn't take much wall. A sixteenth of an inch is sufficient. Paring ANY of that sole in the front half of the foot would risk traumatizing the tip of the bone more.
That sole is there for very good reason in a club footed (or a foundered) horse. I do lots and lots of these without Xrays, but I have lots of experience too and can read the foot. Isuggest you get some Xrays to help the farier see these things clearer.

Patty

[dobilover]

Hi all,

First let me apologize for taking so long to update everyone on my saddlebred. I have some very bad news. I finally got the x-rays back. I am trying to figure out how to scan them, so will post as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, I wanted to report the vet's findings. The clubbed foot has a severely rotated coffin bone. There is detachment from the hoof wall (not sure where yet or how much) and finally; he has seedy toe. I am absolutely devastated. The vet believes it is irreparable and that the horse should be put down. From this info, would most of you agree? I know ultimately it's my decision, but I was really hoping for your input. I will be posting the x-ray in the next day or two.

Thanks again,
Aretha

[Red Amor]

Love this site great advise fron all thankyou

AND RONNALD !! YOU STUD YOU :)

[Rick Burten]

[QUOTE=dobilover]Hi all,

>First let me apologize for taking so long to update everyone on my saddlebred. I have some very bad news. I finally got the x-rays back. I am trying to figure out how to scan them, so will post as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, I wanted to report the vet's findings.

Take a digital picture of them and then upload them to the site.


>The clubbed foot has a severely rotated coffin bone.

This was news to the vet? I think that all of us here, based on the earlier pictures you posted, expected that. Actually, the pictures Patty posted of a similar type foot, clearly indicate that. It is not a life ending situation unless the radiographs reveal something more sinister, such as severe bone loss.

>There is detachment from the hoof wall (not sure where yet or how much)

Again, this was news to the vet?

>and finally; he has seedy toe.

How did the vet make this determination?

Still not a big deal unless there has been a lot of infection deep within the hoof capsule and affecting the coffin bone. Once you get that foot correctly trimmed and managed, this will not be a problem(again, based on the information provided to this point)

>I am absolutely devastated.

Don't be.

>The vet believes it is irreparable and that the horse should be put down.

Unless there is something that the vet has seen that we don't yet know about, what he believes and what is reality are two different things.

>From this info, would most of you agree?

Personally, no, I don't agree.

>I know ultimately it's my decision, but I was really hoping for your input. I will be posting the x-ray in the next day or two.

Go back and re-read Ronald's posts and Patty's posts. Most everything you need to help this horse is contained there in. But if the person you are using to trim and/or shoe the horse is not very, very well versed in dealing with these hoof pathologies, your chance of success goes way down. That clubby foot will need constant attention, especially in the beginning.

I attend to several horses with at least that degree of pathology and most of these are show horses. I find that while they are on a six week schedule, I have to attend to the one high heeled foot every three weeks or less.

As soon as you are able to post those radiographs, we will be in a position to help you more. At the same time, post some current photos of the hooves including from the solar prospective.

Now, take a couple of deep breaths, relax a bit and lets see if together all of us are able to help your horse.

Rick

[calshoer]

The clubbed foot has a severely rotated coffin bone.

Well no surpize, a ***** would know that. A club foot is by definition one that has not had laminitis but has a rotated coffin bone. That is what MAKES it a club foot. And I bet on your X-rays the bone is at about the angle I marked up on your pictures.

There is detachment from the hoof wall (not sure where yet or how much)


Again no surprize, that is simply from the mismanagement of this foot , where the hoofwall in the toe was allowed to pull away from the bone. Totally fixable.

and finally; he has seedy toe.


Again no surprize, just a result of the toe being allowed to get pulled away from the bone,leting in fungi and bacteria. Fixable.


. I am absolutely devastated.

You should be ,with a doom and gloom vet prognosis like that.


The vet believes it is irreparable and that the horse should be put down.

Unless (like Rick said)there is also serious bone deterioration, putting him down seems really drastic.

From this info, would most of you agree?

In my opinion Absolutely not, unless the bone margin is really kapoot and you need him to be a performance horse.

I know ultimately it's my decision, but I was really hoping for your input. I will be posting the x-ray in the next day or two.

That will help a lot. Patty


Thanks again,
Aretha

[caballus]

Hi Aretha ... a couple of good references for you to scan through would be Jaime Jackson's "Founder" book and Hiltrud Strasser's "Who's Afraid of Founder" books (I don't advocate Strasser's trim, though, but she's got some good information in that little book that will help your understanding of what is going on with your horse's hooves.) Horses have AMAZING capabilities of healing themselves when given the correct parameters. Those parameters would be to get the hooves back to as natural as possible with shape, balance and form and then see to it the horse is allowed to move as much as he wants. Change the diet to a low carb/no sugar. Use fat for calories if you need and feed free choice low to medium quality grass hay. Turn him out with a buddy or two so he is encouraged to move alot and so he is not feeling stressed by being alone somewhere. I'd probably add a prebiotic to his feed like "Ration Plus" to help his body utilize all the nutrition from his diet that he can. You might even want to get some herbs to help with healthy hoof growth (Hawthorn Berries are good for this) to add to his diet along with some vitamins and minerals that are essential for hooves: Biotin, Zinc, Copper, Methionine.

I wouldn't even begin to think to give him up at this point. I'd politely thank the vet for all his/her help then do a ton of research and find someone who would be willing to go the more "natural" route for this horse and who agrees
with what my own findings are and what my own heart is saying. This means barefoot; no shoes. I'd also "ask the horse" then listen carefully to my own heart and gut according to what the impressions are from him.

Please don't give up on him. He's with you for a reason at this point. I watch alot of horses with similar or worse conditions go through careful care and treatments and go back to being show/pleasure horses in full health and function in spite of the doom and gloom prognosis' from vets and local farriers.

:) --Gwen

[dobilover]

Thank you Rick, Patty, Gwen and Jeannie! I apprecaite all of the feedback. I have gone to the suggested websites and am reading and studying. I plan on taking a digital picture of the x-ray and posting it here by the top of the week.

You know, there are not many fields where a lay person can post a problem and have a group of busy, qualified professionals give their input out of the goodness of their own hearts. You guys rock so hard! Please don't stop doing what you do here because there are real horses out there who are benefitting directly from your expertise (with Danny Boy at the front of that line). Sorry to gush, but I really am moved. :rolleyes: I refer my horse owning friends here whenever I can. If more people would read and learn the things you have taught me here, there would be a lot less lame horses.

Blessings,
Aretha

[dobilover]

Here are the x-rays as promised. I have included a couple views of the right "clubbed" foot, the left "good" foot and another x-ray which I'm not sure of (I wasn't there when they were taken). I think it may be from the heels facing forward, or from the toe facing back. Sorry, I was hoping you all might recognized it. Thank you again for all your help.

[Rick Burten]

Everything appears as predicted. Also, everything your farrier needs to have to get the feet trimmed correctly, has already been posted for you. With radiographs and info in hand, s/he should be able to get your horse trimmed and/or shod correctly.

Killing this horse(per your vet) does not appear to me to be a viable option at this time.

rick

[dobilover]

Rick, that's music to my ears. :D Do you see any (coffin) bone loss? Also, can you tell how severe or far up the white line disease has advanced?

Thanks again,
Aretha

P.S. Does the "normal" foot indeed appear normal?

[Rick Burten]

There appears to me to be some bone remodeling at the tip of p3 and perhaps some minor bone loss as compared to p3 of the other foot.

I cannot tell from the radiographs how extensive the WLD may be.

I think that the bony column alignment on the left front needs some tweaking. the bones appear to have assumed a broken back orientation and the palmer surface(bottom) of p3 does not appear to have a lot of sole depth beneath it.

Rick

[calshoer]

Some good markers on feet when they took the the Xrays would have been more help to see the hoofwall better,(maybe they are there but faint) but I agree with Rick.
Nothing here that wouldn't be expected with a long term, mismanaged, club foot.
Certainly nothing to kill him yet over, either.
There appears to be some remodeling of the tip of the coffin bone in the club foot, which is not great, but expected.

Mother nature simply takes away what is being traunmatized. In this case the edge of the bone. It is not pretty, and the resulting rough edges are certainly a problem but CAN be dealt with with the right shoeing to protect the area AND prevent anything from touching or pressing on the sole there. It is the almost the same as shoeing a foundered horse,even though this is not from laminitis.

The other foot (the left one) appears to have a "broken back" angle in the coffin joint because the angle of the cofin bone is too low and the toe is too long. Therefore it needs some mechanical help (probably frog support,and shoes with the breakover correctly placed closer to the end of the bone) Shortening the length of toe for breakover must be done WITHOUT trimming the sole of the toe from the bottom! This means moving the "pivot point of the toe " rearward with a rolled or rocker toe, all the while preserving the thickness of sole.You need a farrier who understands how to do this.

The bone of the club foot needs *protection* and properly placed breakover. I have done horses with far worse bone loss on the Xrays that this (including one I rescued for a dollar) and got them sound BUT it took the right kind of prtective shoeing, and they will be probably dependant on that shoeing for rest of their lives due to the bone loss, if they are expected to stay in work. Barefoot is NOT going to supply the needed bone protection when there is this much remodelling.
Take note barefooters, it is IMPOSSIBLE to rebuild lost bone or smooth the rough edges much , I don't care what kind of trim you do.
At any rate this IS salveagable, however I would find another (more enlightened and optimistic) vet, and a REALLY good farrier. Without both it is not nearly as possible to get it right.
Patty