pastern bone injury

[Ramsayge]

I have a 5 year old quarterhorse that broke a small piece off the back of the bottom end of his pastern bone (hind leg) in March 2003. The sliver of bone was only about 1/8 inch thick but I assume was attached to ligaments. The leg was put in a cast for 6 weeks. He was in stall rest for 6 or 7 months. He walks with a limp and the fetlock drops about 1 inch lower on this leg than on the other one. I wear sport medicine boots, is there a shoe that would help to mprove this situation?
Or is there a special way of trimming that one foot. My farrier has never dealt with a problem like this before. Thanks Gordon

[calshoer]

I would definitely ask your veterinarian for more detailed information about the extent of the initial injury and what besides the bone may have been involved.
How did the injury occur? It sounds like there may have initially been some over flexion of the fetlock or a bad mis-step , resulting in the fracture and possibly a suspensory ligament injury as well.
I only suspect this because a damaged/weakend suspensory apparatus would cause the dropping of the fetlock.
You may need more current diagnostics (such as new Xrays and an ultrasound of the tendons and ligaments in the fetlock region) to see what all tissues may have been involved or did not heal well, and then design a shoeing appropriate for those specific problems. Patty