That's so sad, but as an owner of a couple of older horses I fully support and agree with what you have done. Sometimes it's just too much to ask them to recover from.
I think an apple tree would be nice, then she can provide something nice for her field mates in years to come.
It may well be that his hindgut is uncomfortable (quite possibly if he has laminitis) so that may account for a "not quite right" on the back end
Interestingly my little lad Bramble has very white skin round his plug hole - he gets quite inflamed around there when he has a laminitic episode...
It's not easy. There are no "always right" answers, there ois only the "right answer for your horse" and despite the wealth of well meant dogma out there you really have to experiment and find it for yourself. :)
It's back to the old argument about peripheral support (Bob Bowker's argument)
And I think your argument on the shoes "lowering the trigger point" is kind of a dangerous one. I don;t think there is a trigger point, it'll be different for every horse. I think the trigger point is when the pain...
A laminitis prone/actual laminitis horse is one in shoes or out of shoes.
Just in shoes, you'll get a lot less warning and it will be more advanced by the time you realise there is a real problem. I've had both shod and unshod with laminitis.
Shoes will not prevent laminitis, it will only...
It is NEVER wrong to treat any unexplained footiness as if it was laminitis - until laminitis is eliminated as a cause.
Especially at this time of the year
Spooking can be a sign of low grade intermittent pain too.
Forget the hoof hardener - it will only interfere with he moisture gradient in the hoof (that's important, it's part of the shock absorbing mechanism) - at best it will dry out the surface - do you really want to be handling formaldehyde? I don't
he needs to be on some drier ground - bog is...
Let it exfoliate on its own. Can you put him/her onto a gravel paddock for a short while?
Might be worth "flossing" through that central sulcus each day with a rolled up baby wipe. A couple of weeks of that and you may see it start to decontract a bit
Xrays will tell you if there is a balance problem, it may be conformation so the hoof may be as good as it's goignt o get.
Personally I'd get it on to an abrasive surface (like pea gravel) and let it have lots of movement so it sets itself up for the way the horse is actually moving. Remember...
Farmer has nice haylege and hay for sale if anyone needs - Blackburn area just outside Aberdeen.
Just opened the first of the hayage yesterday and it's just right. Lads are shoving it down :)
If he's struggling barefoot then you can boot, or shoe
But shoeing, if you chose to go down that route, needs to be done eyes wide open. You still have a horse with sensitive compromised feet, but the shoes and pads will mask that and if a crash comes it will come suddenly.
Sounds like you...
PPS> And if it is ovary issues or hindgut pain then asking for circles and stepping under lateral movements may be uncomfortable for her, so it's not really fair to ask.