Q. Two days after my farrier shod my mare, she became lame on a front hoof. I pulled the shoe and put a boot on her until he could return. However, when I pulled the shoe, I saw that he had put two nails in too high. She is painful and won’t put any weight on it at all. How long will this go on?

Richard, via e-mail

A. Lameness and infection caused by a misplaced nail can have serious consequences if not treated appropriately.

It’s not that the nail is driven too high, it’s that the nail is placed too deep, where it invades the sensitive laminae. The nail damages the laminae, and seeds the area with bacteria. The nail itself acts as a foreign body leading to an infection. Upon removing the shoe, the suspected nail’s entrance will be located inside the white zone on the bottom of the foot. A pain response is confirmed when hoof testers are used over the nail hole