My 4 yr old colt went lame approx 2 months ago, I could not get hold of my farrier and I was not 100% certain it was his hoof as at the present time, so I then resulted to the vet as it was not getting better no matter what I done or if he was in or out. So the vet come out and put it down to an abscess, he cut a large chunk out of his hoof and could not find any thing but he found an area which he detected was infected - this was cut back to the live part of his hoof! So he was very sore on it. The vet said to keep him in, poultice it and give him ant-biotics for a week and keep washing it out with hot salt water so I did, the vet come out a week later and still no blow out so vet then examined his hoof again and said it is now obvious it is not an actual abscess but there is an infection so don’t poultice it just keep washing it out with neat Iodine solution. I finally got hold of my farrier and he come out and surprisingly said the vet had done a good job - he said the tissue of the hoof is infected, he recommended putting his hoof in a bucket of salt water and as hot as my colt could bear and keep doing this, he said this should kill off the infection and then once his hoof grows out he should be ok. Two weeks later my colt seems to fine and not lame, so this was put down to an infection with the tissue not an abscess but it could have been the result of an under lying abscess. Anyhow my colt has been fine since the hoof has grown out until now, he has gone lame again and it is this same hoof - I have stabled him and he is a little better being off the wet grown but still very sensitive on it - I am very worried he has a weakness there or he has tissue damage!?!? Any ideas or advice please?

http://www.horseshoes.com/forums/index.php is a great resource for hoof related queries- well worth posting your concerns on their forum.

Thank you for the link, I am unable to register to this site unfortunately so am unable to post or get a response. But I will keep trying.

Also Thank you for the private messages. Both my vet and farrier (shockingly agree with each other) and to cut a long story short, they say there is an infection deep in the live part of the hoof and basically I just need to wait until the infection finds its way out as apparently an infection will only be found if it is ready and wants to be found!
But this is no help to me as this has been going on now for over 2 months and I am now getting rather concerned. I was going to have a second opinion from an alternative vet but being my farrier who is excellent has also agreed with my vet I am now not sure what to do!
Any advice gratefully received....

Have a look at a product called Anti b (www.ellencollinson.co.uk). It is a herbal antibiotic, I have had great results using this in cases where longer term drug treatment has been advised. It doesn't mess with your horses whole system, it goes straight to where it is needed. Best of luck.