my horse has sore feet!!

Could be a number of reasons, the farrier cut his sole too close and it's sore, could be a "hot" nail

Like Dana said.....could be one of many things.  But...I gotta say this.  If it's a 'hot nail', you gotta have that shoe pulled...like...right away!  The farrier will know.  (Mine says...Listen....you can HEAR the nails sing!)

I would call the farrier back out to investigate!

Is there any heat coming from around a certain hoof or just above the hoof?  If there is a hot nail (infection from nail in the sensitive area behind the white line), stone bruise, or abscess then one hoof would feel hotter than the other, with a pounding pulse.  The best you can do in the meantime would be to give your horse Bute or Banamine twice a day and try cool epsom salt soaks (easier said than done) or running cold water from a hose over the hoof for 10-15 minutes several times a day. 

If you let your horse's feet go too long between trimmings and shoeings you are inviting all kinds of complicaitons.  The horse can start walking unnaturally on long toes; the tendons and coffin bone can move to compensate for this, and the sole will grow thicker in the distorted areas where perssure is being placed.  When the hoof is trimmed waay back to a 'perfect' hoof then a lot of tender sole is exposed and the horse also is forced to place its wieght on a new area and use the stretched tendons differently.

When BF and I have to handle a horse that is way overgrown in the hoof (thankfully none of ours but the Haflingers I get in my care for training have horribly neglected feet when they arrive) then we do not take all of the overgrown hoof off at once.  We will trim in 2 to 3-week intervals, to give the horse time to adjust to walking upright again and let the sole harden.   Usually there is so much extra toe that we can actually set shoes every 2 weeks and trim off up to the old nail holes each time. 

I will have some pictures of an anonymous horse soon, we are taking on a new one who has not been trimmed since last summer.  This, of course, is an extreme case.

This is going to sound stupid but.... if a dog's nails aren't kept trimmed, his "quick" will grow longer and you have to trim back slowly to get the quick to recede.  I think, if a horse's hooves grow too long and aren't trimmed on a regular basis and KEPT at the correct length, the "quick" grows a bit further out.  Sounds like your farrier trimmed back to "good" hoof length but might have been too much for a longer foot and  quicked your horse.  I think he would be limping without the shoes.  No shoes until he stops limping, imo.  It's a matter of time.  A week?  Depends on how fast the feet grow.

Let me say this, too.  I grew up with a QH.  My mom, of course, was ultimately in charge of the care of him and his feet always went without trimming.  I showed him Hunter under Saddle, English Pleasure and Eng. Equitation (and always did REALLY well) - he was soured over fences.  Anyway, mom would wait till the last minute and the trainer would say "you HAVE to have his feet trimmed before the show"  and he'd get trimmed a couple days prior and be gimpy.  We missed a lot of shows that way.  BUT I keep mine trimmed today.  Thanks to an amazing trimmer who just shows up on time without being called!!!

This is going to sound stupid but....

Why ever do you think it sounds stupid hunter?? Perfect example I reckon. Good explanation by 3equines too. Don't know that I agree with sole growing thicker being a problem tho - that's what I strive for!

IMO your description outlines very well what is wrong with the methods of those who believe in trimming to some preconceived 'perfect' measurements and angles. Hooves do try to adapt in order to function in compromised situations, so if you try to carve a 'perfect' hoof(aside from the argument of what's 'perfect'...) onto something that's foundered or whatever, then you're likely to do far more harm than good.

Aside from the above, many horses have 'dropped' thin soles and many farriers still believe in routinely paring or rasping into the sole, which is already too thin, and the frog which may just be beginning to toughen up since the last trim...

So Mason, you posted this a couple of weeks back now. What was the verdict?

Okay.... then wasn't that brilliant! []