Club foot burro

Here are pictures of our burros--Mephibosheth is on the left and Abner is on the right. We named the gray donkey Mephibosheth because he has a club foot. In the Bible, Saul's son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth,* who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when Saul and Jonathan were killed at the battle of Jezreel. When news of the battle reached the capital, the child's nurse grabbed him and fled. But she fell and dropped him as she was running, and he became crippled as a result. 2 Samuel 4:4 Later when David was king (David who defeated Goliath) he sought out Mephibosheth to honor him because Jonathan, Mephibosheth's deceased father, had been a very dear friend to him and saved his life.
Here's a close up of Mephibosheth--and he is just as sweet and kind and gentle as the Mephibosheth in the Bible.

These burros were given to us because the previous owner couldn't get anyone to buy them and needed to get rid of them. Our friend Marsha asked her neighbor if we could have them for free and he said yes since he couldn't find a buyer. So 'Phib came to us with a club foot. We all just assumed it might have been from birth and was a deformity. It didn't seem to bother him and he walked on it just fine.

Here you can see his left front foot--it is basically a 45 degree angle, it looks like maybe he is just tilting his hoof or something but that is always how it is and he has to walk on it just like that. His hoof won't go flat on the ground.

As of lately he has really been having problems with it. He is limping all the time now and I feel so bad for him. He even lays down for long periods during the day when he should be grazing...Burros are such sweet pets (I think Burro is just a name for the wild donkeys out here). They are like dogs and just love attention. I think it is so cute how these two are shaggy--and no that's not just their winter coat--it must be part of their breed.

Our ferrier didn't know anything about club feet other than it seems to be more common with donkeys. The local donkey rescue didn't know anything either. I havn't called the vet yet but I will tomorrow. I'm fearful it may cost a lot of money--or even worse--perhaps there is nothing that can be done. Pray for us that it won't cost too much and that it can be corrected.

If anyone has any information at all that might be useful to me--please post a comment--thanks so much!