Thanks everyone. And Buddyroo, I understood your point. I think the farriers not showing had first to do with distance and not wanting to travel even though I said there were other horses for him. The second had other people out there but they only needed trimmed on 8 weeks schedules and getting him to come out earlier for her was impossibly. He also helped lead to these cracks and said they were no big deal and actually made them worse in one trim. It was a nightmare and that was his last day on the job. There are also only a few farriers here and a lot of horses so they can kinda do what they want without losing any business. I don’t have a trailer and don’t have anyone I can borrow from. No one at the barn I am at has one either. So, I will buy a rasp and learn how to do it myself for the inbetween trims. Can’t be that hard, lol. 
Based on what you’re saying, I think it would make total sense for you to start really educating yourself. There are a lot of nutty guru type farrier things out there so be careful. If you can find a good farrier who is willing to work with you–he/she doing the regular 4-8 week trim (8 weeks! argh!)–and you doing the weekly or 2 week touch ups, I think that’s best. It’s probably not wise to just dive in doing it yourself without any guidance and oversight. Afterall…no hoof, no horse. It’s not particularly difficult to trim a horse. But to do it well requires understanding of the big picture. Trimming a horse to a textbook ideal isn’t always the right thing. You have to trim to the horse in front of you.
I’m no expert. I wish you the best of luck.
My older TB mare has a crack in each front foot. Her’s are no where as deep as your horse. My farrier was worried about fungus so he pared them open just slightly. He wanted me to use a thrush product on her which I did. I alternate between a conditioning hoof oil if it is dry out and Kevlar Tough Stuff when it is wet. I would be concerned that he thinks he needs to do something drastic that will make her sore for a while. My mare has front shoes on and I think this helps her immensely. She just had her feet done yesterday. Even though she had lost one of her front shoes a few days before he came, he said he thought her feet looked better with the treatments I had been doing.
BellaMia - I think I know where you are located. Reach out to Mike Vizcaino. He is a certified journeyman farrier and the best in the area. He and his boys have been shoeing and trimming my horses for years.
I would NOT let anyone who’s told me he’s going to ‘cut off my horse’s foot and he WILL be sore’ step foot on my property again. Period. Full stop.
WHY are you even giving this a nano-second of thought?
headdesk
Because he is one of the best in the area and until batman the horse gave me another recommendation for someone else I still need to follow up with to see if they will travel to me, the last one I have to use. He does listen so if I say I want something different he will do it differently, she has been making positive progress under him thus far when two other farriers really messed her up and no showed constantly and while that is his thought, I didn’t know if I was the one being unrealistic or if I was right and waiting patiently is the better option. Which is why I asked opinions on here. Not everyone has all the options you apparently do Sansena and if you hit your head on your desk any harder, you might lose a few brain cells. Is this worth that?
[QUOTE=BellaMia;8284762]
Because he is one of the best in the area and until batman the horse gave me another recommendation for someone else I still need to follow up with to see if they will travel to me, the last one I have to use. He does listen so if I say I want something different he will do it differently, she has been making positive progress under him thus far when two other farriers really messed her up and no showed constantly and while that is his thought, I didn’t know if I was the one being unrealistic or if I was right and waiting patiently is the better option. Which is why I asked opinions on here. Not everyone has all the options you apparently do Sansena and if you hit your head on your desk any harder, you might lose a few brain cells. Is this worth that?[/QUOTE]
Oh honey, been there done that! Best move I ever made was to a farrier I could talk with and make a plan and moved away from the “best”. My horses feet never looked better! It’s hard to make that move when everyone says they are “the best”. Everyone! But I knew something was up and finally made the move.
First off trimming alone will not cure an unhealthy foot. I agree with JB stop the moisturizer. You have to keep the horse out of a wet environment. You also have to make sure there is no infection which sometimes means opening the area (not cutting off the foot) to get to clean, healthy tissue for treatment. The foot needs to be treated (I won’t go into details) and packed daily then coated with a moisture blocking product (instead of venice turpentine I use Farrier’s Fix which has that plus other ingredients). Also feed for the feet. It’s a long process and a constant job when you live in Florida.
Let me add that I live in the same area and educated myself 10 years ago to do my own because of the unreliability of the farriers in this area and the fact that I tried every “best” one and my horse wound up with a lot of abscesses.
[QUOTE=CindyCRNA;8286905]
Oh honey, been there done that! Best move I ever made was to a farrier I could talk with and make a plan and moved away from the “best”. My horses feet never looked better! It’s hard to make that move when everyone says they are “the best”. Everyone! But I knew something was up and finally made the move.[/QUOTE]
Me too. The farrier I was using was “the best”, and that was according to pretty much everyone around here. But - my horse’s feet looked like crap even though I was getting them trimmed religiously every 3 to 4 weeks. I switched to a barefoot trimmer and the difference in my horse’s feet is amazing. Those contracted heels that we couldn’t get rid of? The ones that my previous big shot farrier told me “were just the way some horses are made”? After 3 months with my new trimmer my boy’s heels are spreading very nicely and his frogs are really beefing up. Also, his movement is much better, since he no longer has too long toes and underrun heels. Trust your gut.
Just remember you want your horse’s feet hard and dry, not moist. Moisture rots the feet, encourages disease growth and splits the hooves.
Keep him out of wet grass or mud, use farrier’s fix to harden and protect the feet and get a good farrier. But stop moisturizing the feet. Why would you want to do that, anyway? Good luck.
They were super dry causing the cracks to spread. Moisturizing helped keep the hoof from continuing to crack as it grew out. Now though it is muddy and I am battling a thousand and one issues is seems like. Cracks are shooting up, hoofs are super funky look and breaking off and shredding at the walls. I have never seen anything like this and am struggling to get the farrier back out!!!
Have you considered that long term, it may make the most sense to take a week long (or even weekend) trimming course? At least then you could keep up with trims between farrier visits as needed.
Dryness isn’t causing the cracks to spread, the improper hoof form causes that. Also causes the breaking off. If they were in proper form there wouldn’t be pieces to break off. The moisture is causing the shredding and it’s not helping the cracking any. You need someone to give the horse a proper trim and you need to keep the hooves dry. Nothing you put on the hoof is going to help your problems, with the exception of something like Keratex, that will seal the moisture out. But, without a proper trim first, that’s still not going to do much good.
Not trying to be harsh, that’s just the way things are.
[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;8302531]
Dryness isn’t causing the cracks to spread, the improper hoof form causes that. Also causes the breaking off. If they were in proper form there wouldn’t be pieces to break off. The moisture is causing the shredding and it’s not helping the cracking any. You need someone to give the horse a proper trim and you need to keep the hooves dry. Nothing you put on the hoof is going to help your problems, with the exception of something like Keratex, that will seal the moisture out. But, without a proper trim first, that’s still not going to do much good.
Not trying to be harsh, that’s just the way things are.[/QUOTE]
These are the facts, the ONLY facts involved in your horse’s problems. The moisture you are putting on his feet is making this worse, you MUST stop. Of course, you don’t have to, you can tell yourself anything you want, but moistursing did not stop anything about the cracks, and it caused the shedding. And the cracks are caused by improper shape and trim and nothing else. You can decide if your horse’s feet are worth keeping him out of the mud and wet until they get better or not. But if you don’t make the changes which will correct his feet, they will not get better and you really don’t have anything to complain about.
I’m sorry your horse’s feet are shredding and shedding because you are moisturizing the bejeezus out of theml, but that’s what happens. I’m sorry your horse’s feet are cracking because of the horrible trims he’s getting, or not getting frequently enough, as the case may be, but that’s what happens when you don’t get a good farrier.
I agree with you, OP, its a terrible shame. But either you correct what you have been doing, and stop defending it, or you just accept it. Good luck.
No, no, no. Don’t let your farrier do a resection w/out a vet looking over his shoulder.
You’ve had good advice. Do what AKB said about the vet school.
It’s kind of fun to be able to rasp your horses’ feet. It’s more fun if you use a hoof jack.
I am gong to be doing them myself after training. Just trying to hang on to the good growth.
Not moisturizing at this time because it it wet. That was only when it was hot, sandy, drying and the moisture was being sucked clear out of those feet. Season has changed.
May I recommend a hoof supplement that really works? I use Foundation–which is expensive to buy, but a bargain since the dosage is small. You need to buy it from a vet or from one of their distributors. http://www.vetriscience.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=900575120
I use it on two horses, both of whom are big guys, both of whom had really crappy feet, but the hooves have become very strong with this stuff.
Oddly enough, my smaller horses have really good feet without a supplement at all. I would guess that what I’m feeding doesn’t supply enough of some mineral that the bigger horses need more of.
[QUOTE=BellaMia;8303299]
I am gong to be doing them myself after training. Just trying to hang on to the good growth.
Not moisturizing at this time because it it wet. That was only when it was hot, sandy, drying and the moisture was being sucked clear out of those feet. Season has changed.[/QUOTE]
And still you should not be moisturizing feet. They are SUPPOSED to be hard and dry.
You are continuing to have problems because feet that are badly trimmed are not getting any chance to dry out.
That’s why I ask here JB because you can be told a thousand different things but here everyone cuts to the chase and brings it back home where it should be. 
If this is the Bella Mia I know of, don’t you have a covered arena? Couldn’t you turn out there to avoid the wetness? Lately, my guys only get out an hour or so because it’s been so rainy and they are used to being out 24/7.
