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Hi all,

My paint (QH) has thick walls and thick soles.  Great feet all winter.  But in the summer, the problem is that one set of old holes crack to the next below.  So badly by mid summer, that sometimes a section will even break out and there's nothing to nail to mid hoof. 

I've tried to go barefoot and use Epics and Old Macs.  The problem is he forges.  The farrier sets the eventer shoes back and rolls the toe in the fronts and this has solved it completely for a few years.  But with a boot, that *adds* to his natural toe, let alone cannot set it back, so he smacks the boots and tears them apart.

To get ahead of the game this season, I left him barefoot this winter for the last 4 months to grow out all old holes and start clean.  My question is:  When I get the second shoeing and have a new set of nail holes, would it help to *fill* in the old ones above with some sort of filler?  The problem seems to be that moisture from my pasture and dry summer conditions make those empty holes start to crack...  My shoer says no, but I don't know why...would make sense to me that that it may help?

I've tried Biotin supplements for 14 months, but saw no change on the shelly summer issue, so I don't waste my money any more.  I've tried moisturizing the hooves in the summer.  I've tried greasy topical stuff to keep them from absorbing the moisture in my pasture.  It seems I've tried all sorts of things, but they always do the same thing every summer. 

Any advice is appreciated!

Dawn