I am back at work, and so finally have time to post...
There is a lot of really interesting information coming on this thread, and some fascinating links... I have tried to read them all, and have gone off on some interesting Google tangents.
Nutrition keeps coming up, but I think Ahab is doing fine in this regard, He is on a high fat, low carb, low sugar diet
www.draftresource.com/EPSM/Draft_EPSM_Diets.html
based on Omegatin feed (20% fat) fed at the minimum reommended rate of 3 pounds a day. I have an automatic feeder that gives him one pound, and the rest is fed morning and night with added suppliments and flax & black oil sunflower seeds and oil to keep the fat levels enough for 1500 pounds of horse. His suppliments include Source Focus HF Hoof, daily Strongid dewormert, and Glanzen 3 (just because I want to.) He gets timothy hay pretty much free feed, which comes out to about 14 pounds a day, and about 2 pounds of alfalfa cubes.
BUT, his turnout gets muddy when it rains, and he doesn't get enough excercise. Those are two things we are working on. He has access to a paddock 24/7 and his stall area is 12 x 24 and is quite dry, but his paddock isn't. We are working on that.
I think his farrier is good. His hooves look, to me, better by far than they have ever looked. He had flares on every hoof, which are now gone, his heels used to be right under him and his toes stretched on forever. And I think his toe crack is looking better since he came back here in December. Since I have had Ahab, he has had 6 farriers, with my current farrier being the sixth.
I have no strong feelings about shoes versus barefooted. My Arab wore shoes for about three years on and off, until my then farrier, the very best farrier I've ever had, suggested I try him barefoot, as his hoofs were so strong.
My Arab's mother and a thoroughbred I leased could not be barefoot, at all. If you rode them, you had to shoe them, and the thoroughbred needed new shoes or resets every six weeks, at least. So if shoes are the answer, I am fine with that.
One thing I read is that with a toe crack you have two options; holding the crack together or holding it apart, and this person felt that itwould heal better when held apart. Hmmm. Interesting.