About 2 yrs. ago, the state of Georgia had anywhere from 50 to 200 horses at any given time that they were boarding, feeding and eventually auctioning off. Most of them had been abandoned and/or starved by owners who could no longer afford them. They had 2 -4 auctions a year to keep the herd down to a manageable number. The cost for the state to manage this ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My friend at Ga. dept. of agriculture who was involved in this has since retired, so I don't know what the current status is.
I imagine Tn. D of A does something similar. You might call them to get their numbers.
This is sort of a rambling way of saying that dats82 is right about horses being one of the first expenses cut when times get tough.
I'm fairly certain that these horses were not taken care of before the state got them. If they didn't have money for feed, they probably didn't spend money for a farrier either.
That being said, good luck if you decide to go through with the school.