This sounds like what you have to do to trim goat's hooves. I hope your heels have improved over the years. They sound just like my oldest son's feet. He was a runner and man! he had the nastiest feet!
My feet have improved since living in the city. I don't hike or ride horses or do any of the myriad of things I did as a country teen. I still have issues with my heels, but it's mostly just some sandpapery-ness.
It's funny that foot fetishes were mentioned; until my husband came along, I barely paid attention to my feet. They're feet. You walk on them and touch the dirty ground with them. I couldn't fathom the concept of wanting to kiss toes. Buuuuuut, my hubby likes feet. So now I try to keep them at least nice, and he gets to paint my toenails. A definite improvement on my former demon-hooves, but when you have giant, size 10, wide man feet, true beauty ain't never happenin'.
And flip flops are great. It's the closest you can get to going barefoot while still wearing shoes. And until it's made law that free people can go barefoot all the time, I'm gonna love my flippy flops.