Farrier etiquette

[Marsha Cassada]

My regular farrier texted and said he could not do our horses on this round. It would be four more weeks till our "cycle" came around again. I have my horses done every four weeks. I called another farrier and asked if he could fit me in, as my horses cannot safely wait eight weeks for a trim. The other farrier was willing, and did a nice job. He complimented their hoof condition. He was very careful of Dapper Dan's arthritis.
My regular farrier is sure to notice that the hooves have had a trim. He is rather prickly, so we sort of tiptoe around him (good farriers don't grow on trees and we try to be considerate customers). If he asks I'll probably have to tell, but I probably won't mention the in-between trim otherwise.

 

[Dragon Hill]

Hopefully, he will pretend not to notice, since he knows how important it is for you to maintain your horses feet and it wouldn't be safe to wait.

 

[dalvers63]

It is not like you cancelled on him and called someone else. HE is the one that cancelled and you had the best interests of your horses in mind. In my opinion, if he has a problem I'd tell him just that - your horses could not wait and you took care of them. If he doesn't like it, then maybe it is time to change farriers

 

[Abby P]

Yep, totally agree. You didn't "cheat" on him, he's the one who skipped you for whatever reason. And now you know you have someone to call if this situation arises again or if you need to change for whatever reason. Always good to have a backup!

 

[MaryFlora]

I agree, if it comes up, it would be respectful to simply tell him. It’s understandable that something happened to change your farrier’s route, sometimes that’s life, and you sure hope he can continue to work with your horses. Especially since he does such good work!

Coincidentally, our farrier is scheduled for tomorrow and the high for the day is around 12 degrees. I would love a warmer day, but as we all know good farriers are special people! Besides, waiting until May would be a really bad idea!!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I agree, if it comes up, it would be respectful to simply tell him. It’s understandable that something happened to change your farrier’s route, sometimes that’s life, and you sure hope he can continue to work with your horses. Especially since he does such good work!

Coincidentally, our farrier is scheduled for tomorrow and the high for the day is around 12 degrees. I would love a warmer day, but as we all know good farriers are special people! Besides, waiting until May would be a really bad idea!!

It was dang chilly when we met the farrier yesterday at the local sale barn parking lot. I thought we would be able to work on the lee side of the barn, but it was goat/sheep sale weekend! So we had to stand in the cold wind.
The barn owner said about 1000 head go through each sale day! There was a lot of baaing going on.

 

[Abby P]

I have to say, having trimmed a lot of horses in all kinds of weather, the only two things that really bummed me out were having to work in the rain (Ruins your tools! Gets your butt wet!), and having to work without shade on a hot sunny day. It's such hard work that as long as you have good boots on, you stay warm just fine! The cold is much harder on the person who has to hold the lead rope and just stand there!

 

[charlottein]

I've considered learning to do it myself, since mine are straightforward, but my farrier does such a good job and is so reliable and nice... Wish her prices hadn't risen so high though - $55 each horse now. Started at $35 years ago when I started with her.

 

[HersheyMint]

That is what I pay here in CA Minis should be half price

 

[Marsha Cassada]

That is what I pay here in CA Minis should be half price

They are harder to do. My farrier has to sit on the ground. Some farriers won't even do miniatures.
I pay $25. He charges $30 for big horses. (I give him $60 for my two miniatures)

 

[Kelly]

I was paying $40 per horse, then we moved and now my farrier drives an hour to my house so he increased his price to $45 per horse. $25 would be soooo nice, can your farrier move to Fort Worth please?

 

[Capriole]

That's funny...I literally just came in from holding them for the farrier. I got 5 minutes notice he was coming today ( my sister in law came in ..."I forgot to tell you Matt's coming this morning ...He'll be here at nine. I look at the clock...8:55)! I had to run out and catch them....Farah (the Arab) didn't want to be caught....unusual for her, but it is pretty windy so they were both on edge anyway.
When I first got Prince he (Matt, the farrier) told me how his mentor HATED doing minis and small ponies so much he would charge EXTRA for them so people wouldn't want him to do them
Anyway, yes I agree....it would be very unreasonable for your farrier to be offended or upset because you had someone else trim your horses since HE cancelled.

 

[Capriole]

Oh, if it makes anyone feel a little better....his prices just went up recently to $75.00....but, he's well worth it.....he does an excellent job, he's considerate of the horses, patient and doesn't blame a horse for being a horse. (I'm not going to lie, though...it would be nice to be back at $55.00)

They are on a 6 - 8 week schedule, though....so that's not too bad, now that I think about it.

 

[rgsiiiya]

>> ...his prices just went up recently to $75.00.

Guess i'm not going to complain any more.

I pay $45 a horse.
Like everyone else here, my Ferrier is super great with the mini's and keeps their hooves in fantastic shape. Even my vet has complimented their feet condition.

 

[hganser]

Hello Everyone,

I've been reading along and want to introduce myself and jump into this conversation. My 15 year old daughter and I adopted two minis last year during the pandemic. Both of my parents died and she got very depressed, so I got her two therepy horses! She is a horse person, me not so much, but I'm learning.

We live on Martha's Vineyard, a very beautiful, very expensive place to live. Our farrier, who is fabulous, comes from off-lsland, from PA, and we pay $200 for both minis. She charges $150 for each big horse, but she knows I am a single mother, a teacher on MV, and don't have a lot of money, so she gives me a great deal. I was shocked when I saw what you all were paying! Oh well. The things we do for our childre.

I am learning a lot from all of you and I hope to start posting and learning more. I have a lot to learn! I am going to try to post a picture of my daughter, Cameron, and Sweet Pea and Pumpkin. I'll tell you their stories another time.
(I did it! I'm so proud of myself! I'm not very tech savvy...)

Thank you all for sharing. It's not only informative, it's inspiring!

Heidi

 

[Willow Flats]

Welcome to the forum! All 3 just adorable! Congrats on uploading the photo. You are "doing mom" most excellent too. Yikes on the farrier costs!

 

[MaryFlora]

Ditto Willow Flats! Yikes!

Sincere condolences on your double loss. You were very wise to involve your daughter with animals and minis are a wonderful choice! There are so many things you can do with minis!!!!!!!

Welcome to you all!

 

[hganser]

Thank you both for your kinds words. I'm learning from you about all the fun things that we could do with our minis. Right now, I have to be honest, I love them, but it just seems like a lot of work to me. Maybe when the weather warms up, I can engage my daughter in more training and walking with them. We started training with her mounted archery teacher, a brilliant trainer whose mini aka Tony Smalls is a therapy horse who regularly visits the nursing home at the hosipital and paints and plays musical instruments and takes cash donations for fundraisers! But then my daughter lost interest and I began to wonder why I was doing it by myself. She wants to learn to cart, but we don't know where to begin. I thought it would be fun to do birthday parties. Sweet Pea loves to give small children rides and Pumpkin could easily learn to cart. The horse trader we bought her from showed us a video of her doing it, but she was pulling him and it didn't look fun for her. Both came with a lot of depression (Sweet Pea, 17 years) and anxiety (Pumpkin, 6 years).

Does anyone know of any good training videos for carting?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Both of the horses have a wonderful, open and friendly face. You are all four doing a great job together. Looking forward to seeing more of you all

 

[hganser]

Thank you! Your words of encouragement mean a lot to me. Good luck with the farrier!