Farrier

[zoey829]

The farm we bought from the guy was a farrier :aktion033: He did the hooves for dinner and a beer!! Since he moved I tried 15 farriers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Most were no show or crazy

:

Then I found a woman I loved. She was supposed to come today and no showed. I called and she said she lost her book!!! Everyone is away was got a fan system for her and all. She is supposed to call back and nothing!! I have given her business reccomended her. I know things happen, but it is your job. Call in advance. Ugh!!

Ok I am done, thanks for listening!!!

 

[CZP1]

We went through a few farriers and after all the headaches and sore feet. Hubby does the trimming on the minis now. My neighbor has been trimming and shoeing horses since he was a teenager and showed my husband how to trim the feet. Since I have had horses for over 23 years, you learn from watching the other farriers and I "guide" my husband.

So far so good, horses are happy and their feet look good.

Good Luck, I know it is hard to find someone especially when you tell them you have minis.

 

[BeckyG]

I share your pain.

:

Finding a good farrier seems to be difficult to begin with…… and finding one who is reliable even harder. We have not been successful finding a farrier. My husband trims our horses, too.

-Becky

 

[zoey829]

That is what my husband said. He will do it himself. The previous owner said he will show him He said trimming isnt bad and if he could spackle he could file

:

WE will see, She did call and said she would be out around 8 at night. Great another long day.

 

[Rebecca]

That stinks!

Our farrier is extremely good!

: He comes up from Mass. and does our horses fet and our neighbors. He's really calm, which is a MUST, Covergirl doesn't like her feet touched and FLIES. He's very nice and always on time!

Hope your farrier troubles end soon!

:

 

[Sterling]

I believe you're in NJ.....are you in the south Jersey area? If you'd like to pm me your town, I can let you know about my farrier....I've had him for a few years now and he is very reliable. If he's even 10 minutes late he gives me a call. I'm sorry you're having troubles with finding a reliable farrier, I know how difficult that can be.

 

[Jill]

what I found was not a lot of farriers really want to do minis. We've had some GREAT farriers in terms of the job done, but did have issues about appointments being kept, or them being willing / able to do all the mins when they did finally arrive SO we worked w/ the farrier to learn how to do our own horses. We used to alternate we do them once, he did them the next time and graduated to us doing them all by ourselves. We've been doing our own for 3 or so years now, and very happy with the results.

 

[Witts Mini Horse Ranch]

:no: Same problem here........so I have started doing the mini's myself, they stand better for me anyway (and saves a lot of money) takes me a little longer trying to be careful and get them just right and even...but still afraid to do the full size horses...been going back and forth waiting on one for over a month now, no shows and excuses

 

[Leeana]

We have tons of farriers around here.

The biggest problem is getting ahold of them though. I call, never get an answer. Leave call back numbers and nope, nothing ..dont hear back. The only guy who we can ever get ahold of it seems is the one that charges $35/trim! Sorry, i have to cringe at paying $35 to a guy who lives 5 minutes away and spends about 10 minuts doing his job, thats just a bit much.

I was shown who to trim the horses hooves and i do the horses who dont show hooves myself, stallion, mares and my pet gelding. I WILL NOT touch the show horses hooves though bc so much goes into that, i have the farrier do those hooves. The last farrier we had out here, i seen he was new and only charged $20, pretty good price. I always chat with the farriers and when he was here i asked him about his schooling ext, well he had no schooling for trimming/shoeing, just watched his dad do it all his life. big red flag to me, to bad he was already most of the way through the horses. Not even a week later i noticed some of the hooves already started to crack in area's. He will never be out here agian, i'd rather do it myself honestly. I'm just getting over that .

A good farrier is hard to find!!!!

 

[zoey829]

What a long day. She still has to come back in aug to finish! At least it is started!

All these prob w/ farriers. I dont know I work when people call me. It is called a job. I know things come up but it seems to be common to be a common occurance among farriers. Jeez I wish I could pick and choose jobs and turn cash away.

 

[SHANA]

My cousin is a farrier and I asked him to show me how to trim and file the hooves properly. So I do my minis myself and I did show my husband so he can help too. it goes faster that way. My cousin still trims my 2 arabians though.

 

[Jill]

I actually think once you know how you want the horses' feet to look (and especially if you factor in having more than just a couple), you won't really be pleased unless you learn to do them yourself. Plus, in many locations, GOOD farriers really can pick and choose who they trim for and I know these minis are back busters. One of the perks of being good at what you do is sometimes you are able to pick and choose (I know I've been able to turn down clients...). It's almost a "must do" in some cases.

 

[Fred]

Is this the first time the farrier has done this? You might just want to reconsider being so negative about a missed appointment. I am a farrier and right now it is a VERY busy season. Calls can be accidentally shifted to the back of the book and things can happen. I'm sure you have probably accidentally missed some type of appointment in your life. If you are just griping about one appointment shame on you, and if the farrier does come out a 8:00 at night that is an extremely long day for her also and she is trying to accomadate you. Believe me right now I am pretty ticked off at a bunch of clients that have forgotten THEIR appointments. When one client does this it becomes a snowball effect. I can tell you right now if you call the vet for an appointment you won't get a set time because emergencies can happen and it also happens with farriers. I have clients that think I should drop absollutely everthing I am doing and run right out and do their horse immediately thats not right. I do horses as they need to be done and try to please my customers to the best of my ability and it can be very hard. Try to do my job on a daily basis, just try it sometime. Most people take a course and find out just how hard it is to do physically as well as mentally. Try trimming or shoeing horses with no fly spray [because the owner always runs out] during bug season. Then you have freezing weather, mud, hair and ill mannered horses that the owner thinks do no wrong. Yes maybe you do do everything right but did you tell your farrier how you feel? Probably not. Don't get me wrong I love my job as hard as it is and I am fortunate that I have a mostly great bunch of clients, but put yourself in the farriers shoes. Flame all you want.

: Linda

 

[luvmymini2]

Sorry about your farrier..it really is hard to find one that is consistant..mine has me on a sheduel,his wife calls me a week before to let me know what time and what day he will be comming..he charges 20.00 a head...he loves to do the minis..He also does sharons too...I hope you find a good farrier, they are so important...I'm afraid to do my own....good luck...Pat

 

[Margaret]

Bless your heart Linda, I can only imadgine your challenges. Sometimes it seems hard for me to just keep up on my own horses in my back pasture.. I would recommend that every one that has a concern about getting their horses done on time, or even getting them done right, to start paying attention on how to trim hooves.. and ask questions of your current farrier, and watch him do your horses hooves..

I did this years ago, and have been doing mine every since, thru the initial teaching and final coaching of an experienced farrier..

Now not only do I do my own, but a couple of friends call me every so often to do theirs.

Its a good trade to know in the event you will need to use it..

Once I knew how to do it,- I told myself I'll probably never have to do it.. so I kept using my regular farrier..

But once she moved away, I've been doing mine every since.

 

[tagalong]

Well said, Linda... a few years ago my friend Cheryl was one of only two farriers in our immense area... and yet all too often clients treated her as an afterthought. She would arrive at a farm for an appointment - and find a halter and rope on the gate - and a note saying "trim Bucky... careful, he kicks..." And somehow she was expected to catch Bucky the Uncatchable in that 20 acre pasture and deal with his foul manners.

She would have owners hanging over her shoulder telling her what to do and how to do it - even if they were absolute beginners and knew nothing about horses - but had just bought one off a dude string and then read a few paragraphs in Western Horseman about how to shoe reiners...

: ...that same person would then be overheard at the feed store telling everyone how Cheryl "screwed up" their "reining prospect'' as she had refused to put sliding plates on a lazy QH gelding whose owner was terrified of trotting on - let alone doing rundowns, spins, rollbacks and sliding stops...

Owners would call her on a Thursday and demand that she come out to trim and reset Dynamite before the weekend as they needed to haul him to Somewhere to do Something Very Important... so she would shuffle appointments around and fit those folks in later in the evening - only to have them gripe at her for their long day. They were not the ones coming off a long day of hard labour in 90 degree heat - yet she fit them in as best she could...

And yes - minis are backbreakers... Cheryl even shortened some nippers' handles so that they would fit under the minis better...

Sometimes I think we need to pause - and look at things from the farrier's point of view...

:

 

[SilverDollar]

I guess that overall I have been lucky with farriers/trimmers. I've had a few "challenging" ones but they didn't last (and one even almost killed my pony with her extreme trim--threw her into an acute founder, that's now chronic). Linda is right...farriers have a hard job and I can't believe how some owners treat their equine professionals! Tagalong, your comments are funny, although they're sadly true.

I just love my trimmer. She does a great job and is one of the most conscientious ones I've found. She studies constantly, always learning. She loves trimming the minis and to make her job easier, I purchased a mini rasp and a mini Hoofjack. (I like to keep my crew happy!)

: Although I've taken numerous workshops, trimmed cadaver hooves (yuck!), and constantly study all about hooves myself, I'm still too chicken to do my own! I figure that someday I'll move where I can't get a trimmer, so I'm going to be ready.

:

Good luck with your farrier. I hope she works out, and if not, it sounds like someone on this board can refer you.

 

[Jill]

As someone who also sees her own clients by appointment (I am a financial advisor / investment broker), I realize the value of keeping appointments. I understand "things happen" but let me tell you... when I take an afternoon away from time I can spend with my clients, then the professional I'm expecting to show up for an appointment with me pretty much NEEDS to show up. I'm so happy H and I learned to do our own horses' hooves. It's saved us a lot of frustration over the years.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I am in the south New jersey area, and have a wonderful female farrier. She is prompt, reliable,reasonable, does a great job on the horses feet and she works so hard. If it is the same one, forgive her the mistake, she is really great. I wouldn't trade her for anything!

Also if she is coming out at 8 pm, her days start at 8-ish am, so that is a long hot miserable day. Make sure you have something cold and sugar free for her to drink! I bet she would appreciate it!!!

 

[Fred]

Jill Let me tell you something. As a professional I DO try to keep appointments as do most of the other farriers I know. You have to understand though that most farriers do not just trim minis they do large horses also and some are emergencies such as founder cases. When you put the horse in the equation things can happen beyond your control. Add the owner [and not all owners are knowledgeable] and that can tie you up tool My vet just gives you a day and can't give you a time because things happen. I give an approximate time because I may be tied up with something that should have been simple wasn't. Right now I have had SEVERAL people forget appointments and that totally screws up my schedule, but thats OK because its always the farriers fault so we have to make allowances? I don't think so. I could write a book on the farriers side and I'll guarantee that everyone would say I'd never do such and such when they in fact have. Ride around with me for a day I think your perspective would change dramatically. If this is the first time the farrier has forgotten an appointment for this person she has no cause to complain if its chronic then yes there is a problem but it should be taken up with the farrier not b*****d about on the forum!!!

: