If your farrier did this to you...

[LowriseMinis]

We had an appointment with our farrier for 9:30 this morning. So we go out, round up the wee ones, pick out their feet so they're nice and clean and wait.

Around 10 AM we call him, he says he's up in a town about an hour away, but he says he can be here in 20 minutes (buh?). He has an assistant with him so they horses shouldn't take any time at all. So, we continue to wait.

He calls back about ten minutes later and says he's sorry, but he just plain forgot about our appointment and he'll have to reschedule. I have an appointment at 1 PM for an oil change, so it needed to be in the morning. He says he'll be here at 11:30.

About 11:55 his assistant rolls in, no farrier. Assistant gets to work and tells us the farrier has BEEN HOME this whole time-he lives no more than ten minutes away from us. He's not sick or anything, and the assistant has no idea why he didn't come out. Anyhow, horses are done about 12:30, and by the time I get them put up and get the horse smell off of me, I'm also late for my oil change.

Augh. Yes, I needed to vent! Someone remind me how hard it is to learn to trim your own?

For your troubles, here's a new pic of Tailer, looking generally unimpressed with the Santaman. For the record, Santa seemed pretty unimpressed with him, too!

 

[Brandi*]

If my farrier wasn't honest with me about it then I think I would be looking for another one or do them myself

Sorry your day didn't go as planned

 

[LowriseMinis]

I think more than anything I AM upset that he lied to me. Unfortunately, farriers are in short supply here...it took us several months to get this one. So my best option might be learning to do them myself.

How would you handle this the next time you saw said farrier? I'm sure we'll have to have him out again in 6-8 weeks, should I just not bring this up then?

 

[muffntuf]

Ferriers are in short supply here too. I really hate trying to track mine down. It takes a minimum of 10 phone calls to get him to call me back. I finally swtiched, but don't like the new one as well as the old one. And he has moved to 2 hours away, which now he wants an extra charge for coming over here. I am tempted to learn to trim myself. Trouble is I don't get it. I have a heard of 16, up here that isn't anything to sneeze at for a 2.5 hours of work for what they charge.

 

[mini1]

That was extremely unprofessional!! I honestly don't know what I would do in your situation. Was this the first time he was to work on your horses? Has he done this before? Maybe it was a one-time thing but I don't know why he would lie, that would bother me. Did the assistant know what they were doing and did they do a good job? If so, maybe you could get them to do it from now on and not involve the farrier. Otherwise, I would look for another farrier.

Just out of curiosity, would anyone be willing to share what their farriers charge per horse?

Kelly

 

[LowriseMinis]

This would have been the 3rd or 4th time he's come out to do our horses-the first time he was awesome. It had been a LONG time since they had been done due to the local lack of farriers (we were ready to load them up and drive them 2 hours south to use my friend's farrier). He came out THAT NIGHT and worked in the dark for 2 hours, trimming and re-shaping their hooves, he was very good with the horses and did a great job.

One of the times between he called me a day before, worried he'd forgotten the appointment, but it was the next day. We confirmed the day and time and he was a little late, but not bad.

This time he just totally flaked.

The assistant did a good job and was very nice (and very annoyed at the farrier!) but he did a good job with them, though he left a little more heel than I'm used to. But both of mine tend to grow a lot more toe than heel so maybe that's just what they needed. He lives up in the foothills though, and he doesn't generally take clients down my way.

This farrier charges $25 per trim, big or little horse. The farrier before him was $40.

 

[Bonny]

I pay 35 for my standard mare, not sure about the mini yet. Thankfully I have a great farrier he calls me when it is time....

As far as your farrier goes I would confront him the next appointment. Let him know your not happy. If it was a fluke he will apologize and he will also know not to make that mistake again if he wants to keep your business.

 

[Nichcole]

That is just plan rude!!! I'm glad my husband is a farrier. He would never do that to his clients, he is usually 15 to 20 mins early. He make sure he does not schedule so to close. Here we have tons of farriers but you have to make sure you get good recommondations though!!

 

[Boinky]

Start doing them yourself! it's not hard. I have a very hard time getting farriers out this way and quite frankly i can't afford to have all of them done professionally. Get a good pair of nippers and ask your farrier out 1-3 times a year to make sure they are still growing ok (straight and good angulation ect). that's what I did. I don't always do a perfect job but i haven't screwed anyone up yet and i do try to have my farriers that do the big horses check them now and then when they are out to make sure everything looks ok. It's saved me a ton of money (although not time or a back..lol). it's really not that hard and if you have a good pair of nippers, rasp and hoof knife (invest in good ones.it makes a huge difference in time, labor and frustration).

What i've found myself doing is doing like one horse a day ....which is a lot less tiring and stressful for me or i break them up once a week or whatever until i get everyone done and not try to get them all done (7 horses total including the 2 big horses) which makes me tired and annoyed with it all!

 

[albahurst]

My gut reaction would be Grrr.......

You might want to consider talking to your farrier to see what the problem was- telling him how much you liked his work in the past.

But, if it would happen a second time.....time for Plan B.

We have had alot of farrier problems here, too, but have finally found one that is only 30 minutes away and is outstanding! Here he was so close and I never knew about him the past four years. The way we found him was that we called the College nearby that used to offer a farrier school and through recommendations we came up with this farrier. The best ever! Even though it was stressful until we found him, the outcome was well worth the 'suffering'.

Good Luck-

Peggy

 

[outlawridge]

A good farrier is worth there weight in gold, however, they can be hard to find. We had problems with finding a good farrier quite a few years ago, and the last one was down right cruel. He had to leave, and I called everyone I knew to never use this man. Heard several more horror stories from others who had tried him after that.

That was the last straw for us so my husband took the six week farrier course at our regional tech school. It was so worth it! Not only did he learn how to correctly trim and shoe, but also how to do corrective work and to "see" problems before they became an issue just from educated observation of the horses anatomy of the leg, hoof, shoulder etc. As well as "medical" farriery for injuries, abcesses etc.

Yes, trimming is not that hard, but you do need to learn what to see. My hubby has been doing our horses from 21.50" Bayleigh to 17 hh Blue for years. An in-house farrier is a dream! I have watched and helped him but leave it to him. I have the knowledge but he has the touch, especially with parring out with the hoof knife in preparation to trim. I have trouble with control of the knife etc, and he's like a surgeon.

Most anyone can trim hooves, but not everyone should trim hooves. Get educated as best you can and hands on experience under a trained professional would be the ultimate.

 

[maestoso]

I am very picky about horse feet, and don't take any crud from farriers. Consistent appointments and care are very important. Any farrier that acts like that, would be out of the picture as far as I am concerned, HOWEVER I would give him the chance to speak for himself, confront him about the assistant saying he was at home.

On a side note, as I said, I am very picky, I would not be having the "assistant" take care unless he was at least under the supervision of the actual farrier. I know that sounds a bit snobby, but I think the hooves are the most important part of the horses body, aside from the brain.

I am very picky about horse feet, and don't take any crud from farriers. Consistent appointments and care are very important. Any farrier that acts like that, would be out of the picture as far as I am concerned, HOWEVER I would give him the chance to speak for himself, confront him about the assistant saying he was at home.

On a side note, as I said, I am very picky, I would not be having the "assistant" take care unless he was at least under the supervision of the actual farrier. I know that sounds a bit snobby, but I think the hooves are the most important part of the horses body, aside from the brain.

 

[rockin r]

My farrier is worth his weight in gold!!! He lives about 3 miles from me. The only thing I don't like with him is that he WILL NOT trim a foals hoof. He likes to wait until they are close to a yr old... OH!

So we try to do the best we can till then, his fee a WHOPPING $10.00 per horse for the minis and $20.00 for the full size!!!

 

[mgranch]

Same problems here farriers act like Gods you have to beg them to come IF you can find one and they charge $35.00 per mini!! You're afraid to make them mad because you might not be able to find another one so it feels like a no win situation for the horse owner. This summer a farrier lamed my driving horse so badly it took 6 months before he could walk again without limping. The farrier refused to do anything about it or help with vet costs etc. So, after that I've had it!! I am learning to do my own.

 

[Warpony]

I LOVE my farrier! I actually bought my mare from her, lol. She loves doing the little ones, she took great care of my old pony with his hideous feet, and now she takes great care of my mare and gelding. She doesn't mind kneeling on the ground if she has to, to avoid cranking their legs around. She generally charges $20 per horse, but if they don't need much work she knocks $5 off.

I'd love to do my own, but I have arm problems and can't. Plus I'm kind of afraid to. If the lady I have doing them now ever leaves I'm gonna freak out.

I've had similar issue to the one in the original post. I spent years trying to find someone reliable when I just had my old pony. I paid well, gave huge tips (I normally gave a 100% tip. I'd say getting $60 for a $30 trim ought to be enough to keep them coming back.

), provided a selection of sodas on hot days, offered coffee on cold days, made sure my pony was well behaved.... and I still got the run around. At least one guy was nice enough to tell me he wouldn't be back because it wasn't worth his time to do a single pony, plus he hated working on shorties. The others would make the appointment then just not show up. So here I am with a pony who was a chronic founderer when I bought him and was due RIGHT THEN for a trim, and I'm scrambling to find someone, anyone, to trim him before he starts to hurt. OH! I had them make excuses for weeks, show up late, I went through about 5 guys in 5 years, and did his feet (poorly) myself in between.

Then I found this lady and I have been thanking my lucky stars ever since. And the funny thing was I only found her because I was talking to someone about how frustrating it was while my husband was shopping at a hunting and fishing store and a guy who worked there gave me his sisters number and said she trimmed horses.

 

[dangerranger]

Merceed collage has a ferriers class and a hoof care class. Ive not found any in Fresno. I know two of the instructors in the ferriers class and they are both good ferriers.in the hoof care class they teach trimming. the ferriers class is pretty involved but its geared tward certified ferriers. I started trimming myone because our local ferrier is nearing retirement age.he has been great about helping me learn and corecting my mistakes. I found usable equipment at National hardware on north Blackstone. the reason I say usable is the higher quality nippers are so much easier to use. I found a pr of Diamond nippers for about $75. they work but the GE mippers that our ferrier uses are so much easier to manover around.[ but they are twice the price.] I found its not so hard to do my own as long as I can get someone to hold them for me. good luck .DR.

 

[HorseMom]

I've had 3 farriers do this to me since owning horses. One of them even moved to Kentucky without telling any of her clients. Just kept making appointments. I have a very reliable guy now. I'm pretty impressed with this kid. He's 17, national honor society student, maintains a full time business, and one of the most knowledgeable farriers I've ever meet.

 

[Suzie]

Farriers are like a lot of other people, some are very dependable, some not. We have a super farrier! He charges very reasonable, does a great job and is ALWAYS on time. I never have to call him but once. We did have a couple of guys before him that obviously did not get a call back. One charged me the same price to do my haflinger and my minis.

Now my accountant.....not so good. I did not get my 2006 taxes filed until November even though she had them in her hand Jan 15th and I called her forever until her machine was full...Needless to say, she is not doing them THIS YEAR.

Maybe fate balances it out for us....

Sorry you have a very limited choice - If you only have a few horses, I would look into doing it myself. We have 30+ and there is no way we could do all of ours.

Around here there are three people we keep on the top of our list: The hayman, the farrier and the vet.

 

[wildoak]

If farriers are hard to come by and you like this guys work, I think I'd ask him about it before I fired him outright. We have a good number of farriers in our area, but most of them don't really like doing minis. I'm fortunate to have a great mini farrier - and a good big horse farrier as well. I pay $15 for the minis, hope that price holds LOL.

Jan

 

[Jill]

We had these issues for years before learning to do it ourselves (with the help of a good farrier who's back could not take the minis anymore). If possible, I would encourage you to try and learn to do them yourselves. We alternated turns with the farrier while we were learning. We're not perfect at it, but we can do it and do it timely, vs. missed appointments or an appointment and only some of the scheduled ones are done, etc. I have been pleased w/ how ours look, from babies thru adults. We were nervous at first but now wouldn't really want to go back to not being able to do them ourselves.