It's been one of those weeks, so I'm going to vent and hope that the horse owning Aggies take something from this.

First let me say that I love my clients, and the most important horse to me is the horse I'm working on at that point in time. I understand that horse owners think that their horse is the most important horse in the world, and I do my best to accommodate that. With that said, EVERY client I have thinks that way, and there's only one of me to go around. Asking me to drop what I'm doing to come take care of fluffy may not be realistic at that point in time. On top of that, I also have a wife and a 1 year old son who like to see me every now and then.

Second, I see your horse every 6 weeks for about an hour. If something is going on, you have to TELL ME. There are obvious things that farriers will notice, but if you come up to me randomly after a year and ask why your horse still isn't moving the way you want after a YEAR of not communicating any form of issue to me, you're going to get a lecture on client farrier communication.

Third, your farrier bill is like any other bill. Your budget may be tight, but this is our livelihood. If you decide that it's just not in the budget and don't pay after the work has been done, I'm now out time, shoes, propane, nails, gasoline, and wear and tear on my body. We'll work with you if you communicate your needs, but at the end of the day we're running a business not a charity.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

One of my favorite posts in the last year was where you were painting the horse shoes red for a client. It made me laugh out loud when I read it.

RCR06 said:

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One of my favorite posts in the last year was where you were painting the horse shoes red for a client. It made me laugh out loud when I read it.

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I think that is going to be one of my highlights when I reach the end of my career

I have SO much respect for our Farrier. We have a couple of Morgans, who have become our hay burners/pasture buddies. It's back breaking work (literally), and a good farrier can diagnose issues well before they become problematic.

OP…I guess you know this, but I've come to believe that 50% of all horse owners are decent people, and the other 50% are f'in crazy.

No different than any other business

My farrier is a horse talker (not a whisperer bc boy he likes to talk). He is really great in his profession. He has other jobs, which I respect. I know my pasture trophies are not so much a priority. My old dude battles laminitis every once in a while. Thankfully I have a pretty good routine of how to treat it before the farrier can come out.

Thank you for what you do.

I pay our guy whatever he charges cause I ain't doing it.

God bless the good farriers we sure cant have too mang of them.

We have been thru our share of farriers. Do what you say and say what you will do.

We have 4 horses here. The farrier we have now is outstanding. Always on time and I mean everytime without fail. Having said that he is flexible and accomodating to the best of his ability and time constraints. Once I was sick and weak and he said no problem go inside and I will take care of all this. I appreciate that.

Proper scheduling and being on time is rare in the farriers we have cycled thru.

I added an awning for shade over our stocks for him and he gets a Christmas bonus every year.

SGrem said:

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We have been thru our share of farriers. Do what you say and say what you will do.

We have 4 horses here. The farrier we have now is outstanding. Always on time and I mean everytime without fail. Having said that he is flexible and accomodating to the best of his ability and time constraints. Once I was sick and weak and he said no problem go inside and I will take care of all this. I appreciate that.

Proper scheduling and being on time is rare in the farriers we have cycled thru.

I added an awning for shade over our stocks for him and he gets a Christmas bonus every year.

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One of the big problems (in my opinion) in the farrier world today is that there are no requirements to be a farrier. Farrier schools are anywhere from 2 weeks to a year and a half depending on where you go, and the quality is inconsistent to say the least. Regardless, their goal is to teach aspiring farriers how to nail on a shoe without crippling a horse. It's not enough time to learn how to shoe a horse and definitely not enough time to learn how to run a business. I know several farriers who have been shoeing horses for 20 years, and you're doing pretty good if they show up within two weeks of when they say they'll be there. I don't know why they run their business like that or how they stay in business, but there is certainly precedence for it. Some guys have more horses on their schedules than they can actually do, some guys just suck at time management. One guys motto is "clients pay when they want, so I show up when I want", and somehow that works for him. There does seem to be a push among younger farriers (at least in my area) to fight the farrier stereotype.

There also seems to be a shift in the industry from the older farriers who came up having to do 15-20 horses a day out of necessity to the current farriers who are doing 5-6 a day and charging more because horses are more of a luxury than a requirement for working. That probably plays a part in the time management issue as well

Wow…that is so different than where I am (East Tennessee just outside of Knoxville). My farrier sets the next appointment immediately after she's finishes trimming our horses (no shoes). She is always on time and if she's running late she texts me.

That said, we had our horror story with another farrier 13 years ago. The farrier was crouched low behind our quarter horse, when he lost his balance, and slipped. As he slipped, he inadvertently severed the Achilles on the left rear leg to the bone with his curved knife. Our Vet was close, and she came over and basically told us there was nothing she could do. Within a couple of hours, the horse was buried 6 feet deep.

The farrier ended up with a broken left hand. He immediately apologized and said he'd get us a new horse. However, over the next few weeks his story changed and he began to tell people the horse reared on him. In reality, the horse reared when his Achilles was severed. We were horse 'rookies' at the time and really didn't know what to do. Also, we aren't natives to this area so the locals believed the farrier's account.

As tough as it was, we moved forward. My point though…there are farriers, and then there are really good farriers. We are fortunate that our current farrier is really good.

We had two farriers in 29 years in Texas. Changed because the first one retired. The second one was a young man and he was not as good as our first but did ok. We had six horses at the time and had their shoes done every six weeks. When we first started the cost was $25/horse. When we left Texas it was $125/horse.
Four of the six horses always seemed to have tendon and lameness issues from time to time but vet said nothing medically wrong.
Two of those six died before we moved to the Ozarks so we had four horses now at the Ozark ranch. Had to find a new farrier. Surprisingly the typical cost of a farrier in north Arkansas was about 1/2 in Texas…..$65/horse.
Our horse neighbors then highly recommend an Amish farrier close to us. He has been amazing, has a tremendous knowledge of horses feet and legs, and since he has been doing our horses (5years) all our feet and lameness issues have gone away. He charges us a whopping $50/horse (just went up to $50this year, it had been $45/horse the last four years.) In addition, if a shoe comes off before the six weeks is up, he will fix if for free.
My Texas guys would always charge me.

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Third, your farrier bill is like any other bill. Your budget may be tight, but this is our livelihood. If you decide that it's just not in the budget and don't pay after the work has been done, I'm now out time, shoes, propane, nails, gasoline, and wear and tear on my body. We'll work with you if you communicate your needs, but at the end of the day we're running a business not a charity.

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When I moved to CO, I made custom furniture and had a small storefront. I posted pics of people that didn't pay on my bulletin board as you walked in. Living in a small town, it was glorious to put those people on display, as everyone knows everyone. After about 6 months everyone paid.

I love our farrier. Sets next appt as soon as she is done, spends a few min talking about concerns. I give her a bonus at holiday time every year.

Still blows my mind that people think it's ok to not pay for services rendered. Some people are just like that. Even with signed contracts people think it's ok to not pay. Rather than beat on them for months or years, they get notices and then it goes to collections and a lien is filed. It's not as fast as it would be if I had Nicky Santoro handle collections but it still compels them to pay.

I know my farrier is going to do ten horses. I know one or two of them are going to give him trouble. The cash is ready. The "pain in his ass" penalty I provide is ready. The horses are tied and waiting when he arrives and when he is finished he gets paid. Not tomorrow, not next week, not after I get the money from Uncle Rico…right now. Before he leaves the property. It's very easy. The only thing I hate more than giving over a pile of cash is owing folks for work they've done that we all know is to be paid for.

We've done our own trimmings and we do them regularly ourselves. Its hard. So, as a farrier, just know your work and expertise is appreciated and respected.

I feel you. I recall an obnoxious client rolled in with 3 horses in the 4 horse slant pulled by a loaded dually…..

Hey doc can you hold the check?

Forty plus years ago my 2 sons were in our county 4H Horse program. My farrier was young and did a really good job. Sometimes he would bring his Dad along who was a very knowledgeable horseman and mule trainer. He had some mules that he raced on weekends and his son was the jockey. The son was very funny and personable and great story teller. I was getting our horses shod and listening to someone who was much more entertaining than Johnny Carson. His name, Leon Coffee.

Side note. The coffees were from Blanco Texas and the family also included cousins Lawrence who was an outstanding calf roper, NFL Hall of Famer Gene Upshaw, and MLB player Willie Upshaw.