ARG! Farriers!

[feezap]

In what other profession would it be deemed acceptable to just not show, not let you know, receive payment then be nearly an hour late when rearranged with no communication then be arsey because the customer who has been waiting for you has to leave?!/

Seriously, he called to say he'd come last week, I was away but said I'd transfer the money and he could ask a friend at the yard to get dpony in. I heard no more, assumed she was done so paid straight away. 5 days later I get a text saying it didn't happen and is tomorrow OK? (no time on it though). A time was arranged.

So today, me, grumpy teething DS and MIL's dog all traipse up there, drag in dpony, plan on a bit of a walk and hanging around to put dpony away. Half an hour later, no word. I drag (literally) dpony into the stable which she hates and set off on our walk to amuse now bored DS and dog. On the way back down I get a text saying 'on my way up'. He arrived nearly an hour late.

We get back to the yard, not so much as a 'sorry, I got caught up' and the farrier is already grumpy with grumpy dpony because she was put in a stable. MIL wants to pick up dog, DS is bored again and needs tea fairly soon so I have to ask the farrier to bung dpony back in her field when he is done (he has said this isn't a problem). Cue lots of grumpiness and huffing and puffing. I explained I'd hoped to be up there to chat and put her away but it had just got too late. I also asked him to hang up her headcollar (as he usually just throws it on the floor, although I didn't say that) more grumpiness.

I understand it is ideal to have the owner/someone there for shoeing but dpony is not a raging enormous beast, she's 13hh and easy. He has loads of his own native ponies so is not unused to them or how to handle them. He doesn't work weekends or evenings (fair enough) and basically dictates when he will come. If I am at work or at home and have no sitter I have to put her in a stable for the day and ask him to turn her out afterwards, which he originally offered.

Anyway, sorry, total rant. Why on earth should I, the paying customer be treated as if I should be grateful that he should deign to come at all? He's not doing me a favour.

I am fed up of trying to bend over backwards to make things as easy as possible and just being met with attitude.

Please tell me not all farriers are like this? He's good so I have worked around it but have never found a reliable one who is even remotely good at communication.

ARG!!!!

I think you need a new farrier!

I have known many and varied farriers from the sublime to the unbelievable!

The one i have now is lovely, very good with the horses and an excellent farrier but is a nightmare to get hold of and is always late. I only have him because the he comes to the yard mine is now on.
My last farrier was very good comms wise, Brilliant at his job and ALWAYS on time. Unfortunately I never saw him as he always sent an apprentice as mine were all easy. I don't mind a good apprentice near the end of training (all trims, no shoeing) but when my shetland started to go very lame and I asked farrier to personally come and look him over I was very annoyed when yet again he sent an apprentice. I changed then and current chap said bad trimming had caused his soles to drop and he needed (hand made 3" wide) remedial shoes for 9 months to correct it. cost a bloody fortune!

Likewise have known very good, very bad, and a lot in between. My current farrier is brilliant with the horses and can shoe horses other farriers have given up on. Does a great job with the shoeing and only charges me for shoeing the fronts, not for trimming the hinds although he does that too. He is sometimes late and sometimes postpones but is generally good at communicating this, so is forgiven. Oh and will also put himself out if shoes fall off, also good.

That said, my horse is so good to shoe that even when a Rottweiler ran under his stomach whilst DHorse had his foot up on a tripod, he didn't bother to react.

Ah farriers. They're a law unto themselves.

I currently have a very good one, but my last one was shocking.

Not sure how they get away with it.

Don't tell us, tell him!
Honestly I wouldn't bother with someone like that.

I guess we've been lucky with our farriers as they've always been reliable. We've only got rid of one as he was too rough with our elderly arthritic pony, but at least he was always early .

I've been very lucky in the main, but I do know of some shockers who think they can treat people as they please with no consequences.

My current one is fab . Comes over whenever I need him , looked at boys pony when she got lami, and charges me virtually cost price for my lot . But then he is my next door neighbour and we have always looked out for him .

They're bastards - all of them. They know that supply is short, so they charge what they like, come when they want - and they gossip. Thankfully mine has been barefoot for 10 years and DH does the trimming.

most of them round here are douches! as all of ours were barefoot, I learned to trim them myself. It saves a fortune and is really 90% common sense.
The last one we had was a nightmare. One time he'd come and tell me that DPony would be fine with careful trimming, (wonky hind feet), next time he'd tell me she was a lost cause. He'd trim the foot right back one visit then leave them in a shocking state next time!
We actually got commended for our good feet at a show once. I was quite proud when the judge asked who did them! Me!

Thanks all, it does sound like I'm not completely alone in this!

Pixel, I know, I should have been upfront but I'm massively hormonal and emotional at the moment (who'd have guessed from my post?!) and didn't want to become an emotional wreck in front of him!

It is totally the supply and demand thing round here I think, and sadly there are a lot of very well off horse owners in this area so the farriers are used to livery yards where everything is done for them (bar the actual shoeing) or people who don't have to work and can be flexible with times.

I think I will give my friend's farrier a go when he comes to do her pony and let mine know I am changing, not because of his work but now with the baby and going back to work full time I need someone who can do weekends (my current farrier can't, fair enough, just doesn't work for me).

Does that sound reasonable?!

Just re-read that - not sad that people are well off, sad that the farriers don't have much experience with people struggling to do everything themselves and fit it all in!

do a course.
I filed/cut my pony's toes myself most of the time due to the unreliable farrier. only got them done once a year.
tools are fairly cheap (compared to the farrier fees).
only works if pony has no shoes though...

We put up with anything because we have to! If you are confident enough to do your own horses feet,go ahead. I'm not,couldn't live with myself if I cocked up! My sister in law has just been visiting from the states,she's a farrier,quite high up on the circuits,remedial work etc etc,she said the British training is the best and the most governed,they train long and hard and I guess can demand their own hours and pay etc. however you have to get along with them! But if they are good with your horse and you haven't had problems with their work,maybe worth sticking with them and have a calm chat with him,explain you can't drop everything and is there a way you could meet half way? My farrier will text if he's running late or needs to change time/ date. Previous farrier didn't contact customers directly,got his partner to do it,rubbish as took loads of time and texts to sort anything! Maybe he was having a bad day too?! I told my farrier all about peri menopause problems that I've been experiencing! Was enough to shut him up moaning about how hard he was working! Men are generally scared of 'women's stuff',tell yours and see if he changes his attitude?!! Just the word hormones is usually enough!

My previous farrier did offer to teach me to trim and let me have some old tools as he was retiring, but I'm like Gilly and would rather pay £20 for the expertise. It's not just trimming, the farrier can spot potential problems that I might not. And if anything did happen (say an accident where half the hoof broke off or something) I'd rather not be frantically phoning around trying to find a farrier to take me on.

Definitely look for a new one. Good farriers are like gold dust and in demand so it's hard but once you have one it's like a whole different world. When I moved yards I actively went out touting for business for him to make it worth his while still coming because I was desperate not to lose him - everyone is overjoyed with him and kept him on. He was worth the effort!

Can you believe it? I must have jinxed myself. Dhorse has come in today with a huge chunk out of his foot. Farrier coming tomorrow to look at it .

oh no Pixel! It's just like commentators curse, it does kind of underline your point though...

Phew! he's trimmed it up and it's officially Not As Bad As It Looks. Thought I was going to be scouting round for a hoof boot. I was thinking of keeping an eye open for a second-hand one for just such an occasion, can anyone tell me if you need different ones for front and hind feet, or would I be able to buy one to fit any foot?

There are good farriers out there, promise!

I find that newly qualified lads (and lasses) are often excellent - up to date with everything, better at customer service / communication than some of the more old school chaps. but I am biased since my DH has been qualified a year!

The trouble is, all the farriers look young to me nowadays .

My (ex-)farrier is only 25, so reasonably newly qualified. All was OK for the first few months and then he made my horse lame after shoeing (nail bind - came on in under 2 hours) and immediately said it wasn't him, she had lami. Scared me half to death she'd have to be PTS, lied to both me and the vet on multiple occasions, and still won't take responsibility for what he's done!

He also broke approx 37 rules as set out in the Farriery Council code of conduct (complaint ongoing).

He's also given my horse badly under-run heels and generally been a massive prick.

I'm taking DHorse barefoot after this, I don't think I could cope with the stress again [weeps].

I had a farrier who was like this and I showed my displeasure by starting using someone else. New farrier is wonderful - patient, kind, funny, good at his job, cheap and what's more - always on time. In fact sometimes even early - and will just put the kettle on and make us a brew!

One girl had injured herself falling off her horse and nice farrier got the horse in from the field for her, did the feet and turned back out again - wouldn't hear of her lifting a finger.

He is so good that all of the yards in my area now use him and 'late farrier' is losing business - shame!

Had a couple of unreliable farriers, one was worth hanging around for at least. The other not so much. Then I found one who was an utter star, and kept my horse going for about 2 years after his dodgy feet became a huge issue. For those 2 years he shod my enormous (Clyde X) boy with his toes resting on tiny piece of wood, just enough to get in to trim. Must have entirely knackered his back. Also made the largest shoes you can imagine for no extra cost to help him out. And kept my friend's TB with dreadful feet shod well enough to do 100 mile endurance rides.

My last farrier was great, really good with the horse - but not the best at communication. Not the worst by a long shot, but I would always have to chase for an appointment and then would usually get a one word text with the day, and would then need to chase again for a time. Which usually I would only get on the day itself.

He did always turn up when he said he would, and came out on short notice a lot of times for lost shoes, but the communication wasn't great!

My farrier is fab. I make an appointment, time and date, and he turns up! He did so much for my old mare, and went beyond what most would for our little old donkey.
One of his conditions is I (or the OH) have to be there, which is fine by me.
Oh, and I provide coffee and biscuits ;)