Farrier etiquette

[Valentina_32926]

It sounds like a communication gap and honest mistake on your farrier's part.

Tell him you'd like to be there in the future, but don't rip him a new one or summarily fire the guy because he didn't guess that.

Call the guy back. If you already left him a nasty message, apologize. Ask your questions, treat your horse's soles as he recommends, pay your bill. If that goes well, tell him what you want in the future and set up the next appointment now so that you can avoid all this problem next time!

Very good advice here - it's hard to find a good farrier that comes when scheduled - so as long as he does good work keep him. Just spell out your requirements politely.

[Ecks Marx The Spot]

Just curious here, for those who feel they need/want to be there for the farrier...
Really!... just curious...
- Do you have input into how the horse is trimmed/shod?
- Are you concerned about behavioral problems ( horse or blacksmith)?
- Other...

Not really an input, as I am just a "lowly" horse owner, but I like being able to ask questions( how bad is that crack, how is the health of the hoof, is that thrush starting, do you think he needs shoes now, he is tripping alot at 5 weeks out, he is stumpling, my trainer says too much knee action what can we do, he was lame for 5 days after the last trim( as is the case now, day 5 and still tender footed) what can we do about that), etc etc. Being that the guy sees dozens of horses daily, I would rather ask him while he is looking at said feet then play phone tag 2 days after he has done a 15 min trim on my guy 30 + horses ago.

And 2ndly yes and yes. For myself I mentioned this was a new horse to me, and only his second trim. I know that for me, My horse can be a PITA about his feet, he will not stomp his foot down, but LAY his whole BODY down when you are holding his front feet. I personally would rather BE there to enforce excellent maners, then allow a stranger to do it. On top of that, I don't know maybe he likes to smack them upside the head when they are misbehaving. Again my my instance, I DON'T KNOW THIS FARRIER.

and other uh, its my horse, and I like to be involved with his care. Maybe its a carry over from when I was younger and took care of my own horse for years. I wouldn't have the vet out for routine care with out me there either, unless I had someone I trusted to hold and relay info.
Different strokes for different folks...

[trubandloki]

Just curious here, for those who feel they need/want to be there for the farrier...
Really!... just curious...
- Do you have input into how the horse is trimmed/shod?
- Are you concerned about behavioral problems ( horse or blacksmith)?
- Other...

I do not mind my farrier doing my horses on his own. But I think it is rude of me to expect him to do them on his own. BIG difference.
There is no staff at my place (my own back yard) so it is not like I can expect someone else to clean up legs and get the horses in for the farrier, etc.
And yes, he will do it for me, but should he have to? No.

Do I have input? Sure. We talk about their fit, etc. In the end I trust him and the discussion is more me asking questions, etc.

No real concern about behavioral problems.

[thatmoody]

I HAVE to be there for one of mine (he has shivers and trimming him is a three-person job) but I wouldn't mind my farrier doing any of the others alone. But then I've known him for a while. We usually schedule 10-15 horses for one day, so he has a busy day there! I take the day off and hold all of them for him, although if I have to run an errand I will leave as long as the renters are home for the day (don't want to leave him alone on the property in case of an accident).

[2DogsFarm]

When I boarded my horses I was always present for a farrier's initial visit to introduce myself, explain what I wanted done and see how shoer handled my horses. If all went well, after that I left it to barn management to have my horses in for their next appointment.

I paid by check and always had the check waiting for the farrier (except for one guy who asked that I let him bill me since that's how he kept records).

Now that my boys are at home I schedule the shoer for my day off.
He does me the favor of coming out just to trim my two, so I make sure they are in and as clean as possible when he gets there.
He & his son have trimmed my horses going on 10 years now, 5 of those at my place.

Like others have said: you owe it to this new shoer to try him for the followup. It sounds like he assumed from his relationship with BO that trimming your horse w/o you there was okay.
Make sure you are there for the next visit and don't be so ready to blame everything that happened to your horse on his work until you are certain.

FWIW: I did have a runin with a shoer who put shoes on my up-till-then barefoot horses w/o bothering to contact me first.
He was scheduled to trim both, came to the barn as arranged and put shoes on all around. I wasn't there for this visit.
This guy had a total of 4 phone numbers to contact me and did not bother to use any of them before or after he did the job.
When I got hold of him he told me he had felt both horses needed shoes. He offered to come back and pull the shoes but I told him NTYVM, just wait the normal 6 weeks.
I then got the name of my present shoer from my vet, called #1 and told him he was no longer needed and never looked back.

[pony89]

Just curious here, for those who feel they need/want to be there for the farrier...
Really!... just curious...
- Do you have input into how the horse is trimmed/shod?
- Are you concerned about behavioral problems ( horse or blacksmith)?
- Other...

A couple of things

-My mare is a little nervous about having her feet done. She is lots better that she was when I got her, but on occasion, she will still have a little freak out about the hind legs. I wouldn't want him trimming her tied or on crossties, lest one or both of them get hurt.

-I like to be there so no one has to remember her little idiosyncrocies. For example, if you trim her in her stall (w/nice level mats) with her head in the corner, she will heave a sigh and resign herself. If you do her in the aisle, she will occasionally try to flee the premises when she has had enough. If I am there, I don't have to pass on the responsibility of remembering this to the BO who has lots of horses to take care of.

-I like to see how she is behaving so if I see a problem, I know it needs fixing and can ask how if necessary. I don't want any issues going a few shoeing cycles before they get bad enough to notify me.

-I like to make sure she is in and has her feet picked before her appointment.

-I like to hear any comments he may have on her feet, and to ask a question here or there when it is not worth bothering him on the phone.

-I like to regularly interact with the people who care for my horse. I think it is good to have a relationship with them in case there is ever some kind of an emergency.

I have no problem with BO holding my horse if I can't be there. For safety reasons, I would feel bad asking him to work on her if no one was there to hold. I like to be involved in her care. It's not the end of the world if I can't, but I figure that I am ultimately responsible for her care and should be there when I can.

[atr]

With my boarded horse, I will try to be there, but my farrier will just get on with it if I can't--and if I can't, I will have given him my input via telephone before he gets there, and the horse will be in his stall, clean and easily accessible, and he's a good, easy boy to handle.

With the gang at home, no, he does not work on them without my being there. I wouldn't expect him to. They are turned out, can be muddy, one is a pain in the butt who panics on cross ties so needs to be held, and one is ancient and nowadays finds the whole trimming process rather miserable, so he needs his mum there to wipe his furry brow.

We make our appointments far enough in advance that I can be first appointment of the day, and I'm a bit late into the office on those days.

[texang73]

I voted no, I'm not there, nor is anyone else... my trimmer is my BIL, so I trust him completely!

I do like to be there when I can, but my horse is very well behaved if I can't be there. And my trimmer will NOT trim horses that misbehave, as others have said. Not worth his time nor effort, he's busy enough so he doesn't need the trouble!

[coloredhorse]

Just curious here, for those who feel they need/want to be there for the farrier...
Really!... just curious...
- Do you have input into how the horse is trimmed/shod?
- Are you concerned about behavioral problems ( horse or blacksmith)?
- Other...

My farrier most times wants to see my horses move before he gets to work; he can longe them himself just fine, but it's easier to have someone else longe (or ride) and at times he wants to watch from a particular angle, so it's handy for me to be there to jog the horses for him.

At times I will have noticed issues that I want to share; my farrier usually has a handful of questions. As the person who rides/longes/massages/grooms/looks at the horses on a daily basis, I generally have information that helps him do his best possible work.

I have one horse with ongoing issues that necessitate a conversation at each shoeing. When the issues were new, it was critical that I share the vets' finding with the farrier and the farrier's insight with the vets.

When I have young horses or unfarmiliar ones, even though I work with them in advance of their first sesson with my farrier, I prefer to be there just in case. Often it works out better that way. (My old lady mare, on the other hand, prefers to have her personal pedicurist/shoe designer all to herself and is far more fussy if I am hanging around; I usually just discuss her with him and then do barn chores or go back inside to do my office work and let Herself have her way. )

Finally, while there, I get some basic information about what the farrier is doing for each horse and why ... I jot down notes in each horse's notebook so that I have the info on hand in case my farrier is hit by a truck or something and I need to bring in someone else (heaven forfend!).

[Fixerupper]

[quote=coloredhorse;3960500]My farrier most times wants to see my horses move before he gets to work;
quote]

Wow are you lucky...!!!

for the rest of the responses...are your farriers ever lucky...picking feet and cleaning up before shoeing...I'm going to have to step up my game

thanks, F

[matryoshka]

Before I became a trimmer, I used to take time off work to get my horses' feet done. It's a lot to expect somebody else to work evenings for my convience when my horses are a hobby--unless I was willing to pay extra for evenings/weekends. If I forgot the appointent, I wouldn't expect the farrier to do the horses. His/her safety is at stake. And, it was important to me to have them in and at least the mud knocked off before he got there. If I didn't have enough time, I brought a towel and wiped their legs myself rather than expect him/her to do so.

Common courtesy, IMHO.

Now that I trim other people's horses, I'll only trim without the owner present if it has been prearranged that way, such as at a boarding barn. I don't trim without anybody around, because that would be the one time I get seriously hurt...

[SmokenMirrors]

The farrier I use is an awesome guy! Usually he is a half hour early, when I know he is coming I have the horses in, I always try to make sure their hooves are picked and clean, and that the isle way where he trims and shoes is clean as well. If I can't be there then I know my husband will be out there and I would trust him to do them with me not being there. He is always nice, friendly and were more like friends than anything. On the holidays, Christmas for example, I will always give him $100 as he does a great job and deserves it. Plus, he is one of the very few farriers who does draft horses and I am one of the few clients he has who has one, who at times, can be a pill.

When things went wrong with my draft mare and my QH mare, who had a bad quarter crack, I talked things over with him first before I let our vet touch them. With the QH mare I am very thankful I did as my farrier recommended, which is to leave her barefoot and let her hooves grow and be natural. The vet wanted to dremmel and cut away at the quarter crack. Same with my draft mare who had to have special shoes and all this protective measures done...I had them talk to him first before I would allow the vet's farrier to touch her, long story there why my farrier didn't do the initial shoeing on that one.

[meupatdoes]

At the barn where I currently keep one of my horses, the farrier shows up every Monday.

He reads the list on the board, gets the horses from their stalls, and sets to work. If there is a note next to a name, "Call first" or something similar, he calls first.

Usually he is there during the day when the trainer is around.

Sometimes he is there so early the horses are done and he is gone before the grooms show up to feed.


The chiropracter is the same way, btw.
Shows up on his schedule, finds the horses by the names on the stall door, does his thing.

[archieflies]

I like my farrier's work, but I wouldn't leave him to do the work on his own. My mare once pulled back when he tried to do her feet while tied. It's the only time she's ever pulled back, but still, I want to be there to hold her just in case... also, my horses are turned out all the time, and I know from hearing him talk about other clients' horses that if a horse runs and he has to chase it, he'll charge a fee. If a horse is annoying, he'll "work it in the round pen" and charge a training fee. And if it still won't settle, he's been known to tranq, which he shouldn't be doing... like I said, I like the guy's work, but he's a bit too cowboy for me to want to leave my horses unattended. But I'm a teacher, and he's a former teacher, and his wife is a teacher, so he knows and understands my schedule and works around it. Since I only have two, he'll tack me on at the end of a day, or come by after church on Sunday, or give me priority on school holidays. When the horses were boarded, I did have him trim once while I was gone, but the BO was there.