Am I being unreasonable?

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Booboos

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(Can you tell I've been spending too long on Mumsnet?)

I am annoyed. Not frothing-at-the-mouth, tearing-my-hair-out annoyed, more slightly-peeved, may-need-to-have-a-polite-word type of annoyed. Am I right to be annoyed or am I loosing the plot after 11 months with no sleep?

The farrier was over last week. I was there while he did F and I told him beforehand that he has damaged his tendon in his right hind. The vet has scanned him and we decided on 3 weeks of rest then re-scan. F is likely to go bonkers on box rest so the decision was made to field rest him and hope for the best. The farrier said he could do something with the clips to ease the pressure on the tendon and I said fine.

He finished F then started on R at which point the baby started crying and I took her to the house (next to yard) to try (in vain) to put her to sleep. My groom stayed with the farrier as she has done countless times before. An hour later (slightly worse for wear) I returned to see the farrier do C and M. I then thanked him, made an appointment for next time, paid him and he left.

Today my groom mentioned that while I was in the house the farrier trotted F up on the hard to see if he was lame. Now I don't see why this is any of his direct business:
1. he is not a vet, the horse is under the care of a vet and the farrier was not asked for his opinion.
2. this is not a farriery problem so not sure what he could say anyway
3. F tends to fly buck when trotted up so I prefer to do him myself. It's not that I am so great no one else can handle my horse, but rather if anyone is going to get kicked in the head by the idiotic beast I prefer it to be me. Farrier got his apprentice to do it without a hat on.
4. Trotting up away from the other horses is exactly what is likely to wind F up, I would rather be the one deciding to take that risk.
5. I was only next door and away briefly so he could have waited to ask me.

Soooooooooooo what do you think? Boil the farrier in a vat of hot oil or pluck my ungrateful tongue out?
 
A bit of both maybe :) coming from equally crazy mum-to-be instead :D
Could he have been looking to see whether what he'd done, had worked? Maybe?
*clutches at straws*
 
Hm. Can understand your angst, but (you knew there was a 'but' coming... :cool:), my farrier likes to see the horses move, so we will walk and/or trot them up for him; your groom was there, so the farrier would have expected him/her to stop the farrier doing anything that he shouldn't be doing with the horse; if it's part and parcel of what the farrier normally does, he wouldn't have thought to ask.

Hot chocolate to help calms the angst?
 
Mmm hard one, if he's had problems he was probably checking that the horse was ok after he'd shod him rather than going away and having to come back again. Does he know he's naughty to trot up. Tbh if he was left in charge with the groom I would be and you've said not to trot up I would be more peeved with her/him than the farrier although as an outsider I don't see it as a massive problem unless you have told them not to trot up.
 
Mmmm, think farrier was probably trying to make sure that he'd done a satisfactory job rather than deliberately trying to wind you up. He was no doubt seeing how the horse was moving and whether his shoeing had been effective.

If he'd shod the horse and then left you with a lame horse you wouldn't be happy with that would you???

OK so you were distracted and had to leave the situation to someone else to deal with, but don't think your farrier was in any way trying to "diagnose" or do anything that a vet would do .......... and he was probably unaware that your horse might be a bit scatty about it.

Personally I'd be glad that your farrier is obviously being conscientious and trying to ensure that your horse was going as sound as possible bearing in mind the injury problem. A lot of farriers might have thought OK job done so get off the place ASAP, but my feeling is really that I would suggest that whilst it might have been wiser to have got you the owner to trot horse up, that this was done with everyone's best interests in mind.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Mmmm, think farrier was probably trying to make sure that he'd done a satisfactory job rather than deliberately trying to wind you up. He was no doubt seeing how the horse was moving and whether his shoeing had been effective.

If he'd shod the horse and then left you with a lame horse you wouldn't be happy with that would you???

OK so you were distracted and had to leave the situation to someone else to deal with, but don't think your farrier was in any way trying to "diagnose" or do anything that a vet would do .......... and he was probably unaware that your horse might be a bit scatty about it.

Personally I'd be glad that your farrier is obviously being conscientious and trying to ensure that your horse was going as sound as possible bearing in mind the injury problem. A lot of farriers might have thought OK job done so get off the place ASAP, but my feeling is really that I would suggest that whilst it might have been wiser to have got you the owner to trot horse up, that this was done with everyone's best interests in mind.
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This, and were I a farrier I doubt I would think anything of getting groom or apprentice to trot up unless you had already made him aware that no one else should.
 
YABU :p

I wouldn't have had a problem with that either, my farriers have always wanted to see how my horse moved, which I think is a good thing :)
 
Do you have a good relationship with your farrier? Do you trust him and think he does a good?

I dont see a problem here, I'm sure he was just checking his work, perhaps making sure that he didn't leave you with a sore horse?
Maybe mention to him that if he needs trotting up in future, then you prefer to do it for safety reasons.
 
horserider said:
LOL ! Good for you. Now tell us what we really want to know - is he hot totty ?
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Very! He is young, dark haired, French, single and a riding instructor who events!

BTW OH thought I was completely in the right but then again he has to live with me and can't hide behind a computer a couple of countries away! :p
 
Good g*d! You should get down on your knees and be thankful for a farrier who has enough common sense/knowledge/interest to want to see the horse moving! DID your horse misbehave, BTW? You didn't say. I would suspect not, and your farrier sounds like he knows what he is doing, both under the horse (shoeing) and on the ground. Lighten up!
 
I think it would have been better if the farrier had spoken to you about trotting him up but, on the whole YABU.......have a glass of wine and some pombears
 
Deseado said:
Good g*d! You should get down on your knees and be thankful for a farrier who has enough common sense/knowledge/interest to want to see the horse moving! DID your horse misbehave, BTW? You didn't say. I would suspect not, and your farrier sounds like he knows what he is doing, both under the horse (shoeing) and on the ground. Lighten up!
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I think it was fairly evident that the post was meant to be light-hearted! As for going down on my knees in front of the farrier...hmmmm, OH may have something to say about that!
 
If he always trots up your horse before shoeing then I'd be fairly happy that i had a good farrier in general. Did he trot your orhers as well? However, you did explain your horse had a recent tendon injury so would have expected your farrier to have the good sense not to trot him up this time round. Walking away and back would have been sufficient.
 
I wouldn't be concerned about your farrier I would be more concerned that it took your groom a week to tell you something! :rolleyes:
 
My farrier would be mortified if he didn't try to do something with a tendon injury, they can adjust and tweak to help the tendon.

I think its lovely that your farrier took the time over your horse, rather than just slapping the shoes on and taking your money.

However your groom could have come and fetched you, although were you a bit unapproachable on this day?
 
Just before this gets out of hand, as my groom is the loveliest person ever: Farrier came on Thursday, groom was in hospital on Friday, doesn't work weekends and told me on Monday. She also knew I was in a dark, quiet room trying to get a screaming baby to sleep so I think she was right not to come get me for anything baring the world ending. She is an extremely responsible, hard working person, as is the farrier - neither would behave unprofessionally. I just had a moment of high blood pressure, whcih I have now overcome!
 
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