Barefoot trim ... how much do you pay?

[laura_nash]

I paid £20 for an (excellent) farrier to barefoot trim my horse when he was already on the yard shoeing others. He helped me through the transition from shod and was always happy to discuss things.

After a yard move I paid £50 for an (also excellent) barefoot trimmer to visit the yard specially to do my horse (including photos, video of footfall etc which previous farrier didn't do). As the trimmer only came quarterly and I rasped in between (on her advice and with contact via e-mail etc for any concerns) this didn't actually work out more expensive. Any decent farriers I could find in area of new yard were reluctant to come out just to trim one horse, and the other liveries used a farrier I wasn't happy using.

 

[BigRed]

I pay £20 for a trim, so long as my horse is shod at the same time. If comes to just trim one pony the cost is £40. You can't expect someone to drive to you for one £20 trim.

 

[stencilface]

I think I pay about £10-20 for my farrier to trim mine, but most of the time he barely does anything, he pretty much self trims. I have rubbed him a couple of times with my hand rasp things when I've had a couple of chips.

 

[TPO]

New trimmer was £30 for his first visit, after I asked to book him again he said all repeat customers are £25 regardless of how many horses you have/he's at that yard to see.

Prior to him I have paid £35-45 per trim per horse.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

£20 for our excellent farrier to trim.
We have 4 horses, 1 shod all round, 1 shod on the fronts only, my farrier contradicted the farrier her previous owner had, who insisted that she should be shod all round - she has been fine for 4 yrs without back shoes, and the two youngsters who were are hoping to keep without shoes. He has been very patient with the youngster who had an injured front foot which needed vet treatment and became very wary of anybody doing anything with her feet. And occasionally a friend brings her horse to ours to be shod, so he has at least a morning's work.

 

[Landcruiser]

£45 for my trimmer for very tricky horse,and £40 for second horse if necessary, although that's usually only to rebalance once or twice a year. Between times I do myself.

 

[Dizzy socks]

I'm £14 each, but to be fair the farrier did semi retire a few years ago, and does it for us because we know him a little.

 

[Kikke]

£35 per horse by a Trimmer, we are in south Oxfordshire.

 

[Sukistokes2]

£20 for my Farrier...........I know that he sometimes lurks on here I hope that he doesn't get any ideas!!!!!!£45 jaysus ............What qualifications and experience do these trimmers have to have to charge that much!?

 

[Boulty]

I pay about £50 about every 12-16 weeks on average depending on how schedules align. That fee includes a very long travel time though! (As in I'm still amazed that he agreed to come all this way, granted he does tag us on to other visits in the vague area we're in but I think we're probably the furthest away client) Pony is always sound after his trim and I absolutely trust that only what needs to be taken off comes off if that makes sense? The pony is a rehab (whose journey started at rockley) and for quite some time had very interesting feet (they still verge on the odd side of normal) and I'm not sure most would have understood his specialness.

To put this in perspective the farrier my vet recommended for remedial shoeing didn't technically cover my area so I paid £50 every 6 weeks or so just to get him boxed over to the forge. I then paid £50-90 on top of that for shoeing depending on if refits or not... £50 every 3 or 4 months and having someone coming to me (on a weekend btw) AND a sound horse (which sadly wasn't always the case in shoes) compares very favourably indeed!

 

[Goldenstar]

£30

 

[Greylegs]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The farrier in question shoes but also has a lot of experience of (and a strong interest in) barefoot care. I've spoken to him a few times about my boy and he's happy to trim him while he's on the yard shoeing another horse.

Some interesting comments about specialist barefoot trimmers on here though. It seems £45 is about the going rate for this service. Another lady on my yard does use a trimmer for her two and is trying to get me to use her as well. This trimmer has looked at my boys feet "out of interest" on one of her visits because he's nearly 16 and has never been shod at all. She gave them a very thorough examination and declared that she couldn't improve on them and they were fine, so I'm perfectly happy with the job the old farrier was doing.

The new guy is coming next week so it remains to be seen how we get on. Thanks again for your feedback everyone.

 

[pansymouse]

I pay £30 every 7 weeks for my farrier to trim. He is excellent with ridden unshod horses and is currently correcting the ill informed trim that a barefoot trimmer has done on our pony (out on loan). Pony has a birth defect in one hoof and the trimmer tried to trim him straight and made him chronically lame. The farrier is working with the shape of his hoof and pony is back in work again. The farrier offered to show the trimmer how to shape his foot correctly be she failed to show up

 

[horserugsnot4u]

£20 per trim plus £20 call-out, so could cost £40 if you only had one done but I have two, so £30 each. They only need trimming every 12-16 weeks. Excellent job by farrier so no experience of 'barefoot trimmers'

 

[Goldenstar]

My thirty is the the bf trimmer .

 

[FairyLights]

bf trimming is a rip off. I pay £25 trimming done by the farrier.

 

[FairyLights]

I pay £30 every 7 weeks for my farrier to trim. He is excellent with ridden unshod horses and is currently correcting the ill informed trim that a barefoot trimmer has done on our pony (out on loan). Pony has a birth defect in one hoof and the trimmer tried to trim him straight and made him chronically lame. The farrier is working with the shape of his hoof and pony is back in work again. The farrier offered to show the trimmer how to shape his foot correctly be she failed to show up

typical of these people. BF trimming needs proper regulation and teaching by qualified farriers not they the anybodies who set themselves up as teachers and trimmers

 

[CBFan]

I pay £50 every 12 weeks and trim myself in between. Worth it for the knowledge, understanding and advice and support I get with the trimming service.

I too get a full written report and my appointment lasts an hour. I get the same time slot every 12 weeks so I know exactly where and when my appointment is and she's NEVER late.

 

[apachediamond]

£24 for a trim

 

[NativePonyLover]

bf trimming is a rip off. I pay £25 trimming done by the farrier.

I think it depends who you have available as a farrier and your own circumstances.

To put it into perspective: I've used farriers in the past, I was happy enough with their work but more often than not they were at least one of the following: not the most reliable in terms of lateness or cancelling appointments, difficult to get hold of inbetween appointments, not particularly forthcoming with advice or when I got my current boy whose not had great experiences with farriers - no one had the time or patience or expertise to help teach him (and yes, I was willing to pay a lot extra to 'teach' and not just trim or shoe). Those that did, tried to do so using IMHO inhumane methods.

I'm not tarring all farriers with the same brush at all - I'm friends with a great farrier, who I used until I moved my horse at the time to a yard slightly too far away for him. There's another farrier who trims a few on my yard, who I like too.

But, when I used farriers I work full time & schedule my appointments around work - to be let down at the last minute or waiting 90 minutes with no idea if they are coming or not, isn't acceptable for me. I've got a metabolically challenged pony whose had laminitis & I like to ask questions to help support him the best I can - I didn't really get in depth answers from any previously used farriers (ok, so I had different horses at time - but one had corrective shoeing at the time).

My EP has never been more than 5 minutes late (she even text me to let me know), schedules longer appointments as she knows my boy needs extra time as he's tricky at no extra cost, she uses essential oils to help with his nerves - incidentally, this has been a real turning point for him away from trimming to, but I'd never have thought to use it - can answer all my questions in detail (ok, so she has dumb the scientific bits down for me), makes notes & sends them to me, suggests further reading & stuff if relevant (she's given me heaps of info to help manage his laminitis better) & looks at the whole horse, rather than just 'is there to trim his feet'. If I have any questions or concerns - I can ring, text of email & she'll always respond as soon as she can, even on a Sunday night! In fact, she'll often text me to just check everything is ok.

Most importantly though, he's never been sounder & happier

I'm not saying you can't get that level of service from a farrier for £20, if you do then that's fantastic & I wouldn't need to use an EP either! But personally, I haven't. Not that all trimmers are good, of course. I got rid of one for a few reasons - but my current EP is just wonderful and is worth every penny I pay her.

 

[criso]

£45 per horse by uknhcp trained trimmer.

Before that £20 - £25 for 3 different farriers. Problem is they left my horse lame which is why I went through a few to find my current person. They always rushed, weren't interested in seeing my horse move and getting feedback on what effect what they had done had had. Plus trims were a second class thing as they would only do a trim if they were already coming out to shoe a horse on the same yard, not always possible to fit around other people and I prefer to be there.

Current person takes a great deal of time and sometimes it's a case of trimming a bit and watching them move to judge the effect which works better.


It's so difficult to find the right person. There's some round here I'd pay more than that to get back in their van and leave my horses alone.

 

[tallyho!]

Each to their own.

People have good reasons to use a trimmer and many will have done their research extensively before deciding to go down that route.

What I'd love to know is why are people so cut up about spending more £20 on a trim yet think nothing of buying rugs that cost over £100...

 

[Greylegs]

Each to their own.

People have good reasons to use a trimmer and many will have done their research extensively before deciding to go down that route.

What I'd love to know is why are people so cut up about spending more £20 on a trim yet think nothing of buying rugs that cost over £100...

This a very fair point!!! I'm happy to spend £45 on a trim if that's what's needed to keep my boy happy on his feet ... (but then I rarely spend much more than that on a rug, so it's each to their own i guess ...)

 

[tallyho!]

This a very fair point!!! I'm happy to spend £45 on a trim if that's what's needed to keep my boy happy on his feet ... (but then I rarely spend much more than that on a rug, so it's each to their own i guess ...)

Well neither do i actually. As long as it keeps rain off and warmth when it gets to below 30 or something. Rugs have never been my "thing" but I do have a "thing" for good feet!

 

[Blurr]

What I'd love to know is why are people so cut up about spending more £20 on a trim yet think nothing of buying rugs that cost over £100...

Who said that?

 

[rara007]

My farrier does little bits of maintenance for me as and when I ask for free (We have lots of other work for him, he's at the yard roughly every fortnight). My farrier is great and does what I say, but has little experience in what im trying to achieve so we're learning together! I'm happy with the situation

 

[Doublethyme]

I pay £20 but I also have one shod at the same time. He looks (picks all feet up and sees moving) at my unshod one every time he comes (so every 6 weeks) but he only trims if she needs it, she was last done 14 months ago. My farrier is excellent with both my unshod and shod one and is willing to give constructive advice and will show you any stage in more detail if you ask.

^^^this but think mine is around £24 (south east). I have used a barefoot trimmer previously for my older mare, lovely guy, very knowledgeable but I believe micro managed the mare too much and it was constantly an uphill battle with the mare. My farrier is far more laid back and my current riding horse, a Hanoverian with pretty poor confo (dishing) and tb type feet storms all over our tough flinty tracks and rides/jumps on sll surfaces.

 

[sarcasm_queen]

£15 a horse, so £60 every 8 weeks or so.

 

[Kezzabell2]

45 is standard for for fronts and a trim in Hampshire

 

[ridefast]

£45 a trim is still cheaper than a set of shoes