Cheek of a farrier :o

elliegirl12

elliegirl12

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 March 2007
Messages
1,415
Location
hampshire
Visit site
My gelding lost his shoe in the school, as was stuck in for 5days on box rest, and there was a farrier up the yard and managed to find the shoe in the school, it was twisted but just asked farrier to put it back on for us, took a matter off five minutes to hammer the shoe back into place and put it back on, mum goes would you like anything for it!! ermm yeah £15 :o for 6nails and 5 minutes of his time, mum thought he was joking i was not so sure!! any other farrier would of done it for free or for like £5 baring in mind we pay £25 for two fronts/ cold shod its only his 2nd set of shoes.
We walked away laughing thinking must be joking! totally shocked!!

Do your random shoe losses barring in mind he did not even have to use one of his shoes!! would yours charge? We had a long term farrier and even he would come out if we had lost a shoe and had it done for free but obviously wanted to be loyal to his long term clients!!
 
My farrier would put it back on free of charge assuming he shod it in the first place.

In the past I have paid £10 to have a shoe put back on by a farrier who didn't shoe the horse originally. I think that is acceptable. I wasn't one of his clients and I didn't want to wait for my farrier to come and put it back on. The £10 was worth it to me the get the shoe put back on without having to wait a couple of days for my farrier to be in the area.
 
I wouldn't expect to get it done free tbh.
From the farriers point of view you choose someone else to shoe your horse over him. Most farriers would (and probably should) say no to popping a shoe on someone elses horse.
He won't know about any corrective work that may be being done or anything similar.
Farriers vary in their styles of shoeing, i wouldn't want another farrier popping a shoe back on my horse, i'd rather wait for my farrier, (pop a boot on if necessary) than risk an unbalanced pair of feet shod by 2 seperate farriers.

Edited to say my own farrier will put a shoe back on if it comes off within 2 weeks of being shod.
 
But you're not a long term loyal customer of his :confused:

Yes I would expect to be charged if it was a random request to a farrier who hadn't fitted the original shoe.
 
If I understand you correctly a farrier who happened to be up the yard kindly put your horses shoe on so he could come off box rest even though you aren't his client and then when he asked you for payment you thought it was a joke!! Farriers aren't charities, way I see it he did you a favour without any guarentee of repeat custom so as a one off yes you probably will get charged over the odds. Next time I would pay him, say thank you and make him a cup of tea!!
 
We did pay him! was just a little shocked, Our farrier would of taken a few days to come out and is having a new set on next week. being a thoroughbred who had a little injury/ puncture wound, we did not want to give him any exscuse to be lame
 
He is in business, I once paid £25 to have one shoe on, but farrier [not mine], had to visit specially, it is not the time on site it is the whole day, round here farriers are happy to pop shoes back on, they do not, after all re-balance the hoof.
 
Ughhh 5 minutes of his time and 5 years of apprenticeship and his insurance etc etc

Sorry he was NOT your farrier - why should he put a shoe back on for you? Folk like you make me sick (OH is a farrier). My hubby gets asked to do this and sometimes he has time and he will charge that too to 'non customers'.

The other weekend he got a begging phone call (not his client) from a woman whose horse had twisted a shoe on a Saturday and they couldn't get it off. Could he please help. He drives 15 mins out of his way only to get there and shoe is off - he goes mad as he is now late for his next client woman remarks 'oh I thought I would let you come and you would put shoe back on' - he went mad and refused and told her to employ a farrier who works a Saturday!!! Why should his clients suffer for you ad-hoc people who cry when they need help.
 
Last edited:
I would consider myself very very lucky to have found such a nice farrier who came and sorted my horses shoe out for me considering he wasnt the horses normal farrier. We had to get the farrier out last week to put a shoe back on my daughters new horse. He charged me £10 which I was very very happy to pay and he has been our farrier for over 10 years! But this was a new horse and pete had only shod him once and the foot in question was not in the best shape.
Be pleased you got it sorted, nobody should be expected to do professional work for free even if it did only take 5 mins!
 
The farrier is not cheeky at all, and I am shocked that you were shocked quite honestly. I don't understand why you would think that he would do it for free.

If my farrier puts a shoe back on that has been lost, he charges £10 - if he's at the yard anyway, then he will generally do it for free, but I would never expect him to - and if he has to come out especially to put it back on, I would definitely expect him to charge, even if the horse had only been shod a week or so earlier.
 
elliegirl12 said:
We did pay him! was just a little shocked, Our farrier would of taken a few days to come out and is having a new set on next week. being a thoroughbred who had a little injury/ puncture wound, we did not want to give him any exscuse to be lame
Click to expand...

Exactly - your farrier would have taken a few days to come out........maybe that is why he only charges £25 for a pair of fronts for a 'not so amazing service!'.
 
elliegirl12 said:
We did pay him! was just a little shocked, Our farrier would of taken a few days to come out and is having a new set on next week. being a thoroughbred who had a little injury/ puncture wound, we did not want to give him any exscuse to be lame
Click to expand...

He is a business and if I wasn't happy with the price (I would of asked beforehand), I would have waited for my farrier.

It would have taken more than 5 minutes to straighten the shoe and put back on. A farrier is a bit more than putting a shoe on, if he's worth his qualifications, he will have been checking other stuff on the hoof unbeknown to us - not foot, no horse.
 
My horses don't have shoes anymore- but when they did- and one pulled a shoe- I called my farrier who made a special visit to put it back on. He didn't want paying- but I put a tenner on the dashboard of his van when he wasn't looking.

If I had asked a farrier who happened to be on the yard to do it I would have expected to pay him- he's doing a job after all.

Do you work for free?:confused:
 
Ohh chrumbs i am going to get my head bitten off!

I would quite happily of paid £10, i think that is fair!

Thought £15 was a bit steep considering he was not hot shod!
 
I wouldnt let any farrier put a shoe on my horse as she has poor feet. I would always wait for farrier to turn up. But he stays 15 mins down road from us so he pops in at the start or end of a day when we need shoe nailed back on.
As I have said horse has poor feet so they slacken off after a few weeks and I just have a couple nails put back in before they fall off. I pay for him to put a few nails put in as many shoes as needed. He would charge me £10. If the shoe was to fall off he would charge me £10 to put it back on if I had the shoe and £15 if he had to use another shoe. I dont have any problems paying the farrier or have any issues about the price he charges me.
 
When vet or farrier do a favour like that on my yard, I always press £10 or £20 (whichever I feel appropriate) into their hand or front pocket without asking - keeps everyone sweet and I have no trouble asking for "favours"
 
One of my liveries, not shod by OH, managed to pull a shoe off in his stable last night. OH was shoeing another livery's horse this morning, and he said he would put the shoe back on. This meant that as she arrived on the yard to ride her horse, it was being put back in its box with all four shoes on, no hassle to her and no need for the horse to be stood about with only 3 shoes on until the next time her own farrier happened to be in the area.

She has just come back up with a tenner and a bottle of wine for OH, so probably in line with the OPs £15 ....
 
Okay i put my hands up here then!! i didnt realize so many farriers do charge more then £10 to put a shoe back on!! :o

I never said it was less skill, we havent been in this area very long and up my old yard the farriers seemed more then happy to just have a cuppa and a chocky biscuit and a fiver to put a shoe back on, but a different lot of farriers so was quite unaware!! But then again they always came up to do quite a few horses!
 
I think £15 to reshape a BENT shoe and put it back on a horse that isn't a regular and could therefore have been a difficult beast to shoe is quite resonable to be honest.

If it were my regular farrier who I treated well with tea and biscuits on every visit, another cuppa and biccy might have done it(and even then I'd have offered money or asked 'how much?' rather than asking IF he wanted paying!!) but not a complete stranger.
 
I would not even expect my own one to put a shoe back on for free. They just trying to earn a crust like the rest if us. You don't get anything for free in this life, I'd of been extremely grateful to him and happily paid him the £15. Which is a fair price to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top