Grumpy farrier

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Sandstone1

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Getting a bit sick of my farrier, hes a grumpy sod. Can be rough with horses and recently jabbed mine in the belly with the end of his rasp. Horse was just a bit wriggly. Nothing bad. I am wrong to think its not his job to correct my horse. Really had to bite my tongue.
 
Auslander

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Sandstone1 said:
Getting a bit sick of my farrier, hes a grumpy sod. Can be rough with horses and recently jabbed mine in the belly with the end of his rasp. Horse was just a bit wriggly. Nothing bad. I am wrong to think its not his job to correct my horse. Really had to bite my tongue.
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100% sack him and find someone else who wont mistreat your horse.
One thing I would say though - you are correct that its not his job to correct your horse, but it IS your job to make sure your horse behaves. What you see as wriggly could well be uncomfortable/painful for the person who is underneath your horse.

Not saying this was necessarily the case with your horse, but its worth noting for the benefit of other forum users that a farriers worst nightmare is a horse who won't stand quietly, and a handler who doesn't see the problem.
 
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Sandstone1

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Auslander said:
100% sack him and find someone else who wont mistreat your horse.
One thing I would say though - you are correct that its not his job to correct your horse, but it IS your job to make sure your horse behaves. What you see as wriggly could well be uncomfortable/painful for the person who is underneath your horse.

Not saying this was necessarily the case with your horse, but its worth noting for the benefit of other forum users that a farriers worst nightmare is a horse who won't stand quietly, and a handler who doesn't see the problem.
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I agree, mine are pretty good and normally stand as good as gold but this farrier always just comes in grabs the leg and starts. No word or pat to the horse which I do not like, Im not expecting him to make a big fuss of the horse but think he could at least speak to the horse not just grab a leg.
 
Nudibranch

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I stopped using a well known barefoot trimmer (who everyone raves about) when he laid into my 2yo. He does a cracking job with feet. But I'd explained until the cows came home the horse really was not naughty, he was in the middle of vet workups and genuinely could not physically hold his hinds as high as he wanted. Trimmer knew all about natural horsemanship of course and not only spun him in tight circles to teach him a lesson (again something the horse really struggled with) but whacked him with a rasp. The inference was I was too soft on him.
That horse was pts at 7 with hock, SI and neck issues.
 
Auslander

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Sandstone1 said:
I agree, mine are pretty good and normally stand as good as gold but this farrier always just comes in grabs the leg and starts. No word or pat to the horse which I do not like, Im not expecting him to make a big fuss of the horse but think he could at least speak to the horse not just grab a leg.
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Totally with you there! I've got two farriers - one is the regular guy who does all the horses here except Alf, and the other is Alfs personal footman. They are both good guys, who will take time to give the horses a pat, let the older ones have a break if they're struggling, and have a chat about how the feet are looking. I wouldn't use anyone who didn't.
 
dogatemysalad

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Don't mind grumpy farriers, it's a tough job, but I have stopped using an aggressive farrier and I told him why. I am my horses voice.

It's a two way deal. My responsibility is to present a well mannered, safe horse with clean legs and a dry, lit area for the farrier to work in. It's his job to treat my horse with respect and to do a good job.
 
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I disagree slightly. It is his job to correct the horse if it is not behaving appropriately with him. It is everyone's job to do that. I dislike my horse being allowed to get away with things I would not permit by others. Horses react so much better to consistent treatment. If they are never allowed to develop bad habits then they generally don't so it is everyone who handle's them job to make sure they don't, not just mine. I detest bad mannered horses, usually caused by people allowing them to get away with various things and not nipping it in the bud when they could have done. We all know horses which will behave for some but not others depending whether they think they can get away with it.

Having said all that, he needs to correct them appropriately and it doesn't sound as though he does, and you don't seem to like him or the way he handles your horse. Not sure why you need to ask permission on here to find someone else? I certainly would. The only reason I might not is if he does an exceptional job and is much better than the alternatives around. Then I might put up with it if on balance it is in the horse's best interests because of the quality of work he does, despite the odd poke in the ribs. If it escalated into more serious abuse or caused the horse (or me!) to be nervous around him and therefore more twitchy than normal, he would just be quietly replaced.
 
HappyHollyDays

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There is a distinct difference between a grumpy Farrier and an aggressive one. I use a barefoot Farrier for one who is firm but fair although DP never gives him any problems and usually falls asleep. The other one doesn’t like it if B fidgets so I remind him he has hock issues and he needs to be a little more patient. On the other hand B is a biter and if he tried to take a chunk out of the Farrier because I’ve not put a muzzle on him not only would I be mortified I would have no qualms about him giving him a smack.
 
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I remember as a kid having a farrier like that and not speaking up and so many years later it still bothers me a but that i didn't, do not accept this.
I can understand how they become that way, it must be a bit of a poxy job at times and a horse pulling them must really take the toll on their backs, and they must come across some very unruly ones with precious owners (not suggesting thats you) BUT if they have become a bit sour to the point they are jabbing the horses with their tools out of irritation it would be time to move to someone else for me.
 
PurBee

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A farrier i had whacked my mare hard on the neck in front of me. I was utterly shocked.

My mare, when something being done hurts her, puts her foot on the ground. At that time her frogs were sensitive so she mustve been poked in the frog and put her foot down. She puts all her weight on the foot, you cant hold it if you tried.
It was a front foot, never kicks, shes so great to handle her feet, and the only thing she does is put her foot down to say ’i dont like what you did’.
That farrier is in a cloud of dust on the horizon of the past ?
 
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Sandstone1

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Leandy said:
I disagree slightly. It is his job to correct the horse if it is not behaving appropriately with him. It is everyone's job to do that. I dislike my horse being allowed to get away with things I would not permit by others. Horses react so much better to consistent treatment. If they are never allowed to develop bad habits then they generally don't so it is everyone who handle's them job to make sure they don't, not just mine. I detest bad mannered horses, usually caused by people allowing them to get away with various things and not nipping it in the bud when they could have done. We all know horses which will behave for some but not others depending whether they think they can get away with it.

Having said all that, he needs to correct them appropriately and it doesn't sound as though he does, and you don't seem to like him or the way he handles your horse. Not sure why you need to ask permission on here to find someone else? I certainly would. The only reason I might not is if he does an exceptional job and is much better than the alternatives around. Then I might put up with it if on balance it is in the horse's best interests because of the quality of work he does, despite the odd poke in the ribs. If it escalated into more serious abuse or caused the horse (or me!) to be nervous around him and therefore more twitchy than normal, he would just be quietly replaced.
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I am not asking permission to change, I just getting others thoughts on the situation if thats ok?
I have no issue with firm but fair but this is not fair in my view.
 
PurBee

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Lindylouanne said:
There is a distinct difference between a grumpy Farrier and an aggressive one. I use a barefoot Farrier for one who is firm but fair although DP never gives him any problems and usually falls asleep. The other one doesn’t like it if B fidgets so I remind him he has hock issues and he needs to be a little more patient. On the other hand B is a biter and if he tried to take a chunk out of the Farrier because I’ve not put a muzzle on him not only would I be mortified I would have no qualms about him giving him a smack.
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exactly - as stated by you and others, the reprimand needs to correlate with the ‘offence’.
My gelding can be a git if he decides to be, with feet handling and depending on his playful mood of the day so he gets wiggly, tries to wriggle his foot out of my grip as im working on him and i say firmly ‘hey!’...that normally works and i carry on. There’s no need to physically escalate to physical if oral firm word works.
Sometimes he’s really cheeky, and with front feet as im bent over he’ll either pull at my waistband, find my knicker elastic and ping that or or even nip my back, its never aggressive, but i still discourage it with firm words first, then if that fails, i quickly rise and arm raised to block his head away say ‘no’. It’s only because i do him on a loose leadrope thats swung over his neck that gives him the freedom to reach down to me. With a nippy aggressive horse i’d tie them with hardly any slack so they couldnt reach me to nip.

But as rightly stated, if a horse thinks they can get away with it they’ll try it on. My gelding mucks about with me but rarely around men. One farrier i had trimmed his feet while the gelding was laying down having a snooze in the barn...i couldnt friggin’ believe it!...however the next time the horse was in a cheekier mood and redeemed me somewhat by being a playful wriggly bugger and yet the farrier just said ‘behave’ and that was all that was needed.

One bad farrier can make foot handling a nightmare for subsequent farriers, as i well know - so its wise to see this behaviour from your farrier as a warning OP.
 
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