Has anyone successfully complained about a farrier to the farriery council?

[tristar]

what about those expert witness` es

 

[tristar]

since i started trimming my own, the movement has improved unbelievably, and the two cracks one had have gone, i was scared at first but the results are amazing

the farrier i sometimes use has more qualifications than any other i have used and i ended up telling him how to grow out the cracks, they went in two cycles

 

[ester]

I rather assumed that liking the farrier meant you like the work they do!

Farriers are required to do CPD and my farrier is happy to chat about the CPD sessions he does and meets with the vets to discuss cases etc. and that is definitely one of the things I “like” about him.

The link I posted seemed to suggest that only new farriers had to do CPD?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Farriers are not intentionally bad at their job so berating them may not secure improvements.

Not so sure about this. When I asked my own good farrier whether crap big cheese farrier is any good, he cautiously replied ‘He can be.‘ And indeed, big cheese has won prestigious awards for his work.

Either the judges at these awards don’t know what they are looking at, or big cheese farrier is happy to drop his standards when not shoeing for a competition. Not great whichever.

 

[WandaMare]

I'm another one who is not massively impressed with the profession at the moment. My farrier who I trusted retired a couple of years ago, and I managed to find another with a supposedly good reputation. He was excellent to begin with, took his time, spoke to me, took some interest in the individual horse so all was great. Recently he has been late every time (hours not minutes) when he arrives he's in a major rush so irritable with me and the horses and if I ask him any question about the feet/shoes he's aggressive and defensive and looks like he's going to lose his temper. Really disappointed and back to the drawing board for me, I'm not continuing with the unpleasant experience of his visits every 5 weeks. I've been ultra flexible with timings (wfh), I haven't criticised him at all in fact the opposite, I've paid him in cash (his request), given him space to work and not bothered him at all while he's working, made him coffee, so don't think its anything I've done. I think the vet recommendation is the way to go, they at least know their customers and their horses and can recommend someone suitable for the horses requirements. When I mentioned his name to my vet recently, she didn't need to say anything, her silence and expression said it all, I am definitely checking with her next time, another horse lesson learnt.

 

[Snowfilly]

As a kid, I knew a farrier who was grand farthered into the Council without any formal training and he was amazing. Proper horseman, and he could improve any horses’ feet.

When our last decent farrier moved away, we used three different farriers, one after the other, for one set and none of them were allowed back. Rushed job, poor horsemanship and shoddy results, and two of them refused to answer questions or give input about the shape of the hooves or angles.

Yet they all seem to get plenty of positive comments on social media, even when the feet in the pictures are wonky!

I think a lot of horse owners are ignorant about shoeing and just blindly trust the farriers. I wish there was a better system for reporting them - and for CPD sessions.

 

[Buster2020]

When i was younger I had a farrier that put the completely wrong size shoes on my horse.

 

[SEL]

I had a scan down the syllabus for the farrier apprenticeship and there is a huge focus on the metalwork side of it - despite most farriers buying in ready sized shoes that just need tweaking these days (I'm semi quoting a farrier there!)

Most trimmers I know do more CPD on the likes of gait analysis, latest science on laminitis etc than any farrier I've met.

Had good and bad experiences with both ?

 

[Steerpike]

This is one thing I'm worrying about when I move, finding a decent farrier, I've been stalking on FB and some in the area I'm moving to leave slot to be desired, so wish my farrier now would be able to carry on with mine but moving 3 hours away it's a no go!

 

[hottoddy]

Ha! I sort of asked a while back (fortunately not to one that does my horse's hooves) and was basically told 'I've been doing it 30 years there's nothing more anyone can teach me'.

There's some fascinating stuff going on with 3D printing of horse shoes with a guy in Australia where he really is designing the shoe - with heel support - to help the horse in front of him. I'm sure boots could be designed that way too. Perhaps in years to come they won't rock up with a forge, but a 3D printer and an x-ray machine.

My farrier has just bought a 3D printer and is starting to experiment

 

[Tiddlypom]

I took an elderly mare on loan for light hacking. She was overdue for the farrier, and I noticed that her front shoes looked weird and didn’t fit well.

She’d been shod with hind shoes on her fronts . I told my own farrier my suspicions, and he told me he was sure I must be mistaken, but when he saw them he confirmed I was right. They were a hopeless fit. He knew the farrier who’d shod her, and was surprised as he was normally ok. Maybe he was running short of shoes and just bunged on what he had in the van.

Another barefoot trimmer classic. When I enquired whether some new up to date X rays would help him trim the senior mare, whose toes were getting very long and heels low after he’d been trimming her for a while. ‘No matter what the X rays showed, I wouldn’t trim these any differently‘. Okay...

 

[Flicker]

We have a local farrier who is always in such a rush, he just turns up, slaps shoes on and shoots off. I can’t see how he can be doing a good job of balancing the foot at the speed he works. His clients all think he is fab, but to me ‘his’ horses seem quite long in the toe and flat at the heel.

And one day he rocked up, in a hurry, and shod the wrong horse...

 

[PapaverFollis]

I had a really excellent farrier in Cumbria. Very considered in his shoeing and always did a thorough, thoughtful job considering the biomechanics of the horse etc.

He didn't have the best rep because "he takes too long" !!

 

[Reacher]

I have a professional chartership and to retain I have to demonstrate cpd. It should be the same with farriers (and trimmers). But owners need to be educated to recognise an unhealthy foot, to recognise poor farriery and understand what damage is done to a foot by poor farriery or by not having the farrier frequently enough or by asking the farrier to shoe short if shoes keep coming off . To not rate a farrier by how long he takes to do the job or how long the shoes stay on. I think many owners are oblivious until the horse breaks down. And maybe the horse is written off when it could have been rehabilitated. Like many people I’ve learned the hard way.

 

[milliepops]

just on the subject of CPD. Obviously I think it's a good thing, but to be meaningful it has to be something the individual takes seriously rather than a box ticking exercise. I know BHS a couple of local instructors who attend something to tick off their CPD but come home proudly announcing they didn't learn anything. CPD box ticked, but didn't really do what it was supposed to in terms of ongoing learning and development

 

[dorsetladette]

This is one thing I'm worrying about when I move, finding a decent farrier, I've been stalking on FB and some in the area I'm moving to leave slot to be desired, so wish my farrier now would be able to carry on with mine but moving 3 hours away it's a no go!

Be aware that on local facebook groups the admins generally don't like it if someone recommends not to use someone or gives reference to a bad experience they have had. Negative reviews are normally deleted.

 

[SEL]

My farrier has just bought a 3D printer and is starting to experiment

Ooh that's exciting!

 

[FFAQ]

When i decided to switch careers i initially wanted to be a farrier. I thought that as they had 4 years training and barefoot trimmers learnt off YouTube and lame every horse (as a farrier once told me) then farriery was the thing for me. I started researching the training and stumbled across Equine Podiatry Training Ltd. I was quite surprised to find that their course appeared to be more in depth than the farriery courses so i emailed a few farriers and a few EPs to get advice. Every single EP replied saying the course was the hardest but best thing they ever did. Not a single farrier replied.
I decided to take the gamble, took out a carrer development loan and did the EPT ltd course over 2 years. It was the best thing i have ever done. I already have post graduate diplomas, but the EPT course was more challenging than university!
I am a full member of the Equine Podiatry Association UK. All our members have to do a minimum of 40 hours CPD each year and are insured. The EPA are our regulatory body and we adhere to the National Occupational Standards for Barefoot Trimming. If (God forbid) a complaint was made, the EPA would take it very seriously.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I am a full member of the Equine Podiatry Association UK. All our members have to do a minimum of 40 hours CPD each year and are insured. The EPA are our regulatory body and we adhere to the National Occupational Standards for Barefoot Trimming. If (God forbid) a complaint was made, the EPA would take it very seriously

That all sounds impressive.

Sadly, despite all that training and CPD, it was an EPA registered trimmer who, after more than a year’s regular trimming, let my horses‘ feet get like this:-



And this:-



And a farrier who stepped in and got them back on track to this:-



And this:-

 

[Marigold4]

When i decided to switch careers i initially wanted to be a farrier. I thought that as they had 4 years training and barefoot trimmers learnt off YouTube and lame every horse (as a farrier once told me) then farriery was the thing for me. I started researching the training and stumbled across Equine Podiatry Training Ltd. I was quite surprised to find that their course appeared to be more in depth than the farriery courses so i emailed a few farriers and a few EPs to get advice. Every single EP replied saying the course was the hardest but best thing they ever did. Not a single farrier replied.
I decided to take the gamble, took out a carrer development loan and did the EPT ltd course over 2 years. It was the best thing i have ever done. I already have post graduate diplomas, but the EPT course was more challenging than university!
I am a full member of the Equine Podiatry Association UK. All our members have to do a minimum of 40 hours CPD each year and are insured. The EPA are our regulatory body and we adhere to the National Occupational Standards for Barefoot Trimming. If (God forbid) a complaint was made, the EPA would take it very seriously.

And yet when I tried to give a home to an elderly WHW pony with sweetitch, they categorically would NOT accept my application because I used an EPA trimmer, even one with years of experience and who instructs. It had to be a registered farrier.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

And yet when I tried to give a home to an elderly WHW pony with sweetitch, they categorically would NOT accept my application because I used an EPA trimmer, even one with years of experience and who instructs. It had to be a registered farrier.

One of their reasons will be that anyone who isn't a qualified WCF farrier is not recognised by any insurance company.

We have good and bad as well as in between, farriers, vets, coaches and yard owners etc.

As already mentioned, it's worth owners learning at least what a good foot should look like.

Tiddly, that's dreadful!

 

[Rowreach]

just on the subject of CPD. Obviously I think it's a good thing, but to be meaningful it has to be something the individual takes seriously rather than a box ticking exercise. I know BHS a couple of local instructors who attend something to tick off their CPD but come home proudly announcing they didn't learn anything. CPD box ticked, but didn't really do what it was supposed to in terms of ongoing learning and development

I think that's fairly accurate in terms of BHS courses for coaches, including sadly the first aid ones.

On the broader issue, in Ireland (all of it) anyone can hammer shoes onto a horse without any qualification whatsoever

 

[Orangehorse]

One of their reasons will be that anyone who isn't a qualified WCF farrier is not recognised by any insurance company.

We have good and bad as well as in between, farriers, vets, coaches and yard owners etc.

As already mentioned, it's worth owners learning at least what a good foot should look like.

Tiddly, that's dreadful!

I thought the Trimmers were trying to get recognised by the Training Council for exactly this reason. Haven't heard what is happening lateley.

 

[Orangehorse]

I happened to be by our village notice board when a young chap put up a notice and drove off. I went and looked and he was advertising as a barefoot trimmer.

I mentioned this to my farrier next time I saw him and he told me that the chap in question had been suspended/struck off, by the Farriers Council. Why, he didn't say.

 

[PapaverFollis]

This thread is massively depressing reading I have to say!

 

[Tiddlypom]

This thread is massively depressing reading I have to say!

Isn’t it .

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I’ve binned a few farriers over the years. I usually just tell them not to come back or that I’m moving to a new farrier as not happy with their work. One I just plain told to their face they were a terrible farrier and had lamed my horse, this was met by a what do you know scoff as per, however shaking a vet report in their face from my recently nerve blocked and vet treatment planned vet examination and telling them in no uncertain terms to can it, soon shut them up mind you they probably cursed me and bitches to everyone with a set of ears. I wasn’t the only one to have bother with him, he was a teaching farrier as well.

As for the farriers council well I’ve never heard of many farriers actually being struck off or disciplined from them. Might be wrong but you don’t hear Much about it. Hence why I never took mine forwards. Im more than happy to warn people off farriers I’ve had issues with.

 

[SpottyTB]

Yes, he said a few other things about what he would improve about the worshipful company, including the syllabus, regular mandatory training to keep up to date as well as overhauling the complaints process.

All the newly qualified farriers have to do a certain amount of CPD per year - it's quite a few seminars a year - i think they brought that in about 4 years ago.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

All the newly qualified farriers have to do a certain amount of CPD per year - it's quite a few seminars a year - i think they brought that in about 4 years ago.

Yes, it has improved since the conversation I had which was approx 2011. Sadly the requirement doesn't appear to be retrospective so Farriers that trained before the rule came in don't have to do the regular training.

 

[ester]

which will be an awful lot of them, and though they may have more experience they may be the most out of date.