I do wonder why people do this

We're lucky with our farrier as well. From what I gather, YO has used him for years so when she set up her own place instead of being YM at someone else's yard, he agreed to take on her new yard of clients. It helps that she is super organised; she has a book with details of when each horse is due, what they have done, any remedial shoeing, and whether they have paid. We have about 14 livery horses and she tries to arrange it so that he always has 2 to do each week, though it's more common that he will do 3 one week, not come the next week, do 5 the week after and so on.

He told me himself recently that he likes our yard because the horses are always in, he always has more than one to do, the horses are all well behaved, the yard is under cover and YO is organised in sorting it out and booking them in. She books most of them in on the day they're done as most go 5 or 6 weeks. The only one that isn't always booked straight in is mine as farrier complains his feet don't grow quickly enough, so he books him in to be checked at 6 weeks (if he's on the yard that week) but doesn't always shoe him if he's not ready.

I think I've replied to all of these farrier posts now to say I can't fault my farrier. He's always on time, he's friendly, seems to be very knowledgable, remembers your horse and any issues he has (mine shivers so he knows that he can take longer to do, and he always updates me when I see him about how bad/good the shivers were last time), has time to chat... I think my farrier is one in a million!!
 
I love my farrier! He's great, books for the next time after every session, will come out asap if my crazy TBx loses a shoe and is very knowledgeable. Both the horses seem to like him, will get the horses in from the field to start if my mum isn't there (although we are normally his first appt and they are in the stables waiting) and appreciates my crappy coffee and biscuits! He's never let us down and will always call with as much notice as possible if he has to rearrange, even when he was off when his daughter was really ill he still carried out some of his appts or arranged for his brother to work his clients in.

NB. He also puts up with my mare leaning on him at every occassion and my boy licking his bald head dry and nibbling at his ears!

I'll be very sad when it comes to the time when he has to retire
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Hmmm. I don't book my horse in as my shoeing needs vary according to my competition schedule.
Having said that, I have an excellent relationship with my farrier (I don't think you can compete up to 160km without your farrier on board) and he has a good system for bookings. You phone the week before you need him and leave a message, then on Sunday evening he rings and arranges the appointment for the following week. This arrangement works well, as I know when I will hear from him and he just spends one evening on the phone sorting out his diary.
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I have never thought to prebook in 6 weeks time, simply because I don't know what I'll be doing and would likely as anything, be calling to rearrange once I'd realised I had to, take my nan shopping or the dogs to the vets etc etc.

However, I always try to call my farrier two weeks in advance, or I ask him (as he lives close to the yard) when he can pop round and do them. He's worth his weight in gold and always helps me out, so I have no complaints.
 
If clients aren't prepared to book in and have their horses feet done regularly (time intervals that best suit the horse) then if I was a farrier I would refuse to shoe them.
As has been said, reputation is through word of mouth and having horses with long well over due feet just wouldn't be good for business.

My farrier is excellent, I got a text on Friday to say he wouldn't be able to shoe him on Monday as he had been to pick his pads up and they were out of stock. He phoned me yesterday to say they were in and he was on his way to pick them up and so he would be with me at lunchtime today.

ETA: if I'm not there he automatically books me in for 5 weeks
 
My farrier is very good in my opinion.
I will just book horse back in when hes shoeing him, and usually does it 6 weeks to the same day.
We dont find out the time, he just tells us to ring him the night before or text him and ask, and he texts back pretty much straight away .

I have never cancelled on my farrier,nor he cancelled on me. And used him for around 5 years now.
 
We book our farrier to come every 6 weeks which he does as regularly as clockwork. Never lets us down, he's great. And when we've been stuck because of a lost shoe he will always do whatever he can to get there the same day or the next.

Our barefoot trimmer is also equally as reliable and again we book the next trims while she is there.
 
My farrier is worth his weight in gold. If I wasn't married, I'd propose to him although his own wife might have something to say about that. Sunny is shod every 7 weeks like clockwork and at that shoeing we fix the next date 7 weeks hence. He always gives an arrival time and you can set your watch by him. Over 7 years he has only been unable to come twice, both times for a van breakdown and both times he rang me the night before and he has then worked Sunday to catch up. Sunny has only one eye and the farrier works carefully and thoughtfully with him,always talking to him to let him know where he is and what's going to happen next. I wish there was an annual award for the Best Farrier In Britain because I'd put my farrier forward immediately.
 
My farrier is lovely, he always turns up all be it sometimes late! but i usually make sure i schedule in an hours leeway for him so its no problem. I always book in for next time when he i pay him.

When i was younger i was lucky if my farrier turned up in the same week let alone same day!! I often went to the yard after school to find my pony newly shod and back out in the field! lol I just used to drop the money off at his house, i did get a free set on my birthday though!
 
i get my horse done by the farrier that is contracted to the yard so all i have to do is get staff to bring him in and the farrier decideds when he should get done and puts him down for it if he needs a shoe replaced he will come out or wait till the day he is at the yard which is two days a week

i dont see why people muck their farriers about they are like one of the most needed people for there horse to be rideable
 
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I quite often have to reorganise and not because i am disorganised at all but because of last minute cancellations often ruin ing the days work as far as organisation goes especially if it was say a client who was on the edge of my round who i had tied in with another to make the journey time and gas worthwhile and one cancelles, the other only has one horse to shoe (for example) and i am forced to reshedule that person because its not time or cost effective.


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I'm afraid if that happened to me 'quite often' I would be changing farriers. Horse owners with full-time jobs have to use valuable holiday entitlement to have their horses shod (well we do because the horses are at home). You accept that but if you waste your day waiting for a farrier who doesn't turn up or one who lets you down at such short notice that you can't rearrange your work schedule (relevant to shift workers too) it is infuriating.
Our farrier was the apprentice of a farrier who was apprenticed to our first farrier. He always books us in on the day they are shod, and he decides how long between visits. On the very rare occasions when he has had to rearrange he has let us know with as much notice as possible (once for a pony with laminitis and once to attend a funeral). In fact he called round when he knew about the funeral and found time to trim on that visit.
The first farrier (who came to us until he retired) never would book in at the shoeing, we had to ring him the week before we needed him, no mean feat because this was before mobile phones and you could only catch him between 7.00 and 7.30pm. His reasoning was that 'owt could happen'.
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I can only think that we must be considered good customers as in over 30 years we have only had 4 farriers and have kept the continuity as I said. Even in the days when we had no electricity at the stables we always offered coffee (from a flask) and biscuits.
Incidentally, I don't know whether TheFarrier can shed any light on this but I went to a RC talk given by a local farrier who said that he would only shoe horses, not trim unshod ones as he left that to barefoot trimmers. I thought that was very strange as we often have a mixture of shod and unshod for various reasons and I would always prefer to have a qualified farrier deal with my horses' feet.
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i hate it when people moan about their farrier/ horses feet and they only get done once in a blue moon. or when a shoe falls off. makes me mad...
i book in for 6 weeks time each visit or my farrier tells me if he needs to come a week earlier or later...
that way i know what day i need to book off work!
 
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Incidentally, I don't know whether TheFarrier can shed any light on this but I went to a RC talk given by a local farrier who said that he would only shoe horses, not trim unshod ones as he left that to barefoot trimmers. I thought that was very strange as we often have a mixture of shod and unshod for various reasons and I would always prefer to have a qualified farrier deal with my horses' feet.
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Thats news to me. Maybe there is more money in shoeing for him? Maybe he does predominantly remedial shoeing? I cant honestly say what motivates others but i love my trims.

Just to add that quite often is very rarely to the same person, and is perhaps somewhere between once a week and once a month that i have to re arrange a day. If anything its more often just time changes and not day changes. Unfortunately i dont seem to have a round that books in regularly (one of the reasons i am moving, that and i cover a rediculous area of some 80/90miles) so there are only a few days where there is a definite cycle form the time before if that makes sense.

I am currently doing what i can with what i have, i am by no means perfect
 
Well I did wonder if he had heard about the ClydeX that we had at the time.
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She had to be sedated to even trim her.
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Our farrier, who doesn't like heavies anyway, was brilliant with her and persevered until we had to have her pts through illness.
 
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My current farrier (used him for 10 years now) always makes advance appointments, 5-6 weeks ahead. And if I need him for a cast shoe he'll make every effort to come out within two days. If I lose a shoe the day before a ride (nearly always a Saturday when he's not officially working) and he's at home, I can take the horse to him.

My previous farrier wouldn't allow advance bookings for some reason. So every five weeks I had to go through the same performance as other people have mentioned - try and get hold of the guy in the evening and find I'd been beaten to it by other people so his only available slots were 7-8 am ...

I don't understand why some farriers won't take advance bookings - of course, things happen that get in the way but all that needs is a few phone calls to sort out.
 
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Just to add that quite often is very rarely to the same person, and is perhaps somewhere between once a week and once a month that i have to re arrange a day. If anything its more often just time changes and not day changes. Unfortunately i dont seem to have a round that books in regularly (one of the reasons i am moving, that and i cover a rediculous area of some 80/90miles) so there are only a few days where there is a definite cycle form the time before if that makes sense.

I am currently doing what i can with what i have, i am by no means perfect

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Actually, our first farrier, who would never book in advance, was also a nightmare for not turning up, even on the day, never mind at the time arranged. This was so long ago that there was no real alternative, he was an excellent farrier and worked with several local vets, was very good with the horses, allowed my friend's daughter to take photos of him working for a school project etc, so I put up with wasted holiday days (think he was worse with me because I had the school holidays
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I book mine in for 5 weeks time at the time of shoeing, always have done with any farrier I've had. Have been very lucky and never been let down.

However with current farrier, I did have an instance where mare pulled off her front shoes in field (she'd had sticky outy bits at the back - lateral extensions???? for heel support) even with overreach boots on, first one came off 3 weeks before she was due to be shod, called same day, and a couple of days later and so on, she then pulled off the other front, still couldn't get hold of farrier despite calling and leaving messages, and even speaking to him every couple of days, and she ended up going 3 weeks with no fronts on as he wouldn't call me back!!! As much as I cant fault my farrier, if I didn't book him in, I doubt I would be able to get hold of him at all!!!
 
once used a blacksmith that wouldnt take calls(his wife always answered) and he wouldnt give a time would just ring an hour before he was coming and expect you to drop everything and run to meet him. being a full time worker i only used him twice and then swapped he couldnt understand what the problem was.
 
I book from one visit to the next, every 6 weeks, then I know he is booked for my day off. I have to phone at 7.30 am on the day to get a time, but if for some reason I just cannot make the time offered he is prepared to be flexible. For emergencies such as lameness, he is pretty good and will come out within 24 hours. Have only once had to have a shoe put back in a hurry and again came within 24 hours.
 
I have an excellent and longstanding relationship with my farrier, he always books them for a new appointment, but is flexible if one of them need to be shod out of "rota" for i.e. a biggish competion. (I don't tend to ring the night before so )He will come promptly if there is a lost shoe. He will also work together with the vet if something need orthopaedic shoeing and has done an super job keeping my chronic laminitc cushings pony sound and comfortable. Whilst he has first refusal on feet matters, he is approachable and happy to discuss this if it doesn't work.

However, I know some farriers and seen their whho are (as in every profession) not up to such high standard.
 
The only times I have ever tried to get another farrier at short notice is because:
My own farrier on holiday
My own farrier injured or ill.
Normally next appointment booked and into diary before farrier leaves on this visit
 
I've only read your first post but I think owners who are like this must be the bain of Farriers lives!! Horses always need regular trimming so it makes total sense to book them in on a cycle... waiting until they are desperate is no good for the horse and imo unreasonable on the Farrier.
 
My only complaint about my farriers is that they work as a partnership and whichever one comes to shoe my horses, the other one's always got the diary so I can't book in the horses for next time.
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I can not praise my farrier highly enough.

Riv has to be trimmed every 4 weeks so I book him in for the next four weeks - and either for Magic (friends horse) or Luca (my other) and they are on rotation, so he always does two.

He'll come out and check them between shoeings and trims to check if the need doing earlier and is always on time and helpful! The one time he needed to cancel he came on the sunday to make up for it and was very apologetic...

I in turn am always on time with the horses feet clean, a cupa tea and a slice of cake waiting for him!
 
My farrier arranges his diary for the week, on the Monday as he has that day off for childcare.

So I text him on Monday, tell him what I want done, and whether I need it for this week or next.

Generally he does mine on the same day of the week as he has 2 other customers who live close by and does theirs after mine.

He turns up at 8am, trims the 2 that need trimming, I put them back out in the field, and then leave him with the one to be shod, as I have to go to work.

He turns horsey out afterwards as field is right next to yard, or puts her back in stable, whatever I want.

He's never late, rings if there's a problem (like van breaking down!) and he's been my farrier for 21yrs. Hope he never retires!!!
 
I've never, ever had a problem getting hold of my farrier. He is just an absolute star [Tim Rooney, Cardiff area]!

I always book my appointments in advance. However, if I have a problem he will always do his best to fit me in as soon as he can (lost shoe etc.).

My horse recently required remedial farriery after being diagnosed with rotation of his pedal bones. He was diagnosed at 6.00pm on a Thursday, and remedial shod at 11.00am the next day. My farrier having moved his whole day around to accomodate my horse.

It does seem, however, that there are a number of farriers around the country who you simply can't get hold of. And I suppose as with everything in life, you have some good ones, some great ones, and some very mediocre ones.....

Mine however is fab!
 
Our farrier is booked in every 45 days or so and does 10 or so horses. I have mine done then. Some people wait until the shoes are coming off or have come off, and then insist the farrier come out and do theirs. I think it's counter-productive to wait until feet are in a horrible state
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no idea either I'm afraid
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We always book the next visit when our farrier has finished putting the shoes on, usually when writing him his cheque he sorts the next date and time out. far easier that way IME
 
My farrier always books next appointment when he comes out. The only time I have needed him at short notice was a suspected abcess & he came out at 7pm (& it was February!). I couldn't cope if couldn't book ahead as I need to give work notice to take time off work. Have never cancelled an apointment in over 5 years
 
Hmmm daughter of a farrier here - I hear and see this FAR too often.
Dad prefers to book clients every six weeks and usually rings them to remind them a couple of days before.
The clients I PARTICULARLY love to get on the phone are the ones that call at 3pm in the afternoon (usually a Friday wanting to go to a show on Saturday). You look in the book and it was last done 10+ weeks ago (they won't have a regular booking for whatever reason) and OMG the ned has lost a shoe and is now urgent - and why isn't dad sat waiting for their call??
Then we're apparently unhelpful because we say he's busy sorry and its unlikely he'll be able to make it. Quite often he'll do his best to go and do it but AARGGGHH do people not realise??
The one's I really like are when he tells them sure I'll come out - I'll be at the yard for 6.30am to fit you in as you're desperate and the client then replies that's too early.....

sorry bit of a rant
 
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