kickonchaps
Well-Known Member
He's the second generation from his family shoeing for the third generation of our family, and he used to let my grandma pay in vegetables from her garden when he gave her old mare a trim 
He spotted a long term lameness in my last horse before even the vet because he could see the shoes were wearing ever so slightly unevenly, and on another occasion we called him out because of a sudden, severe lameness with no swelling or heat, he picked the foot up and immediately said 'pus in the foot' (there were no signs we could see at all), drained it and that was that!
Last time, he came out the day before a one day event and my stupid horse promptly went and pulled both front shoes off because he was t***ing about flinging himself in all directions! The farrier came out again that week and put new shoes on, and as I wasn't there I left a blank cheque and a note to say let me know how much it was. He didn't take the cheque and ignored all the texts to find out what we owed... bearing in mind he lives well over an hour's drive away...!
So he came out again today and my mum was around this time - she asked him what we owed before and he said rather embarrassedly 'They came off the next day... don't worry about it' but she insisted, so he said a tenner. That's not even half the petrol, let alone the labour, so she gave him twenty.
And even better, today he spent over 2 hours putting my horse's new set on, did each foot individually and very very carefully, made all the shoes from scratch and even left us a spare set to go in the lorry in case it happens again! He might be grumpy and he might be late CONSTANTLY and he might have an annoying tendency to cancel last minute, but anyone who takes that much effort to for my horse is a hero!!!
Farriers get so much bad press esp on here, just thought it was time to redress the balance a bit!
He spotted a long term lameness in my last horse before even the vet because he could see the shoes were wearing ever so slightly unevenly, and on another occasion we called him out because of a sudden, severe lameness with no swelling or heat, he picked the foot up and immediately said 'pus in the foot' (there were no signs we could see at all), drained it and that was that!Last time, he came out the day before a one day event and my stupid horse promptly went and pulled both front shoes off because he was t***ing about flinging himself in all directions! The farrier came out again that week and put new shoes on, and as I wasn't there I left a blank cheque and a note to say let me know how much it was. He didn't take the cheque and ignored all the texts to find out what we owed... bearing in mind he lives well over an hour's drive away...!
So he came out again today and my mum was around this time - she asked him what we owed before and he said rather embarrassedly 'They came off the next day... don't worry about it' but she insisted, so he said a tenner. That's not even half the petrol, let alone the labour, so she gave him twenty.
And even better, today he spent over 2 hours putting my horse's new set on, did each foot individually and very very carefully, made all the shoes from scratch and even left us a spare set to go in the lorry in case it happens again! He might be grumpy and he might be late CONSTANTLY and he might have an annoying tendency to cancel last minute, but anyone who takes that much effort to for my horse is a hero!!!
Farriers get so much bad press esp on here, just thought it was time to redress the balance a bit!