I want to kill my farrier

[Grey_Eventer]

i jsut got the one for J... going to ring him tommorow Lynda has someone coming, but if its not early this week then will ring Jeremy as need shoe back on asap, corn dug out as barney is now sound, but no shoe on.. ho hum.. such a pain!

 

[Mithras]

Some areas do seem worse than others. As Wishful Thinker knows, the farriers in Aberdeen aren't up to much. There may be some good ones, but they think they are gods and won't take on "new" individuals. Its really hard to get a farrier and you really have to be at a livery yard to have any chance of getting your horse shod if moving to the area. I moved yards because the first one was so bad, he would fit shoes that didn't fit, my mare's frogs would be resting on the ground, half the horses in the yard were long-term lame.

The second one did one good set of shoes and then slipped. This was supposedly one of the good farriers in Aberdeen. My mare's shoes would last 3 1/2 weeks exactly each time before starting to clink, after 4 1/2 weeks one or two would fall off. When I explained this to the farrier, telling him that down in Midlothian she often went 8 or 9 weeks in winter without needing shod and barely lost a shoe, he told me I was "over-hacking" her! £79 for a set too. I know one girl who drives a round trip of 180 miles every 6 weeks to get her horse shod in Fife.

I am so glad we have been based in Midlothian for a couple of months for the RHS qualifiers, there are a number of good farriers here and funnily enough the exact same horse is lasting 8 or 9 weeks again with no loose shoes. Her feet are a lovely shape and she is jumping much better than before too.