Is it just me?

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zsmm4

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Is anyone else sick of handing over £60 for 45 mins work? Theres no forges thesedays where you can walk the horse to and pay ,say £30. I am paid £6.47 an hour at work. I have to travel,pay petrol and own a car,so the "they have to travel to you" argument doesnt hold water. No one pays me more because I have to" travel".
Its rip -off Britain.
 
I take it you mean for the farrier? If so... no, I'm happy to pay someone I trust to do a job that I can't do myself.

obv I'd rather it was £30... but then I'd rather my petrol was free... :p but being realistic... I choose to have a horse as a luxury, and I choose to have it shod. So if that's the going rate, so be it :)
 
A registered farrier has to train for over 4 years, he shoes horses as a business and whilst alot do make a good living out of it, that's what being in business is all about.

Horses are expensive to keep. If you can't afford it then don't keep one. My hourly rate is less than yours but I choose to go with out other things so I can keep mine and I never begrudge spending money on my horses, they are my hobby.

Does your horse need shoes? If not let it go barefoot. Some things we have no choice about paying for but those you do, budget for or give it up!
 
My farrier is £65 and I think that's not bad as in my opinion he's an excellent farrier. I could not be bothered with having to get mine to a forge. Think about it another way, it only works out at £10 ish per week if your shoeing interval is 6-7 weeks for being able to do all the riding you want to do on a sound horse and that to me is priceless.
 
I think £60 is very reasonable to get a qualified professional, who has trained for many years to come out to you. Farriers have to pay out for:

Vehicle, and all included running costs
Equipment (rasps etc)
shoes and nails
Yearly registration
Insurance
(I'm sure there is alot more I have missed out)

They also have to be paid for their time, they may only be with your horse for 45 mins, but they may have had 30mins travel on top of that. It is very physically demanding work, with a high risk factor. Everybody has to make a living, if you don't like paying £60 every 6 weeks to have for horse's hooves looked after by a highly qualified professional, then maybe you shouldn't have a horse.
 
I actually don't think its unreasonable. Its a complicated and physically demanding job that needs plenty of specialist equipment. I don't know about your farrier but mine doesn't actually do that many each day, would you really want to be bending at that angle with half of ton of horse leaning on you all day long?
 
zsmm4 - my ex was/is self employed and you would be amazed at the costs there are to pay even before you do a job - insurance and public liability for example is very steep.

I am lucky on the shoes front though, my mare's feet hardly grow and I very rarely do any roadwork - you would be shocked to hear how long she goes between shoeing :o
 
zsmm4 said:
Is anyone else sick of handing over £60 for 45 mins work?
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Some people pay that for a haircut :eek:, now that is madness!!

I think my farrier is deserving of his wage. Do you know the price of steel since it is no longer sourced in this country? Not cheap and not likely to get any cheaper either.
 
I guess its time for me to not have horses. TBH i've been fed up with feeding and mucking out for a few years now,I dont compete anymore. I am currently horseless, a few months ago my OH horse broke its leg and I had mine shot too whilst the knackerman was here. Was just fed up with her, I'd owned her for 4 years and we'd never gelled. In the current market she wasnt worth much so no point in putting up with the hastle of people coming to view and wasting time. I've been thinking of getting another,looking at adverts, but its just habit,because its what I've always done,and owning my own land ,well I might as well have a horse sort of thing. But I really think I wont bother any more. Its now a matter of pursading Husband that I dont want a horse, its mainly him that wants the thing about the place.
 
zsmm4 said:
I guess its time for me to not have horses. TBH i've been fed up with feeding and mucking out for a few years now,I dont compete anymore. I am currently horseless, a few months ago my OH horse broke its leg and I had mine shot too whilst the knackerman was here. Was just fed up with her, I'd owned her for 4 years and we'd never gelled. In the current market she wasnt worth much so no point in putting up with the hastle of people coming to view and wasting time. I've been thinking of getting another,looking at adverts, but its just habit,because its what I've always done,and owning my own land ,well I might as well have a horse sort of thing. But I really think I wont bother any more. Its now a matter of pursading Husband that I dont want a horse, its mainly him that wants the thing about the place.
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I am finding it hard to understand what exactly your post is about; you started off by complaining about the cost of a farrier. Next you are saying that you had your horse shot because you were fed up with her. I am shocked and amazed that you could be so callous
just because the knackerman was there for your husbands horse and you choose to have your horse destroyed at the same time as you no longer could be bothered with her.
 
Originally Posted by zsmm4
a few months ago my OH horse broke its leg and I had mine shot too whilst the knackerman was here. Was just fed up with her, I'd owned her for 4 years and we'd never gelled.

If you do get another horse, i feel extremely sorry for it just incase it isnt right for you and have that one shot aswell.
Why didnt you hand them over to w welfare society? i couldnt live with myself if i shot my horse "because i was fed up with her"
There's always someone out there willing to love a horse.
 
Troll troll troll troll, troll troll troll troll, trollitty troll, trollitty troll!
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I think horses of the world are a lot safer if you've decided to have no more to do with them OP...
 
Yep! I think we have the latest troll in our midst. Like the others before, they will not succeed or get to us but crawl back under the bridge where they came from.
 
I love it when we get a troll, fairly brightens up the evening.

Come back zsmm4, I want to hear more about your horse experiences.
Mind you, I find it highly amusing that you are complaining about the price of a farrier....seems a bit odd to still be putting shoes on a dead horse......lol has your farrier not noticed?
 
I'm not a troll. Because the welfare places were all full, I tried them in the past,RSPCA,Redwings etc when my sons elderly shetland was outgrown. I was told by more than 1 welfare place to have him PTS as they only took on rescue cases eg starved horses. Admittedly this was 11 years ago,but now things are so much worse economically and horse selling wise. I wanted the pony to have a bit of a retirement,we couldnt keep him at the time as were moving house to a place with no land at the time [have since bought a field]. I wont pay livery fees having lived on a farm and always done our own hay etc, I cannot justify the cost of livery. I guess thats why I think the farrier is so expensive. My food budget for the week for 3 adults is £60 and to me thats 10 hours work.
 
Don't get it - what does it matter how much it costs if you don't have a horse? How can you be sick of handing over money if you don't actually use a farrier to hand it over to?
 
I commend your commitment to good footcare, but shoeing a dead horse seems somewhat excessive.
 
Think of the amount of time farriers spend just driving around? Aswell as doing their books, booking in clients etc etc...
 
zsmm4 said:
I'm not a troll. Because the welfare places were all full, I tried them in the past,RSPCA,Redwings etc when my sons elderly shetland was outgrown. I was told by more than 1 welfare place to have him PTS as they only took on rescue cases eg starved horses. Admittedly this was 11 years ago,but now things are so much worse economically and horse selling wise. I wanted the pony to have a bit of a retirement,we couldnt keep him at the time as were moving house to a place with no land at the time [have since bought a field]. I wont pay livery fees having lived on a farm and always done our own hay etc, I cannot justify the cost of livery. I guess thats why I think the farrier is so expensive. My food budget for the week for 3 adults is £60 and to me thats 10 hours work.
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No not a troll, just tight as a fishes arse then.
 
Shoot a horse because it has a stable vice! that would be half the horses in England dead! What an insane thing to say.
 
just to add that my mare was at least 14,not old,but not young either,and had severe separation anxiety regarding my husbands horse. I had visions of her running into the fence and us geting yet another huge vet bill we couldnt pay without difficulty,,and all for a horse I wasnt keen on anyway. I'm rather sad about it now though,thinking of her good points,she was good in traffic and had started to be better out hacking alone. Guess we just never did enough together to "gell". Other horses I've owned over the years have always been sold on if unsuitable or not wanted,but in todays market I didnt want her going from pillar to post and getting all anxious,maybe going to market and then on a meat waggon. Just thought it better to shoot her at home and let her and her friend [husbands horse] go together.
Its really that after 6 months horseless I'm under pressure from husband to start horse hunting and I'm not convinced that I want one. I'njust fed up with over 30 odd years of mucking out and so on. I dont compete anymore, cant be bothered with it all,getting up early,the costs involved,plaiting up etc so sold the trailer and 4x4 ages ago now. We've been hacking for the last 5 years round the village and bridleways. Husband says its a shame not to ride with such good facilities on the doorstep --great views,countryside and BW's,but I just resent the money and time owning a horse takes up.
 
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