Morals.. What would you do??? Getting a farrier struck off???

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MissDeMeena

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As the title says really...
If you knew of a farrier that was as bad as could be..
But was generally a nice guy.. what would you do about it??

He has plenty of work as yards are either ignorant of his skills, or just like the convenience of him being easy to contact, and he's happy to shoe 20+ sets a day (where most good farriers will only do 8 to a max of 10 sets properly a day)..
As i said, he's a nice guy.. but he's laming horses to the point of them dieing!! or 2 have anyway.. (kind of 2, one got sent to meat, but saved at last min)

Case no 1) horse lame for 3 years, owners give up and sell it for meat... friend of mine knows how bad the farrier is, talks with her farrier, and they buy the horse.. one shoeing later the horse is sound... 1 year later and the horse is still sound, and jumping BSJA and winning..
When they bought it, the horse had left shoes on all its feet, and all shoes were 2 sizes too small...

Case no. 2) farriers own horse, kept at grass in someone elses field.. owner of field rings farrier to say horse is so lame it can't stand up.. farriers wife goes to look at horse and says nothing to worry about, just puss in a foot, which will find its way out in no time... a week later and the puss/poison is in the blood streem, and the horse is dead!!! This was from nail bind!!

So.. what would you do???
As i said, he's a nice enough guy, and this is his job/income... getting him struck off will no doubt **** his life up good and proper... but at the same time i can't bare to see horses in this state any more!!!!
 
From personnal experience with a farrier that was 'a nice guy' and I didn't want to spoil everything for him etc I would report him, basically your not condemming him straight away because they will have to envstigate the claims, if the WCF feel your claims are of a disiplinary nature then they will - if not he'll get a warning and hopefully scare him into doing a decent job.

Good luck what evere you decide - sorry if none of the above makes sense (and yes my spelling is awful)
 
makes perfect sense.. thankyou
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How would they investigate the claims tho?? by seeing horses he has already shod... or watching him doing a job...
Also, would anyone find out who had reported him???
 
First of all check with the WCF that he is actually registered with them. If he isnt hes working illegally. If he is them make a complaint to them.
 
Yes they'd find out who his clients were/are talk to and probably visit the horses etc.

It wouldn't be easy to find out who reported them and it would be kept confidentual by the WCF BUT theoretically if he really really wanted to it is probably possible
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Your claims are a bit weird. When you say...

the horse had left shoes on all its feet

What do you mean? Horse Shoes don't come in left and rights only front and hinds.

And in case number 2 why didn't the owners call a vet? And also case number 1 - no vet?

And seriously no farrier can do 20 sets in a day unless they are all on 1 yard with no travelling - even then I can't see it.

I wouldn't go making these particular accusations to the WCF Not saying that he is or isn't a good farrier, but the stuff you have come out with is just wrong. Maybe find some different reasons to report him?
 
I wouldn't waste your time
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We had a dodgy farrier in our area a few years back he lamed my horse plus God knows how many others, ( also a very expensive junior event horse in a neighbouring county ) He was taken to a hearing by her and she lost
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Then we too reported him, vets reports photos ect, nothing..........
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Yes I would be cautious with reporting him. Do you have direct experience with your own horse, if its all just hearsay then theres not really alot you can do.

I started making a complaint about my last farrier but its not easy, the complaints process requires LOTS of empirical evidence to support your claim, such as a statement from vet, new farrier (if there is one) If animal in case 2 is dead I doubt you can do anything, and I would imagine case 1 would require all the evidence from horses previous state.

Your best bet it to talk with Farriers Registration Council, they are very helpful and hopefully will be able to suggest best course of action.
 
I had a similar dilemma, one we used to use lamed several horses by imbalancing their feet and we ended up spending literally over a thousand pounds travelling them to Duchy to decent farriers.
It was really difficult as I went to his wedding etc, and I chickened out, but I do tell anyone who asks I advise them not to use him and say why.
Our current one is quite the best we've ever had in 28 years, and I am so happy we found him.
In your situation I think a gentle letter to the farriery council not giving details just asking them to keep their eye out for him might suffice. That way there isn't a complaint they can jump on but he will be made aware he'd better shape up...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Horse shoes do come in lefts and rights same as our shoes. My farrier explained this to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not all makes - Hunter concave ones do but Bold ones don't it depends what brand he is using
 
The left shoe on right feet thing was something i was told by the new farrier of the first horse...
The new owner and farrier took pictures of the feet when they first bought it, and of the shoes they took off next to the shoes they put on.. the difference is staggering..

Re. why didn't case no. 2 owners not call a vet... cos the owner in question IS the farrier himself!!! This is what he did to his own horse.

As for the 20 sets a day thing.. this is what he himself says... i believe it because i've seen him do 8 or so horses in a morning.. i'm obviously believing he'll happily do the same in the afternoon...

I've worked in two yards where he shoes.. pretty much all the horses in these yards are lame!! you tell me there's some other reason for the lameness..
 
contact farriers registration council then, you are obviously very upset by his (possibly) bad work,so have a chat with them. They should be far more useful than any of us lot
 
I'm not arguing with you over whether or not he has lamed a horse - you've seen his work, but the Farrier Registration Council will want up to date horses not ones that are dead that are no longer around and owners that are willing to testify. If he hs got any apprentices then say he is mistreating them then something will happen. Look on the their website under recent cases - they get severally reprimanded for hitting a horse - which he admitted to. What do you think they will do to someone only based on circumstancal evidence?

If you want to get him in trouble go to the Inland Revenue as I'm sure they would be intered in him doing 20 sets a day.

Is this farrier related to you?
 
I see your point...
Trouble is, i don't see any of the owners or people in charge of the yards where he shoes making a fuss.. infact they all love him, as i've said above, he's easy to get intouch with (unlike most farriers) he's cheap (unlike most farriers) and he'll do alot of hard work!!
He's not that nasty!! yes, i've seen him lash out at horses, but them i'm sure alot of farriers do that!!
My trouble is with his standard of work.. which it sounds like i can't do a lot about...
 
I reported my farrier to the RSPCA because I didn't know who to report him too - he lamed my horse and two other liveries and we caught him smacking the one pony round the face with his rasp. They said to leave it with them and he isn't a farrier anymore - not sure what happened though...
 
Funny isn't it. Most people must know what a well shod foot looks like but they keep on using farriers that are like this guy. If you looked at your horses feet after being shod and it looks nothing like it should why keep on using them? Because they are cheap.
 
With this guy you don't even have to look at the feet...
Surely the fact that. just say the shoes stay on for 5 weeks... the horse is just about coming sound in the 5th week... you then get it shod.. and the horse shuffles back to its stable, not knowing which foot to hold off the floor most... that should tell you something should it not..
yes, that he's cheap, easy..
 
i forgot to mention him (on several occasions) forgetting to pull the clenches down... hence, i guess how he manages to do so much in one day, as he only does half a job..
Always cold shoeing, never shapes the shoe, just bashes on on where ever it lands on the foot..

On one horse today, there was a loose clench sticking up on the inside of a hind foot.. said horse was due to go up the gallops... so we thought we'd try to bash the clench down as best we could (at least so he didn't shread the inside of the other leg).. one small hit with the hammer and the horse was waving his hind leg around like a small child with a throbing finger!! (ie he wasn't trying to kick at all, just keep his foot away from the hammer).. horses hoofs are not ment to be this sensitive!!!
 
okay, I assume therefore that he's shod a horse on your yard / place of work recently? So why was no-one with the horse when it was shod? Why did no-one comment to him that the clenches hadnt been finished off? Instead of taking a hammer and bashing at it yourselves?
 
It's a busy yard.. we're not with horses the whole time when they are shod!!
It has only happened a few time.. obviously when no one is with him, and the horse is in it's stable and he has left having forgotten it...
This is obviously not a normal occurence!!
The horse i mentioned above had had its clenches put down and finished off etc.. just one had worked its way lose and was sticking up in a sharp fashion..
 
If my Farrier was managing to do 8 - 10 sets per day I wouldn't want him shoeing my horses after lunchtime!!!!

So long as one's facts are absolutely confirmed then it is our duty to protect the horse from this sort of treatment. I would think if he is as bad as you say then he will already have complaints against his name with the Farriers Governing body so for another person to add to this will only confirm his incompetance and reduce the risk of another horse being ruined! Go with your gut feeling and not because he is a nice guy.
 
I don't envy the position you are in and I can appreciate you are concerned and trying to prevent any further problems with other peoples horses.

You say he's a nice chappy and of course you don't want to ruin his career, after all its trade and livelihood but then again if he is causing problems with his shoeing then it needs to be brought to his attention so he can either improve with with further training or have the chance to explain or clear his name with cases you have mentioned...from a farriers side of things, you wont have the full scale knowledge of shoeing horses and full details of each case.

I think it would be more sensible and fare that the people who were not happy with the way he shod their horses, ones who have since had problems report the cases individually to him and also to the FRC etc

This way he is fully aware of what is happening rather than you taking it upon yourself, or people bad mouthing him behind his back (bad news always travels fast in the horse world..we all know that) but it is hard to regain a good reputation if once ruined, perhaps he does need a kick up the backside, further training and it good that you have the back bone to bring it to people's attention, most would just talk the talk and find a new farrier but I think it would be easier on all parties if it was done this way and you speak to the people concerned and suggest that they do something about it individually.

Good luck...however it turns out.
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In your original post you say the first horse came sound very quickly when shod by a new farrier. Can you not have a discreet word with this farrier and tell him of your concerns, perhaps he can advise you who to contact at the FRC and back you up with his experiences of the other chaps work.
 
I would ask the obvious...if he is that bad, how did he manage to qualify??? Is he really registered???

Would defo go the the registry to check that. If he is, report him, if he's not call the police!
 
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