My farrier is soooo rude!

[spottyUnicorn]

I wouldn't call my farrier over the weekend. As a self employed person myself I respect that weekends and evening are not 'normal working hours' for most people so why should they be for him? If he chooses to work some saturdays that's up to him, but not a reason to expect him to be at the end of the phone. I think its actually really inconsiderate to think he should be. Perhaps he told you to text so that its there as a reminder for him when he's back in work mode ... and you don't know thats going to be Monday morning at 9.00am - he may have a day off planned, he could have a visit to the doctors lined up or a family crisis. Or he could just have a very very busy morning trying to keep up with clients he already has booked in for today. Give him some slack! It's only just the afternoon and you are complaining that he hasn't already called back! If you keep harassing him then I expect he will ignore you! You are not his only client and he is not at your beck and call. He has to look after his other clients as well.

I would agree that two weeks is too long to have to wait to put a shoe on but can't help that think its because you haven't got a very good relationship with your farrier. Mine would do his best to be able to do that for me within 3-4 days, but equally I treat him fairly and don't call at weekends. You do have to appreciate they he may have a full diary or might not be in your area, and with the price of fuel is it fair to expect him to make a special trip within 2 or 3 days just to put a shoe on?

At the end of the day if you are not happy with your farriers service then vote with your feet and go else where. If you farrier is really rude, late, unreliable, doesn't care less then you are better off with some ones else, and he will learn that when he has no clients left he had better improve his customer skills! If he is none of the above and a good farrier then he will probably have enough nice clients that he won't be worried about losing the ones that call and hassle him out of hours!

 

[OFG]

Personally I wouldn't call my farrier on a weekend unless it was a real emergency. If lost shoe I would either just leave pony as is or put on a hoof boot if pony footie.

Have only had 3 farriers in 26 years. First one retired, second one was really unreliable (struggled to get hold of him to make appointments then when appointments made he didn't turn up; am still waiting for him to come and shoe my horse 10 years later ) My current farrier is a god send, can't recommend him enough to friends.

When I call to make an appointment he says 'when do you want them done?'. I normally say, whenever you are next in the area. 9 times out of 10 he is there the following week. Sometimes he has a gap in his diary and comes the following day.

It has got to the stage that he is happy to come and do them if I'm not there. I just leave them all in the stable with head collars available and he sorts them out himself. He will even let them out into the field when he's finised

The only slight issue I have with him is that it took him / his wife a month to get their bank details to me so I could pay him

 

[moorman]

When I finished my apprenticeship some 38 years ago I decided I did not want to have a business that meant I was at the beck and call of all my clients but I did want to offer a complete service.
Some owners/farriers may find this a help:
All horses are booked in for there next appointment at the time of attending.
I never book more than I can do, thus making appointment keeping much easier, yes this comes at a price, but I found all my clients are willing to pay a bit more to know they are going to get a punctual farrier.
As for emergencies: we do come under the animal welfare act, so it could be deemed necessary to attend a horse that has lost a shoe in order to avoid a horse suffering.
Since changing to doing just barefoot I obviously find it much easier to for fill my duties.
But when teaching students I do try and get them to realise that as a self employed person they have to maintain a certain amount of business sense along with a compassion for the animal, it does not hurt to get another farrier to help you out rather than lose a client.
As owners please remember it is not permitted for a farrier to shoe a horse unless the owner or representation of the owner is present, I know we all have done it but for so many reasons a farrier is not wise to shoe a horse with no one there.

 

[rhino]

To cut a long story short; my horse lost a shoe on Saturday night. I tried ringing the farrier, no answer. Got a text 'Hi, its **** cant answer, please text'. I text him telling him the issue and that I need him out asap, no answer. The YM has tried to contact him, my OH has tried to contact him, have been ringing/texting since it happened; still no answer.

I called Sat evening about 5.30. He text. I text. YM has rang him (don't know how many times) and left a message about the horse. And my OH rang him once. Wouldn't exactly call it pestering, would you?

Which is it? Yes, going by your first account I would call it pestering..

If you're not happy, find a new farrier.

 

[Countrychic]

If we had to text every person a "got your message will speak to you on mon" we wouldn't get any peace at weekends, my husband works long hours and he deserves a weekend off. In my experience the more accommodating you are the worse people seem to get, I would then get replies, "but it's an emergency, the vet said it has to be done this evening".
Do I think you should have text him? No, if your horse has a shoe off keep it in, buy a hoof boot, turn it out in a school. then on mon morning send your farrier a text. If they don't respond by mon pm give them a ring still no reply I'd change farrier.

 

[Puppy]

Gosh, some of the comments on this thread really have me >

My farrier is awesome. I don't think I could find even the tiniest fault with him if I tried.

 

[leskaneen]

Mine s Brill-comes to me first job so that I can get off to work-always rings me when he leaves home so I can be ready.Shoes hardly ever come off(and we re in VERY muddy country)and only charges me £60 quid with road studs.Pony was a right pain to shoe when i first had it-had to put up with a lot from it & never flinched.And though I shouldn t say it(being a middle aged mum of 3)-he s VERY easy on the eye!!x

 

[sonjafoers]

Is it possible he told you to text because his working day was over & he was getting on with his private life as is to be expected at 5.30 on a Saturday?

I think the question is do you think you would have had different service from him if it had been an emergency? If so then maybe you should be aware that to a farrier a lost shoe is just that, but to us owners it's slightly more of a drama because we want to ride/don't want to see our horses feeling a bit footy for a few days.

I think it has to be give & take with our farriers. It took me years of unreliable service and bad attitude before I found my farrier and he is an absolute godsend, good at what he does, always on time & always returns calls/texts as soon as he can. After years of bad service I really appreciate his professionalism and in return I try to be a good client.

I get my muddy beasts in and wash them off before he arrives, making sure they are dry or nearly dry before he's due. I always make the next appointment when he finishes so he can work his areas out easily and if a horse loses a shoe over a weekend I text first thing Monday morning to let him know.

Last time he came to me he was 45 minutes late, it is the first time in 3 years he has ever been late & as he had 2 of mine to do and still had others to shoe after I suggested he just shoe one so he could get back on time. It was no real trouble for me as he did the 2nd a few days later but as he has come out to mine at the drop of a hat for lost shoes then it's part of the 'give & take'.

I don't think you should have been contacting your farrier on a Saturday evening, nor trying to get hold of him at further times over the weekend. However I also don't think he should be ignoring you for weeks at a time.

Hopefully some of the posts on here will make you think about the relationship you have with him & when he does come out to put the shoe on maybe you can chat to him about how you can both make things easier if this happens again. That's of course if you want to keep him shoeing your horse & he wants to continue to do so

 

[Fourlegsgood]

I tried to ring my farrier a few Saturday afternoons ago as my mare has twisted her shoe so badly she couldn't put her foot down, he didn't reply but it was the weekend and fair enough in my opinion, I ended up having to call my emergency vet out to get it off. My farrier is great and he came out at 10am Monday morning. I just kept her in on a deep bed with her hoof polticed until he came out. Its a tough call really, I don't answer my phone to clients at the weekends or evenings, I am not on call 24/7 and I will get back to them in working hours. We all need some time off. BUT seeing as he asked you to text he could of replied with just a quick message saying I'll speak to you on Monday or something.

With things like that I keep a set of farriers tools and get the shoe off myself. It has avoided no end of potential problems by being able to remove the source of harm instantly rather than waiting for someone to come out. If a shoe is half off and a nail is sticking up it only takes the horse to put its foot down and you have got a puncture wound.

 

[Moomin1]

We used to have no end of trouble with my old pony's farrier - well, in fact all of them we tried at the time!!! Thankfully I have been lucky enough with my horse now to get a farrier who is so punctual that I am usually the one who apologises to him for being late!!!!

They are like gold dust though I think!

 

[Gracie21]

I love my farriers (family company)! They are generally early (which can be annoying!)

They don't cost the earth, ALWAYS do a good job, and will come back free of charge if they throw a shoe.

They are very funny, excellent with my youngster and my old pony who was abused by men before I had her!

Farriers have a hard, stressful & dangerous job. It is important they get some time off over the weekend

 

[black_horse]

I love my farrier, he is always on time and is absolutley fantastic! When dee lost a shoe on friday pm a while ago, i rang him on monday and he told me i should have phoned him soon i get told off for being considerate .

I cannot fault my farrier on his job, when dee had an abcess, the vet suspected broken pedal bone but farrier said an absess high up in the hoof. He tried to cut into but couldnt find it. It errupted and he made a great job of cleaning the area up and making a special show and cover to protect the area. He is fab.

I just wish he would bill me the same day and not send 6 bills in one go in the post

 

[3Beasties]

I always text my farrier on a sunday evening (his request) and he usually texts back with a day and time. If I don't hear from him with in a couple of days I may give him a call or send another text.

He's never late, in fact he's usually early and has been known to turn up just as I am rolling out of bed

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

OP, I read most of the responses which I agree with. When it wasn't going your way all of the sudden the vet was involved. So did you have the vet out Saturday evening?

It's simple, if you want respect show respect. A simple text on Saturday night, note one text, probably would have been answered today. But it seems he was bombarded. None of us is that important and he has other clients. Coming onto a forum to complain about said Farrier is not cool. It does seem like he's left you hanging but if you behave in this manner I wouldn't be surprised. Saying these things may not seem nice but in this day and age people really don't seem to get everything isn't instant and it's not all about them. I NEVER call my vet, farrier, or any other professional unless it's an actual emergency. Lost shoe is not unless it's competing and i don't expect my farrier to drop everything. I may opt out or get the on sight farrier to take it on. Point is, bombarding people is rude and not necessary. When you are paying your vet or farrier for your time do you want them stopping to answer non emergency calls? So anyway just try and see it from someone else's side. It doesn't appear your horse has life threatening issues that would result in his death if a shoe was not put on. Either wrap it or buy a boot to have on hand. This is not a crisis. Really it isn't.

Terri

 

[ester]

If we had to text every person a "got your message will speak to you on mon" we wouldn't get any peace at weekends

whilst I am sure your husband does deserve a weekend off I do struggle a little to see how the above can be the case. you could have the above in a template in the phone and say 30 s max to reply . I would just think it courteous if I was the one running the business (but I'm not and accept that I might think differently then!)

It does always depend on how long the lack of communication goes on for, I don't do well not knowing what is going on!

 

[TGM]

whilst I am sure your husband does deserve a weekend off I do struggle a little to see how the above can be the case. you could have the above in a template in the phone and say 30 s max to reply . I would just think it courteous if I was the one running the business (but I'm not and accept that I might think differently then!)

It does always depend on how long the lack of communication goes on for, I don't do well not knowing what is going on!

I must say at one point we started changing the ansaphone message at the weekends to say "We are now closed for business for the weekend, you are welcome to leave a message but we may not be able to return your call until Monday morning" because people just thought it was OK to ring us at any time, any day even for non-urgent stuff and then would keep chasing over the weekend wondering why there was no reply. Don't have to do it now, but that's probably because we have weeded out the less considerate customers. Oh, and the out of hours calls are not always even shoeing related - have had calls on Sundays and at 11pm at night asking things like "which physio could we recommend" etc.

Don't get me wrong, hubby will pull out all the stops to help someone in a genuine emergency - going out at 6am on a Sunday to pop a shoe on a horse going to an important competition, or seeing a lame horse on Boxing Day, for example. However, a simple lost shoe when the horse is not lame and not competing is NOT an emergency.

People should remember that farriers and their families do have their own lives - if, for example, they are out for a family celebration at the weekend, they shouldn't have to interrupt that time to text someone to say they will get back to them on Monday!

 

[rema]

Phew thank god i have a fantastic farrier.I would of been pulling my hair out if i had some of your farriers.Although i can see both points of the argument here.Yes Farriers are entitled to a private life but a text saying 'i'm busy can you ring back Monday morning' would not hurt and would get the slightly neurotic owner/s of their case..In some respect some cases of a lost shoe are an emergency.. Remedial and surgical..

I was shown several times by my farrier how to take a shoe off in an emergency so i have a basic farriery kit.And if i remember rightly is it not part of the BHS stages?.

We book the next appointment when he has finished shoeing and then he will ring the night before he is due to give me a time and put his coffee and biscuit request in.

 

[Black_Horse_White]

My farrier is the same i'm afraid. I text to ask if he could fit me in for a new set of shoes within a week. He text back to say he would ring later. A week goes by no call, so I ring again and leave a message as no answer, again no call back or text. So nearly a fortnight later I arrange for another farrier to come, go up the yard that evening and my farrier is there shoeing another liveries horses. They book in advance so when I text and rang he knew he would be coming to our yard. It was then he booked my horse in. I wanted him done sooner rather than later as he was slipping a lot out hacking, and being a new horse wanted him looked at. So two and a half weeks after trying to get my horse shod he's being done on Wesnesday. I put up with it because he is a good farrier and he is like that's with most of his customers. So I just grin and bear it.

 

[AdorableAlice]

When I finished my apprenticeship some 38 years ago I decided I did not want to have a business that meant I was at the beck and call of all my clients but I did want to offer a complete service.
Some owners/farriers may find this a help:
All horses are booked in for there next appointment at the time of attending.
I never book more than I can do, thus making appointment keeping much easier, yes this comes at a price, but I found all my clients are willing to pay a bit more to know they are going to get a punctual farrier.
As for emergencies: we do come under the animal welfare act, so it could be deemed necessary to attend a horse that has lost a shoe in order to avoid a horse suffering.
Since changing to doing just barefoot I obviously find it much easier to for fill my duties.
But when teaching students I do try and get them to realise that as a self employed person they have to maintain a certain amount of business sense along with a compassion for the animal, it does not hurt to get another farrier to help you out rather than lose a client.
As owners please remember it is not permitted for a farrier to shoe a horse unless the owner or representation of the owner is present, I know we all have done it but for so many reasons a farrier is not wise to shoe a horse with no one there.

Really interesting comment about - not permitted to shoe without owner/representative being present. Is that something the WCF has in place ?

 

[Black_Horse_White]

Not in my case as I'd only had the horse 3 weeks. My previous farrier never booked us in, we had to ring the week before to make an appointment.

 

[jennyf]

OP does appear to have more than one issue with this particular farrier, and some of the posts on this thread are perhaps a little unfair and harsh. There are some farriers, because of the industry they work in, realise that sometimes weekend work is necessary. If you know your farrier is 'available' then he should at least answer calls or texts, or tell you he's not working at weekends. The farrier I used to use would only accept booking phone calls from clients on a Sunday evening to arrange his work for the coming week. He did let me down on one occasion, didn't ring and left me waiting in the field for him, and once smacked my well behaved pony in the ribs for not moving over fast enough. I said nothing, but never rang him again and my 3 horses have been barefoot ever since and trimmed by an EP.

However,it is quite easy to learn how to remove a loose shoe yourself if necessary.

 

[SusieT]

You tried to ring him on a saturday night?
~Then told him you needed him asap and expected a good outcome? Hope you begged nicely or I'd be slow returning your calls too!

 

[ClassicG&T]

Ive been though a few farriers like that.
One NEVER answered his phone and replied when he fancied.
One answered and would book me in, then turn up 4 hours late causing me to miss lessons, meals, parties etc...
Then i managed to get an amazing one (hes got a waiting list of clients)
He is super. Text you sunday night to say when he will be up that week and if he says he'll be there thurs at 4.30, he'll be there thurs at 4.30 on the dot.

Plus he's luuuuuush

 

[Spotsrock]

Nothing useful to add just mine's great! There are some out there.

 

[A Guilding]

Really interesting comment about - not permitted to shoe without owner/representative being present. Is that something the WCF has in place ?

Perfectly okay to shoe without client present as long as there is a prior arrangement with the client, farriers are urged to check with there insurers that the are covered to work on the horse without the owner present.

 

[Ibblebibble]

when you're self employed there is a fine line between ensuring your family/personal time and being ignorant
Both myself and OH are self employed and both of us take calls and reply to texts up to about 8.30/9.00 pm after that the mobiles go off or we screen the calls. I think you have to remember that we are a 24/7 society now, people don't just work 9-5 monday to friday and have weekends off anymore, we don't all view weekends as family time and people certainly don't see sunday as a day of rest anymore!! All of my customers know i don't work weekends so rarely call me on a weekend, OH works all days and so gets phone calls all days.
If the OPs farrier works weekends then it's perfectly reasonable IMO to call him on a weekend and expect and answer, if he doesn't then txt on friday but don't expect an answer until monday... simples

 

[majors]

I had this trouble with a practise, they would just not answer the phone or tx back so you jusy couldn't make plans. New have great bloke comes whenever needed. My OH is a plumber we get calls all hours, and days that is part of being self employed we always answer even if we cant get there that day, its called customer service. Some horses need more attention, than others

 

[AdorableAlice]

Thanks A Guilding, I am rarely with my farrier when he works for me. He has shod my horses over a thirty year period and knows that all the horses are mannerly as he taught them to be mannerly with kind and firm handling from birth. I am into my 5th horse that will have only been shod by the same man throughout its life.

A few years ago my farrier experienced a few months of ill health, I roughed the horses off. His retirement and mine will have to be co-ordinated !

 

[TakeAChance]

My farrier is fantastic, very reliable and always on time, however; I would never call him after 5.30pm on a week night or at any time on a Saturday or Sunday, lost shoe or not. I don't see him as being at my beck and call. I wonder if op's farrier has started a thread somewhere titled 'my clients are so rude'?!

 

[Puppy]

Don't people generally book their horses in for the following 6 weeks each time their farrier comes so you don't need to call when your horses are ready for a new set of shoes ????

Thought most people did it like this so you never need to sort out an appointment when the horse is due ???

I used to, some years ago. Now my farrier prefers me to drop him a text a week or so before hand (which I do at a sociable hour). He always texts back with 'Leave it with me' and then will give me a day and time once he's consulted his diary. Sometime I may text at weekends, just whilst I'm thinking about it, but (1) he often works weekends and (2) I wouldn't pester him to reply; I know he'll get back to me when it's convenient. He has a salaried position so often fits mine in on his days off or on his way home. He only does private clients now who he picks and choses so I figure we must be pretty decent customers (I'm sure my mother's baking skills also have something to do with it )