My farrier is soooo rude!

I agree with Ibblebibble, and also think many of you are being harsh on the OP. Her farrier has stated that calls/texts on a weekend are acceptable, therefore I would expect an answer. Also we don't know if the horse has a foot problem which requires the lost shoe to be put on immediately, I have never known a vet say "get the shoe back on ASAP" just for the hell of it. Finally if I don't get a reply to a text after having being asked to send it then I will chase the person up, does that make me a bad person - by HHO standards probably :D but I have never had a problem yet.

OP change your farrier.
 
Well over 40 years I've had 2 bad ones and 2 really good ones, I always book them in when they are being done for 6 weeks hence, always have done and always give my farrier 1/2 hour lee way as you never know what has gone on in him travelling to my place or at his previous shoeing and if he needed to change the time or day he lets me know and the only time I would ring him up at the weekend is if one of my horses had an abcess in their foot,not a lost shoe.
And as Ceebee says I also have a very good farrier, as he's one of the offical farriers for the Olymics:D:D:D:D:D:D:DAnd she doesn't live far from me, but different farriers
 
My farrier always says ring the day before you need me !! Always on time, and if he needs to cancel always tells me.

I think Ops farrier is being a bit unfair , at the end if the day she is a paying customer
 
Rosie041390 said:
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, I have been ringing/texting since it happened; still no answer.

This is not the first time this has happened..
B lost a shoe a week after being shod; it took him a good week to even answer the phone, never mind come out and put it back on.
He was booked in for 1pm, turned up at 2.30pm.
S lost a shoe and didn't get it back on for 2 weeks.
He missed an appointment and didnt rebook, horses had new shoes 3 weeks late.

He does good work and is a great person but it is an absolute pain in the bum to get him to come out. We have decided enough is enough now and will be getting a new farrier. I can't understand why he would be so useless and unreliable when he is self employed and it will be his own livelyhood at risk. Surely you would rather come out and do ten minutes work rather than lose out on 5 horses to shoe every 6 weeks? :confused:

Anyone else have problems with their farriers?

Any recommendations for Leeds/Selby area?
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Maybe he was on the job, and didnt want to be disturbed!! :D :D
 
Just thought I would up date anyone who is interested in the Farriers Registrations guide:
http://62.3.215.19/frc/PDFs/GuideToProfessionalConduct.pdf
A FARRIER’S GUIDE
TO
PROFESSIONAL
CONDUCT
Your Responsibilities to Your Clients
A client, in this context, is defined as a person whose horse has been shod or
trimmed by the farrier within the last ten weeks and is not known to have
become the client of another farrier.
5. The provision of farriery services creates a legal relationship with
the client under which farriers should:
not attend (shoe or trim) any animal in the absence of the client, or a
person who takes responsibility for the horse in the client’s absence,
without prior arrangement

I would certainly never put myself in a position I could not explain if anything happened
i.e. something scared the horse and it got away and I was the only person present, I know of a farrier who had this happen and the horse was badly damaged by a car, the farrier ended up paying ½ the vets bill!
 
Text my farrier last Tuesday at 9:08 am saying next time you are passing can you do 2 sets of shoes.
He text back to say Friday lunch time.
Then he called Thursday 9 am saying could we do it at lunch time so I said yes.
He then called at 11:36 to say he was half an hour away and at 12:15 he arrived and did a great job
Thankyou Neil Murray
 
My farrier is great always turns up and will always try to accommodate me when horse loses a shoe or when I was worried sick he had early signs of lammi.

Mine always used to be a bit of a pain to shoe but now with farriers patience he is as good as gold !

Recently the farrier that the rest of my yard use got kicked and will be out of action for 6 weeks minimum which they all understood, however 2 weeks after it had happened he hadn't bothered to contact anyone to let them know he wouldn't be coming out as booked.

Before you shoot me down I appreciate he has had a nasty accident however, he knows how many people where relying on him so he could have let them know at some point !!

However I was happy to hand out my farriers number !
 
TakeAChance said:
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'?! ;)
Click to expand...

^^^THIS^^^
Had our farrier for over 20 yrs and has never let us down, turned up late or failed to do a superb job. (He had his truck stolen once so won't hold that against him:rolleyes:)
In turn I would never phone him evenings or weekends unless it was a real emergency. I wouldn't have the nerve to pester him at weekends incase he pulled this face:mad:
 
Is it not the best way to book your horse in to be shod or trimmed every 6-8 weeks, that way you and your farrier know when the horse is due,not when the shoes are dropping off and try and book in the next day. My 2 very good farriers always have done this, the 2 bad ones,said book the week before they needed doing,but where not very good farriers. Jay Tovey has been shoeing my horses for nearly 15 years and he's been the best yet.:D:D:D:D:D
 
Oh dear, I have been reading this and feeling very guilty.

I dont do texts much and when I do I think of them as emails i.e. someone will read them when they get round to it.

I would think nothing of texting my farrier on a Saturday or any other evening or at weird times. I just assume he will reply when he starts work.

Better apologise next time I see him

OP if you aren't happy get another farrier, how far from Leeds are you, I can recommend mine but dont know if he goes as far as Selby.
 
Echo Bravo said:
Is it not the best way to book your horse in to be shod or trimmed every 6-8 weeks, that way you and your farrier know when the horse is due,not when the shoes are dropping off and try and book in the next day. My 2 very good farriers always have done this, the 2 bad ones,said book the week before they needed doing,but where not very good farriers. Jay Tovey has been shoeing my horses for nearly 15 years and he's been the best yet.:D:D:D:D:D
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Not necessarily. As I said above my farrier says to just let him know a week or so in advance, because he fits me in out of hours from his salaried work. I don't not book because I leave it as long as possible, (and I never leave it till they are hanging off) it's more to do with the chance of them needing to be done sooner rather than later & which days my farrier might be heading home from London earlier rather than later. Also, currently I only have one shod and two being trimmed; the in foal mare is currently growing feet faster than the other two put together so she is needing to be done more and more frequently, whereas my other mare can go quite a while between trims. The ridden horse may need to be done at 5 weeks or he may stretch to 6 1/2 without a problem (ie last time, because of the snow and frost stopping me doing much roadwork).
 
wonkey_donkey said:
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 ???
Click to expand...


I prefer to do that but it isnt always possible. I have had farriers that didnt bring their diary out with them and preferred to be phoned between certain hours at home to make arrangements. One lost his entire diary and van when it burst into flames on the side of the road when he was buying a bacon sarnie from a catering van. Didnt take it out after that :O

My current farriers sometimes do and sometimes dont. There is one diary and more than one van out on the road, so if my farrier is in the van without the diary, I have to ring to make my next app. Last time I got the van without the diary, time before that I got the van with the diary so was booked in. Pot luck.

My current guy is lovely, he has offered to swing by on his way home from work to pull a set of shoes if I give him a ring. Ive had a couple of lovely farriers, and a couple of absolute horrors.
 
grumpyoldmare said:
Have you been trying to contact him on Saturday night and Sunday? Do you think that is reasonable? I wouldn't even have attempted to contact mine about it until this morning. He is human and needs some private time with his family, my bad luck if my horse throws a shoe on a Saturday night!:confused:
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depends on the farrier IMHO.

my farrier always turns his phone on, on a Sunday evening, just for a couple of hours, so that anyone who needs a short notice appointment the following week can get hold of him to let him know in enough time to plan his week.

he travels in excess of 60miles each way to come and see us, and two other small yards in the area, so I can totally appreciate that he'd rather avoid having to come see us if we loose a shoe, and equally that he would rather know on the Sunday that he has to make that journey than find out on, say the Tuesday when he's already been halfway here on the Monday!
 
Rosie041390 said:
grumpyoldmare - he works weekends too and has said that we can contact him whenever.

It is not the fact that he hasn't come out and put it back on this weekend that annoys me. It is the fact that he can text saying 'please text don't ring' but then doesn't text back when you tell him the issue.

Still not answering texts or calls now.
Click to expand...

The poor man might be having a family emergency or something similar.
 
I had a very good farrier, who if sometimes a little hrd to get hold of was brilliant. Sadly due to personal circumstances he stopped shoeing many horses, so we had to find a new farrier. The first one was rubbish. Expensive, his shoes fell off, he was often late or didn't turn up, then when he rang me at work rather than my partner who was waiting for him (my phone was off) to say he wasn't coming that was it. Next farrier wasn't much better, then simply decided not to turn up one day as he reackoned it was too far to come for one. Didn't bother to ring and cancel just a no show. So new farrier 3, came out for the first time to get me out of jam caused by previous farrier the day before his sons wedding. Comes sat/sun if he has to. Is ALWAYS on time, is reasonably priced, fab with my horses, and his shoes stay on. He's also got 20 years on the other 2, so I suspect he knows what running a long term business is about!
 
kippen64 said:
The poor man might be having a family emergency or something similar.
Click to expand...


Exactly. My farrier came just before christmas and trimmed my horses feet, everything was fine and we rebooked as we always did. He was due february. when two days before he was due my YO came to me and said he didnt think my farrier would be coming as he had been ill. We made contact with his daughter, out of concern more than anything and she confirmed he had JUST been diagnosed with cancer and had to stop shoeing immediatly. Two weeks later he passed away.
Please before you make any judgement on your farrier make sure there is no family emergency first.
I never got to say thankyou or goodbye to my farrier and he was the best :-( RIP John.
 
My farrier is fab, he will come and put a thrown shoe back on for me over the weekend, always arrives when he says he is going to (roughly) and if his early he'll get my horse in and start shoeing if his running late I leave my lad and he gets him out and shoes him and even puts him back out when his done. In exchange, when I first got my lad he was horrendous at being shod I spent hours picking his feet up etc his now very good, he always has clean feet when about to be shod and I never nag my farrier ever!!! His a very busy man and I am sure if was to nag he wouldn't be quite so accommodating as know for a fact there is not many horses he goes out to put thrown shoes on at the weekend!!

I have found in the past, if you are the only person using a farrier on a yard, they might not find it worth their while travelling there for one horse, in my experience always best to try and find a farrier as close to the yard as possible. This may be your farrier's issue OP?
 
moorman said:
Just thought I would up date anyone who is interested in the Farriers Registrations guide:
http://62.3.215.19/frc/PDFs/GuideToProfessionalConduct.pdf
A FARRIER’S GUIDE
TO
PROFESSIONAL
CONDUCT
Your Responsibilities to Your Clients
A client, in this context, is defined as a person whose horse has been shod or
trimmed by the farrier within the last ten weeks and is not known to have
become the client of another farrier.
5. The provision of farriery services creates a legal relationship with
the client under which farriers should:
not attend (shoe or trim) any animal in the absence of the client, or a
person who takes responsibility for the horse in the client’s absence,
without prior arrangement

I would certainly never put myself in a position I could not explain if anything happened
i.e. something scared the horse and it got away and I was the only person present, I know of a farrier who had this happen and the horse was badly damaged by a car, the farrier ended up paying ½ the vets bill!
Click to expand...

^^^^This ^^^^^^

Totally agree. Clients have a duty to the farrier too. I'm the person who holds other people's horses after mine have been done because I don't think its fair or safe to leave a farrier working alone on a yard particularly with rude horses. Every 6 weeks I stand for over 3-4 hours because other owners are happy to leave him struggling with horses that snap the ties and skit about if left without someone to help.
I also sweep the mud off the yard, clean feet and ensure no nails are left lying around afterwards. Any problems he reports to me and asks for the owners to ring him. They never do.
It amazes me that some owners think their horses feet are so unimportant.

Anyone recall the case of a farrier found unconcious after being kicked in the head by a 'safe' old Shire. His apprentices were due to meet him to go to the next appointment and found him lying beside the horse.
 
My farrier is a pain in the butt big time....i changed to another farrier who was known to be very relaible....the result ...one lame horse!!!! Went back to my old farrier and never had any soundness problems since & he even texts now to say he's going to be late or is not coming!! There is no way on this earth i will ever change to another farrier...i love him to bits despite his awful time management!!!.
 
I have had issues with a farrier who got injured And left it to owners to find a sub and then never called back/answered calls!
Luckliy I now have a farrier who answers texts and even fb messages. And his apprentice is good eye candy too. Been my farrier over 11 years and I wouldn't swap him for the world!
 
Should add mine has said testing is the best way as he can read it as he likes and he won't read it out of hours. If it's an emergency you have to call the office phone and leave a message.
 
I know this story allot of farrier pick and choose who they will do .

( had many farriers good and bad)

the most recent in the last 4 years :

I had

No1 we will call him gr8 farrier had him years then one day didn't show up i texted phoned emailed texed phoned emailed nothing.

In the end I found another then was told by someone *MK* said as you found another he didnt reply !!! hello!!!!!!!!!!!! i found another after 3 weeks of no contact.



2. No 2 had him for a year then the evidence came out in his feet he totally *******ed my horses feet . To now his feet are wrong . The one day didnt show up and again no response to text and emails.





3. *C* was good did us a year then said , i am not doing this area anymore here is *R* tel


4. same thing a year the *R* said not doing this area.

finally got a liveries farrier to take mine on apart from Billy who does my lami mare..


some farriers do pick and choose and dump you when they have enough locally which i dont blame them but its so damn annoying
 
TakeAChance said:
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'?! ;)
Click to expand...

Most of us would texed a farrier if a shoe had come off within the first week and redoo it FOC .

Sorry but if my horse had lost a shoe 1 week or more after they were done I would contact him via 1 means or other.

If you have an important show, holiday with your horse , sponsored ride and you cant because your horse lost a shoe . Would you forfeit the ride??? I think not!! ( a small handful might ) most of my decent farriers have said in past * oh i am over your way on this day * I will pop in put it on again .

Its different if they have to travel miles out their way but if they are in the vicinity they will.


They will either say

I am not in your area till 2 weeks - but if you want me to come over their is a surcharge to cover time and fuel.

or


sure i will be over next few days



or sorry cant come over.
 
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rockysmum said:
I would think nothing of texting my farrier on a Saturday or any other evening or at weird times. I just assume he will reply when he starts work.

Better apologise next time I see him
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To be honest, I don't see a problem with that. It is the people who call or text at the weekend, and EXPECT an answer straight away even if the matter is not urgent, and then keep texting/calling repeatedly.

Our customers will often leave a message at the weekend along the lines of "Sorry to ring at the weekend but just noticed Dobbin needs shoeing and I might forget to ring you otherwise. Can you ring me Monday and book him in." That's quite acceptable in my book. But following it up with more texts/calls on Saturday night and Sunday wondering why we hadn't called back would not!

On the same theme, OH's ex-boss used to get his mother to organise all his bookings for him. In the days before ansaphones, she was sitting down to Sunday lunch when the telephone rang. She answered and it was Mr X asking to book his horse in for a set of shoes. "Are you at work" she asked him. "No" was the reply. "Neither am I" she retorted and put the phone down! He probably thought she was rude, but really he was rude ringing her on a Sunday in the first place!
 
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Now this might be a strange idea, but maybe he is away? Or had a family problem? Or he is ill? You know, the things that happen to everyone else!!!!
 
I think it's genuinely a case of respect on both sides. While I know my farrier is self employed that doesn't mean I expect him to drop everything to fit me in. It's give and take. I know that every Wednesday he will be passing by on his way to teach at college. So that is handy. Im not training for the Olympics and bar 2 shows, most are pay on the day. (SJ) I got to a show last year and realised my mare had mangled her shoe on the way over in the box. Put her back on the box and took her home. Farrier was with me the next morning. It was a custom made shoe on behind.

Believe you me I know my farrier would do his level best to fit me in during an "emergency". But because I know that I don't take advantage of it either. But like I said, I've fired a farrier before and I'm sure both of us were much happier.

Terri
 
Farriers, Get a good one and great get a bad one the a whole can of worms is opened.

I had a great farrier, who was happy for me to phone ANYTIME. Yes it went to answermachine and I left a message but he always got back to me within 24hrs. he told me when he was on hols etc. If my mare threw a shoe he;d be there within 24hrs to put on. He was a godsend - however my mare did have many problems with her feet and did need shoes which he knew. - he retired unfortunately :-(

Got a replacement farrier when I got my new horse (my mare was pts) he was awful, yes he was always on time but as previous posts have said the evidence of his shoeing quality came out in the hroses feet. to the extent it caused problems with tendons/ligaments in leg and shoulder area's. - he was reported to the WCF. and told where he could stick his shoes. (I was not the only one who had problems and My vet had also reported him to the WCF after witnessing him doing something - but would not elaborate on what)

Got another farrier - who had a reputation of being very good but very unreliable. Like other posters on here, farriers in this are are few and far between - good farriers even rarer.

I've never had a major problem with him, he would always turn up when scheduled (albeit slightly late) Phone if he couldn;t come for what ever reason. etc.

He also said to phone whenever (day or night) as he knew I worked shifts, he did say that his phone is on slient/switched off in evenings/days off, but he would switch on at intervals and check messages. - all farrier businesss was done via mobile - in a real life threatning emergency I could phone his house. but he also expected that the vet would have been called in this instance also.

I was due to go to my first ever show on my horse and he threw a shoe the day before - managed to find it in the field tho. phoned farrier on monile left message - "sorry to phone You poo brain has lost a shoe, i have found it, can you give me a call when you can to let me know when you can fit in a refit of the shoe" Had to accept I couldn;t go to the show. within 5 mins my phone rung and all I got was "aren't you supposed to be at xx show tomorrow get that bloody horse bathed load him up and bring him over to mine at teatime and i;ll throw it on. I;d come now but i;m driving the lorry taking daughter sj'ing"

So I did. for his effort he got a bloody big kiss from me !!! - dont' think he'll ever offer to do that again. :-)

But there is a rule for farriers when they visit:

Plenty of coffee/tea
Plenty of choccie biccies/cakes
clean feet.
 
aw that sounds lovely of him x=di=x.

Mine doesnt get tea or biscuits or anything similar though. I dont have electricity so no kettle and if he wants bikkies he can bring his own ;)

What he does get is well mannered horses with clean legs and feet, a dry place to stand, and regularly attended to so he isnt trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear with badly maintained feet.

(Listening to him mutter darkly about my friends pony who is regularly left months between shoeings and the state of her feet, I think he'd forgo any amount of cake for the above :D)
 
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