Rant!!!!!!! Farrier bashing...

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Nailed

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I am sick to death of people on this site and I now want to voice my issues.

Why is it that everyone on this forum seems all to happy to slag their farriers off, moan about there incompetence, whinge about the price and declare that they have made their horses lame...

Farriers are highly trained and highly skilled people who work day in and day out with people who are usually more hassle than the horse they are working with..

They charge the going rate, unless they dont want custom then they will put their prices up.

They do lame horses, I am under no means denying this.. however, most of the cases on here that are of this format.. are usually the owners faults!

People are very quick to slat their farriers but it is very very rare on here to see a post praising their farrier!

Shame really..

Sick to death of seeing farriers getting a bashing.. And I know I am not the only one!!!!

Lou x
 
I love my farrier!

hes v nice on the eye, flirts awfully well and has never made my girley lame so far plus hes about average for pricing and hes rarely late!

woop woop!!
 
I love my farrier. He lames my horse regularly at the moment, but it doesn't help that she is having leg and foot issues at the moment - is that my fault, or my horse's? Hmm...
I have met a few rubbish farriers and even fewer good ones. Mine is excellent and I am not letting him go!
 
I must admit I get fed up with people going on about the evils of shoeing etc. We do have some barefoot horses, and we do use a trimmer for those. But with the ones who need shoes, they have them and our farrier is ace.

That said, like any other industry, there are good, bad and indifferent farriers, just like there are good, bad and indifferent trimmers.

Owners need to take responsibility for their own horses and take the time and trouble to learn what a good or bad foot looks like. And then from there decide whether it is a farrier problem, a management of the horse issue or something else.
 
excuse me... bit of a sweeping generalisation there. my farrier is absolutely brilliant, and i never moan about him. i know what hard work it is, and how impossible clients can be (i went out with a farrier once... he had people ring him on Christmas Day to tell him their horse had lost a shoe and they needed it back on by Boxing Day meet...!!!!!!!!)
some farriers are unprofessional, however i had one once who rarely turned up on the right day (sometimes not even the right week) which was very frustrating and upsetting when i had a horse that needed to be kept right. must admit, i moaned about him, with good reason imho!
 
*peeps from behind my chair*

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think people are quicker to moan, put a post up asking about Good livery yard experiences and it'll be pages shorter than one about Bad Livery yards
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Anyway my farrier is very good, does a great job and is very reliable
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My Farrier is never late and, although he thinks he is pleasing to the girlies eyes, I don't
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.... and has never lamed my horses ....... but still the point is that I do not have any extra income coming in and I have to pay out for all these other costs to cover their costs ..... etc etc ..... so where will it end .... this is not a dig at my Farrier, but life in general ..... it just got set off by him
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I used to have the same farrier as Eaglestone and I will say that he is probably one of the best in the country, unfortunately he knows it and charges accordingly!

One of his favourite sayings is 'if you pay peanuts then you get monkeys' and that's why he charges more than everyone else!
If I had the money I would get him down to Eastbourne to shoe Axel as I think he's fab, but my own farrier I have now is very good and much less money, and incredibly cute.......
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Of the farriers I have used, never had a bad word to say about any of them. Original farrier was a star, even came out between christmas and new year to put a shoe on so OH could go hunting.
To original poster, What you say in your post is very true, but some people will always have to blame someone else for problems, be it farrier, vet, instructer, YO or even the horse itself and its the same in the non-equestrian world, I got the blame at work cos someone had his car blocked in, in the carpark, fgs I'm the secretary. Soon put him straight. I assume from your user name you are farrier connected, I know its easy for me to say but you just have to ignore it.
 
bhpride.. i agree witht hat... we all love moaning but not praising.. Kerilli.. yes it was a generalisation.. in the last 3 weeks i have seen about 30 messages on this forum slatting farriers work.. and you know what.. it gets my bloody back up!!! does my head in!

sorry but im sick to the back teeth of it!

Lou x

ps- easier said than done to ignore it..
 
There are a lot of good farriers and a lot of not so good farriers, just like there are good owners and not so good owners. Communication is the key to getting what you want from your farrier, and trust comes into it too. I'm very happy with my farrier, and my vet, and my osteopath - if I wasn't I would talk to them about it, not rant on here.

My farrier is absolutely fantastic btw (bit of gratuitous brown-nosing there!)
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I have a great farrier, who charges me £70 per set and £26 per trim. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, my eyes water every time I have to have them done.

The upside: he is always on time, always does what he says he's going to do and is patient with the babies.

The downside: Everyone's costs are going up and it's not going to get any cheaper BUT he trained with the best farrier in the area and I'm just going to have to grin and bear it.

I think that yes, there are good & bad farriers but don't tar them all with the same brush.

Nailed, I appreciate your sentiments, but people will rant on here regardless.
 
our farrier is great and ive always used him.... he always has some gorgeous apprentices with him *droooooool*

the horse i ride just throws shoes more than any horse ive ever met, and know this is not the farriers fault!

when he came out this mornin to replace a shoe he did it for free though!
 
Cor you really have it bad. Have you not noticed that to use a sweeping generalisation people prefer to moan. You dont know how many people have not been on to say how wonderful their farrier is. Unfortunatly many ill-informed people dont realise that often a horse has a foot problem brewing and it is only when the hoof is newly trimmed that it comes to light.
 
My farrier is great too - always cheerful, nearly always no more than 30 mins late and will phone if he's any later, good with the horses and the really difficult donkey, happy to suggest any improvements, will make the next appointment on the spot, will pop in if he's passing and I have a problem (and sometimes doesn't charge for his time) - and he's really good farrier too, which helps!

My previous farrier, though, was a different story but I've never complained about him in public.
 
I guess the thing is, is that we *expect* our farriers to do a good job, and wouldnt come on to say "my farrier is great....he shod my horse today AND was on time..." but when they may (or may not have) made the horses lame, that is when people come on here and have a moan.

FWIW my farrier is fab. Probably a little more expensive than others around here, but certainly better (IMO) and reliable, and will come out very quickly in an emergency.
 
My farrier is very good, always on time and professional but due to going vat registered and having a price increase my shoes are £ 20 more a set than they were in January. It's a lot extra to find when your horse is done every four weeks. He has also warned it will go up again shortly due to fuel increases.

Do you think he is trying to get me to go elsewhere? He charges more than everyone else round here!

I know he does a good job, so ok I'll pay it but £ 20 poss + in 4 months is a stretch.

Jo x
 
I adore my farrier. He's one of the best in the country, and has really saved my girlies terribly bad feet. He helped me deal with it when she slashed her coronet band and now with the resulting crack. He'll come out as soon as when she pulls one. Occasionally he won't charge, and no matter what the weather will always greet me with a hug and a smile.

I've never thought to comment saying I love my farrier. But in defence of those who do; it can be so stressful when a horse isn't keeping it's shoes/is lame etc. for the owner because you're often left feeling helpless. We are not trained farriers and can't do much for those beings that we love. Sometimes, we've just got to have a rant for the sake of our sanity, a moment to let emotion out before we smile, try to look at the brighter side and keep going with this wonderfully unpredictable world that is owning horses.
 
When my mare had laminitis I received a few posts saying to get the opinion of a different farrier. I responded that he had shod her all of the time we had had her which was getting on for 12 years and that we loved him and thought he was a fabulous farrier. He cried when the vet delivered the news that she would have to be put to sleep, and has been a never-ending point of knowledge and support.

Some people on our yard stopped using him because he is not always there bang on the minute he says he will be, but he's never that late and is sometimes actually early. The reason he sometimes runs on a bit is because when he visits it's like greeting an old friend and we talk for ages about anything!

Wooo for Martin Buckland, our wonderful farrier.
 
I have absolutely the best farrier - and I regularly say so on here. Farriery is not as easy as many seem to think it is. There are many owners who will not catch their own horses, or who will leave the feet lagged in mud, expect the farrier to work in dim lights, on rough ground etc etc etc. They do have increasing costs to cover, as every other business does.
Obviously there are bad farriers out there, but there are, I am in no doubt, hunderds of great ones too.
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I also feel that if you are unhappy with your farrier, you should talk to him first, rather than moan on forum boards. If you still have issues - then moan away!!
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My farriers great, but if he wasn't, I'd sure moan about him, and I'd have every right. As it is though, G has literally put his life in his hands trying (and almost always succeeding) to trim or shoe my old anglo arab who was simply terrified of all farriers. If he didn't succeed he used to try and charge me LESS, even though he had spent longer just trying than it would take to trim and shoe a normal horse. I always paid him in full. He also traveled out of his way to do him, as he knew that Harry was slighlty less terrified of him than every other farrier.
Conversely, I have met one of the supposedly best farriers in the country, who was rude, obnoxious, expensive and a wimp. Wanted everything that moved sedated. I hated him doing my horses (had to as yard rule) but luckily Harry gave him such a good taste of his behaviour the first time that he never went near him again.
 
Excuse me, but I never criticised my (old) farrier on here.

Please don't tar everyone with the same brush, I'm sure there are countless others in the same position as me, who find your post somewhat irritating.
 
I love my farrier too.

He's reliable, sorted my mares brushing, doesn't charge me for popping a shoe back on.

He's great.
 
My farrier's great. He does a good job, is easy on the eye and his girlfriend is a great instructor!
 
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