Sorry more farrier help...

Firewell

Firewell

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My farrier came yesterday to shoe my horse. Ive had this farrier for over a year now and hes patient with my horse who can be a pain sometimes and he *seems* to be doing his job properly..

Yesterday he comes and hes an hour early (i know an early farrier, dont faint!) which doesnt bother me but i wished he had let me know because i need time to settle my horse properly for him.
He starts shoeing her and shes fine, he bangs on the fist hind and shes fine.. He goes to bang on the 2nd hind and she panicks and starts to try and kick him off her?! She can be tricky but I havent seen her so bad in a long long time! Anyway he tries a different foot and she tolerates him holding it for a short while and then pulls back and tries to bugger off!
My horse looked frightened and I knew something was wrong. Farrier was very good and said to give her 5 mins to calm down and then try again. Then he noticed that one of the nails in the first hind wasnt in the right place.. he pulled it out and blood spurted everywhere. Hed pricked her badly and consequently when he tried to pick up the other feet she couldnt stand the pain of putting her weight on it (shes a bit of a wimp with pain anyway).
She was better after the nail had been removed and he was able to finish off the other feet but she wouldnt let him touch that hind again and he had to rasp it while it was on the floor.

After that shes now footsore on that hind, I cant ride her and theres a danger she will get an abcess
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The thing im bothered about is after all this he charges me £100.05 for the set of shoes.. even though my horse is now lame because of him and cant be ridden and they havent been finished off properly.
I know its a genuine mistake but I dont know if to carry on with this farrier.. hes very sensitive and kind to my horse which is a big plus.. but hes so expensive! he didnt even offer a goodwill gesture of a tenner off my bill for his mistake or anything. He also doesnt have a mobile so hes very difficult to get hold of in emergencies.

How common is it to prick a horse like this? Im worried that this bad experience is going to make my horse more difficult to shoe as well, shes very clever and i know she will remember.

Theres another farrier at the yard who does my friends horse. Hes much cheaper at £60 a set and he looks to do a good job. He also is very very good with my friends horse who is worse than mine! He shoes her very gently and doesnt even use a tripod because he knows it upsets her. He also has a mob and once came up at 9pm on a friday night to bang on a lost shoe because my friend had a comp the next day. I wouldnt have even got hold of my farrier untill the following monday!

Would you give this other guy ago? How should I tell my farrier i want to try someone else without upsetting him? I dont want to burn by bridges with him in case I need to use him again...

sorry it long its just this episode really upset me.
 
Just that from the farrier's POV she probably ought to be able to stand nicely and quietly for him now anyway. Please don't shout at me for that but at 9, she needs to learn to stand for him without pulling away or being skittish (obviously there may be a reason why that I don't know about in which case ignore me). If she's pulling away and dancing around it must be really difficult for him to get the nails in the right place and do a good job. *runs away and hides*

That said, £100 a set is expensive anyway, let alone when he has made her foot bleed!

I think I'd be tempted to try the other yard farrier. He does sound like an easier and more convenient farrier all round, plus you know he's done a good job on your friend's skittish horse. It's worth having a chat with him at least
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oh, i understand what your saying but she was standing perfectly when he pricked her.. thats the point
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. In the past year shes only been difficuly once, thats whats so gutting! She had a bad experience as a youngster and ive put in a lot of effort to make her good to shoe.. I had her so perfect and then he pricks her anyway
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What happened is he put the first shoe on fine, she was standing perfectly still, she didnt even flinch when he put in 'that' nail. Then he went to shoe the other hind leg and when he picked up her leg all her body weight was on the hind leg with nail going up into her sole
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. Thats why she panicked, imagine if you had a nail in your foot and then someone told you to stand all your weight on it.
He even said when he pulled the nail out and blood pissed everywhere that she must have been in agnoy standing on that leg, even with the nail removed shes still footsore now walking round the field.

I think I might try the new guy, its just so hard.. I dont want to make him cross because anyone can make a mistake just in case I need him again
 
Ouch, poor girl!
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I'm not surprised she had a paddy in that case.

I would try the new guy, or chat with him at least. If you think she's going to be worked up the next time she's shod, it might be worth thinking about giving her a bit of ACP to take the edge off?
 
Yes I think your right.. I'll speak to the new guy and explain the situation and a couple ml of sedaline and hopefully she'll get her confidence back and we'll be right on track again.
I just thought of all the horses he shoes it had to my one he pricked! My mum thinks shes too established being shod now to go back to square one again, I just hope shes right!
 
If you are going to change farriers do it for the cost/un-conatctability not for the mistake.

I would hate to think there are people out there changing their farriers over one mistake.

It happens, we are only human and yes occasionally (and i should hope its only that often) we make mistakes.
 
My farrier once made a small mistake, and when I rang him over it as it took a couple of hours to emerge it turned out he was absolutly gutted to have made that mistake, especailly on my mare who is hypersensitve at the best of times.

I wouldn't change for one mistake.
 
Oh I know, its not because of the mistake.. I think its more of the last straw if you know what I mean! Thats what I dont want to convey to him! What should I say? I was thinking along the lines of :-

'Im really sorry but im going to try someone else, Its not because of the nail as I know everyone can make a mistake and Vaya does have thin walls.. tbh its simply because of the cost, I know good shoeing costs money but I simply do not have the extra £20 a month to pay you over someone else..its economics thats all. Its not personal or down to your work at all, I think your a great farrier and very good with my horse'

does that sound ok or too much?? I know he'll try and persuade me not to change. I tried to change a couple of months ago becuase he couldnt come out one visit and he came out at 6am another day just not to lose my custom, I was hoping it was the perfect excuse to try someone cheaper but no...
 
if its not because of the nail then dont mention it at all, if its about cost then its about cost and
''im sorry but i am going to be going with another farrier from now on as i am finding your rates a bit steep and the new farrier i have found is £40 cheaper than you. Thank you for being my farrier and bieng so kind to my nervous horse, if the new guy is not as sensitive i would really like to be able to call on you again''
should be sufficient
 
The look on his face.. he was apalled when he realised what he had done. He looked really sheepish and he is really very good with my horse normally
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The problem is I do think hes genuinly good, it just seems so expensive and to have to hand that sort of money over when they've actually made the situation worse. If he had offered a token tenner off the cost of the shoeing or offered to come out free of charge to check her foot in a couple of days id probably not even be thinking these thoughts..but he didnt, there was just no budging on the money even though my horse because of him could cost me money (vets fees, lost entries ect).


agghhh so confusing!
 
you say he did not even budge on price but did you mention anything to him? It may not have even occurred to him... sorry to be devils advocate but if you have lost out on fees then the only way he would know this is because you said something... this is one of the stipulations of the FRC if someone is making a complaint, that they have actually taken it up with the farrier first.
 
make an issue of the price if you like, but consider you,r self lucky, as quicking horses happens all the time,and this is you,rfirst experience. it may be the farriers fault for nailing too deep, but again it may be, the horses sensative laminae may be low down due to thin soles etc, i feel that the nail pierced the cf artery, that is why the blood spurted out. if it was into the laminae only there would have been less blood. if you can see the offending nail hole, you could force some hydrogen peroxide into it, using a syringe this will work it,s way down the hole right to the shoe, and will kill infection, every nail driven into a horses foot runs the same risk, nail well back, and the shoe might come off, nail deep and you run the risk or quicking the horse. it,s a dangerous game.
 
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