The best scenario is to have your horses tied
before your farrier arrives. That way your horses have time to settle
down and they will be easier to work with.
Don't feed your horses grain to catch them when
farrier comes. Or don't start running around with a full bucket to catch
the next one while your farrier is working under the first one already.
It is just not a good idea. Grain will often make them more excited and
it's not fair to expect one horse behaving perfect when the others are
running around bucking and getting grain.
Don't stand behind the horse while your farrier
is working. Horses want to see what’s happening behind them and they will
always try to turn and look.
Farrier might not be exactly on time. Most of us drive 300 km a day with some days being 500. That is 6 hrs on the road
beside the actual work! Also each job doesn't take the same length of
time every time, there is many factors that can make it faster or slower
then 6 - 8 weeks ago. As much as we try to estimate the time of
arrival its impossible to nail it exact every time.
Rebook with your farrier for the next time. We don't sit at home waiting for your call that you are going to the mountains tomorrow and need shoes tonight.
Get your horses trimmed on regular basis year
round. It is complete nonsense that their feet don't grow in the winter
and your farrier has to eat in the winter as well. If you get them done
twice a year, the quality of your farrier will most likely be similar to
the quality of your horses feet.
Don't smoke while you are holding your horse for your farrier, horses are naturally afraid of fire and smoke.
We enjoy chatting with each client, but we
also and most importantly have to pay attention to your horse and often talk
to him as well. It is always nice to have a friendly chit chat but pay
attention to your horse first.
Plan your day so your husband isn't using power tools or shooting targets when your farrier is there.
Work with your horse and make him good with his
feet. The bottom line is good farriers are usually busy and they will of
course rather go do the "good" horses instead of the ones that can
injure them.
Don't be cheap. Farrier work is hard and dangerous work and a
good farrier that stays with you for number of years without making your
horses lame is worth $0.25/km for travel. It is sure much cheaper then
hooking up your rig and taking a day off.
Even though it all seems as a common sense thing to
do, all of the above is a very normal scenario that every farrier
encounters all the time. Usually you might hear excuses like he or she
is too busy and fully booked up etc. Well most of the time it is just a
polite way of saying "I am sorry, it is too dangerous and hard for me to
work with your horses".
Hope this can be useful,
John K.
www.CzechMateTraining.com