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Veteran
Posts: 231
 
Location: OK | A Farrier is set up as a business and treats it as such. They return calls and communicate with their clients.
They are very much interested in what their clients have to say about how the horse is traveling and appreciate their input.
They are meticulous in their trade - making sure angles are the same (hoof gage) - measuring toe lengths & lateral balance. Without this a horse is not balanced therefore, leading to problems with everything - feet, legs, hocks, stifles, hips, etc.
There is more to this trade than slapping a set of shoes on that are a size to small & pinching the heels.
There are few that take pride in this trade anymore and it is very sad. It's all about the $$, not about the horse. The vets are getting rich because of horseshoers not caring.
If you are a Farrier the field is wide open in Oklahoma, There are a few good ones that are totally booked and can not take anymore new clients. Therefore, it is making the nail platers rich. If there is someone out there that is a business minded farrier please come!!!!!!
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Sounds like your having a bad day. |
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Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: OK | No - not really, just tired of no work ethics and people not taking pride in their trade. |
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  Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | This is exactly why my husband is now my farrier. He is still learning as he goes....but at least now the guy driving nails into my horses feet cares as much about them as I do.... |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Welcome to America lol. As little work as possible for the highest possible wage. |
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 Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7622
Location: Dubach, LA | I've owned horses for 20+ years and used 4 farriers regularly. None of them measured angles or toe length or anything like that. I wouldn't know what to do. |
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Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: OK | Are you saying you are ok with that? What if your horse is on 2 different angles - not laterally balanced and 2 different toe lengths on the front or back. You have any idea what that is doing to your horse. What if you wore a flat on one foot & a roping heel on the other - you would throw your spine out of wac - your legs would get sore, etc. Same difference. Not flaming - just don't understand not wanting your horse totally balanced - doesn't matter if it's a trail horse - barrel horse - cutter - whatever. |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | Sometimes that "perfect" shoe job isn't right for every horse either. My husband trims his own when he has time, and has shod them in the past. Lately he's been paying someone bc of his work hours. Hubby has no formal training but his goal is to follow each individual horse's natural angles and build. He has a gelding whose front feet angles are not level. He is made that way and hubby just followed nature. Well when he started paying someone, they leveled him out. Perfect. Sure looked prettier. Until after a while he came up lame. Ended up having to give his best horse 6 months turnout. The same guy is shoeing him again, but with instructions to keep him crooked, as much as he hates to! But the horse is sound and performing awesome again.
As far as good farriers go, I think they're few and far between wherever you go. The guy we use now is ok, but he's only done my horses' feet once since I moved them up here. So we'll see. There's a man about 20 minutes away who is amazing but getting older and just can't do as many. The guy he trained used to do my horses but when I moved them from my mom's that ended that. He's too busy to make it to her house, much less mine that's further out if the way-she's his only client bc he had to go back to a "real" job.
If the current guy doesn't work out, my hubby will get a shot at it bc I don't trust anyone else. I'm particular but feet are a huge deal to me. And I like a farrier who understands that just bc I stay barefoot doesn't mean I'm turning my bag out to pasture, he's a performance horse!! And idk if the current guy "gets" that.
We shall see...
Edited by dashnlotti 2015-06-28 12:41 PM
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I'm a Cry Baby
Posts: 3781
Location: n.c. | A great farrior doesn't necessarily have to use a gauge. He can "see" what needs to be done. How to trim the hoof
that is correct for the horse. My husband has been a farrior for 40 plus years. He has yet to use a gauge. But, he can
set the horse up correctly every time.
As others have said, there are very few great farriors left. In any part of the country. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| dashnlotti - 2015-06-28 12:39 PM Sometimes that "perfect" shoe job isn't right for every horse either. My husband trims his own when he has time, and has shod them in the past. Lately he's been paying someone bc of his work hours. Hubby has no formal training but his goal is to follow each individual horse's natural angles and build. He has a gelding whose front feet angles are not level. He is made that way and hubby just followed nature. Well when he started paying someone, they leveled him out. Perfect. Sure looked prettier. Until after a while he came up lame. Ended up having to give his best horse 6 months turnout. The same guy is shoeing him again, but with instructions to keep him crooked, as much as he hates to! But the horse is sound and performing awesome again. As far as good farriers go, I think they're few and far between wherever you go. The guy we use now is ok, but he's only done my horses' feet once since I moved them up here. So we'll see. There's a man about 20 minutes away who is amazing but getting older and just can't do as many. The guy he trained used to do my horses but when I moved them from my mom's that ended that. He's too busy to make it to her house, much less mine that's further out if the way-she's his only client bc he had to go back to a "real" job. If the current guy doesn't work out, my hubby will get a shot at it bc I don't trust anyone else. I'm particular but feet are a huge deal to me. And I like a farrier who understands that just bc I stay barefoot doesn't mean I'm turning my bag out to pasture, he's a performance horse!! And idk if the current guy "gets" that. We shall see...
I'm with this. If a farrier tried to make my stallions fronts be textbook 'perfect' his club foot would go from barely (really barely) noticable to hideous in a matter of two or three visits, Xena would whack herself constantly with her winging, and my brood who came home to me with size 10 platters would most likely have had to be put down by now. Instead, I have a natural balance non-shoeing farrier who has gotten Zans club foot to the point of zero mechanical difference to his normal front, Xena has not hit herself for three years up front, and my brood is now looking almost normal and is currently sloughing hopefully one last time to a normal sole and frog. Every horse is a different story with their feet and should be shod (shoes or not) accordingly. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| I am very spoiled by my farrier. He listens to me, wants to know about lameness diagnosis, and demands xrays from me if he's got a misgiving. He would be happy if I xrayed every foot and ankle on the place. He's been a miracle worker, and when I move, I'm going to be in a state of panic and probably having a meltdown to find one of equal measure. I feel you. I've fired more horse shoers than anyone I know. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | My farrier has been pretty spot on. He always returns calls. Calls when he's nearby. Shows up on time. Cares about my horses and how they respond to him and what he's doing. He checks angles and lengths of toe. Takes time to answer any questions I may have. He's patient with my witchy mare. Has done corrective shoeing for me with no added cost. Shapes a shoe to the horse rather than the opposite. Respectful. Courteous. Careful. He's an odd ball, but he's been shoeing for many years, and does an exceptional job.... much better than my previous farrier, whose truck would be parked at the tavern before my appointment.... |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| I had 3 farriers in a period of about 5 months. They would not show up would not return phone calls etc. I use one now who isn't perfect but comes pretty close. He is good friends with my vet so the vet calls him and tells him what to do. He has had to make some changes and even calls the vet before he does anything. Best of all he comes when I call him. Believe me, I have been through all of them around here. There are a few good ones around, it may take a little while to find them.
I have had horses for 60 years and have trimmed my own on occasion. I have had farriers cripple mine so bad that they could not even get up so it is nice to have one that gets the job done.
By the way, he lives just South of Texarkana so he might go into OK. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | I can not complain. Horses are doing great and he goes out of his way to help. As we were loading up last time, I noticed one had thrown a shoe. He met us at the event we were headed to and fixed us up at no charge. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I have only ever had one farrier use the hoof gauge and she really mess my horse's feet up. I have never had a shoer cripple one and have had several diffferent ones through the years. But it is hard to find a competent shoer anymore. I think I have just been lucky. |
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Veteran
Posts: 231
Location: OK | The farrier should fit the shoe to the foot, not the foot to the shoe. If you pick up the foot you can tell if your shoer is a right handed or left handed shoer. Right handed are low to the outside of the left and inside of the right - vice versa with left handed. The farrier should be aware of this and rasp accordingly. We start out going by the slope of the shoulder and hip, but may change angles depending how they travel - some may need to be a little lower - some higher. One of my horses was at a 49 on one hind & a 55 on the other - which caused $800 of chiropractic & injections. Had he used a guage - they would have been the same. Would never use him again. Why they want to put too small of a shoe on is beyond me - then pinch the heels causing contraction. Are they just not educated or don't care - not sure which. It's a lost trade. |
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