I have had the same farrier for over 20 years and it has taken a lot for me to get to this point.  Need opinions (and I know you have them!) about if it is time to fire him and start anew.  There had been a long line of issues with him but none have been a deal breaker but the latest is that my horse has recently been advised by my vet that he requires special shoes and pour in pads.  (I had an appointment with the farrier and vet so the vet could take radiographs to help guide the farrier in the trim process and shoe setting.)  He quicked my horse and just cooly said that he may abscess.  Well, he did and BIG.  I called my vet and he's been on antibiotics/soaks/wraps.  I texted the farrier to tell him about the abscess and he was like "ok, I'll order more product."  (Meaning the pour in stuff.)  Six days later, I text him to see when he could come reset the shoe.  He flatly texted back "waiting on order to come in."  I'm at my wits end.

Does you're vet have a farrier that he uses, I would call and have a talk with you're vet and see if he has one that he uses for clients horses that need's the special attention. 

My vet has recommended another farrier.  She is as frustrated as I am.  

Get a new farrier and move on!!  It's not worth crippling your horse over a farrier.  I've learned the hard way.  Your horse's feet are worth more than a farrier doing a poor job.  

Go with the farrier that your vet recommended. Good luck! Hope your horse gets back to normal asap! 

I'm just too dag gone kind hearted and hate to hurt other peoples' feelings.  You're right though.  This horse is my heart and I need to look out for his best interests.

You've got to be your horse's advocate, which means sometimes the farrier's got to go. 

Just wondering how its going with your horse, did the farrier get your horse taken care of? 

    This is your Answer! 

UPDATE:  I got in touch with the farrier that my vet recommended and he was really nice but he said that he couldn't get to me worked into his schedule until a week or so. My current farrier FINALLY got the pour in pad product yesterday......nearly two weeks waiting on that.  The new farrier's mind was blown that he ran out of the stuff.  It's available from Big Dee's or Valley Vet so you can bet your last dollar I'll be ordering some to have on hand!  He is coming Sunday morning.  I'm stuck with it for the time being.  My horse is doing better and I hope he stays that way!  Thanks for asking!

You have to change your mindset on dealing with people.

It is better to have the other person's feelings hurt than yours.

Its your horse and your money.  Most farriers are so booked up that his feelings will only be hurt til the phone converstion is over.

There are horse shoers and there are farriers.  Big difference.

Some of the old time horse shoers truly don't have the products or the knowledge to apply them.  They haven't gone to any updated schooling as there aren't farrier licenses that need updated and a horses foot hasn't changed.  Our knowledge has changed!  There have been so many different innovations over the last 20 years.  

I would personally be using the new shoer anyways, simply for the fact that your guy may have watched youtube videos while he was waiting for the pour in, in order to know how to use it. 

Not saying your guy isn't great, but I'd be very cautious. 

You need to do whats best for your horse and you! I have played hell finding a reliable, good, consistent farrier since moving to Dallas 2 years ago. I think I am on #7....

#1- was recomended right after we moved up here. All was good the 1st job. Then he showed up drunk and I told him he wasnt touching my horses. 

#2- INCREDIBLY talented and knew his stuff. Horses were moving great. Feet looked awesome. I thought hey found a great one.... Went MIA one day. Gave up trying to contact him after 3 weeks of not answering calls or texts. I wasnt the only one he did it to either.

#3- good farrier but wouldnt stay on a consistent schedule. I shouldnt have to beg someone I'm paying to show up to do said job..... 

#4- Young guy. Started off well until pour in equi pak pads were suggested for my mare. 1 time he put them in, they fell out in less than a week. Charged me $200 to come back to redo them. 3 weeks later, they were falling out again. The vet was pretty upset about it. As was I. Talked to him about it and he told me he knew more about her feet than the vet and I was over reacting..... Horse was off and not improving... I fired him. 

#5- This young lady is a very talented farrier. Hard worker, meticulous, knows her stuff. Got my mare sound and kept her sound. If something didnt work, she would try another thing. Found a shoe set up and my mare was working better than ever. After 8 months, decided driving in from OK 1 day every 6 weeks was to much and recomended another guy. Said he was better than her. 

#6- She was correct. He can shoe like noones business but has someone else trimming and finishing the shoe job while he goes to the next one.... Took the PLR's off my mare and put a steel shoe on her. I called him about the way she was moving, it felt different, and he told me she was just feeling better. WELL.... she started limping again. Took her to my vet at little under 3 weeks from when she was reset and the vet said she was starting to get long. Suggested she be reset every 4 weeks. Contacted farrier and asked him if I brought her up to him, would he reset her every 4 weeks. Sure, set up a day and time. A few days before I message him to make sure we were still a go and he cancels on me and basically tells me she will be ok the full 6 weeks and Im overreacting. Keep in mind Ive now spent over 8k diagnosing and trying to get and keep 1 horse sound.... Strike 1..... My old mare that was trimmed by his help had about 2'' of growth and her feet look like crap. In less than 4 weeks... I finally break down and cut the excess off so she wouldnt get to sore. Strike 2.... He then calls and cancels on our 6 week appt thats been set up for weeks cuz he forgot he had a class.... Strike 3..... Oh did I mention, there were 4 of us that all met at a central location for the appointment. 

#7- A friend that has went through the same fiasco with farriers 5 & 6 suggested this guy. He has been shoeing for 40 years I think he said. Old school and very crotchety and set in his ways.... Met him last week to get everyone reset and trimmed. My opinion of him did not start off the best but I am going to give him a shot. He changed my mare back into aluminum shoes and set them back and rolled her toe without being asked. That seems to work best for her. He trimmed my old mares back feet (old stifle injury) with zero objection from her. Thats a plus. And my mare feels good and is riding like she did when farrier #5 was working on her. The 3rd mare will get reset next time and we shall see how that goes. 

The moral of my book is this... Dont be afraid to hurt someones feelings that isnt doing what needs to be done to keep your horse happy. Your paying them to do a job. Yes trust them to do a job, after all, they work on feet for a living. BUT if x-rays show your horse needs XYZ and they want to do ABC, its time to start looking for someone who has your horses best interest in mind. 

Being too "kind hearted" doesnt do anything but make life more frustrating for you and prolong your horses health.  

O.....M......G!  I'm SO sorry!  Now I feel horrible for whining about my farrier of 20+ years that done well up until now!  Hope your on a good path now!  WOW!

FURTHER UPDATE TO FARRIER DRAMA:

Spoke to my vet this morning and she would rather I wrap his foot in a duct tape boot until the new farrier can get there!  LOL!  She also feels that since he still has a slightly elevated digital pulse, it is best to let that foot drain/settle/heal a bit longer before a shoe goes back on.  SO, hired new farrier this morning and tried to call old farrier.  Got his VM so I just left a message cancelling the Sunday appointment.  I at least want to show the courtesy of not leaving a breakup VM!  (I know....I'm TOO NICE!)

So glad that you have your horses best interest at heart, some times we have to do that hard thing {cutting someone lose } it dont feel good most times but we got to do whats best.. And I can tell you it does not take that long to get the pour in pads, my farrier will get his stuff with in a couple of days and alot of times he'll keep pour in pads on hand for just in case. I have ordered it befor myself and got it with in 3 days.. Sorry that you had to deal with this, but you will feel better not having to deal with him anymore.

I get farriers can make mistakes but whatever you do please let the carrier know that you don’t want to use him no more. Just please be up front and tell them why your not using them no more. There are so many people out there that are fake and cannot just say hey I don’t like this and I’m not going to keep using you as my farrier!

If a guy didn't have pour-in on hand and didn't know where to get it any faster than that (it's at every farrier supply place), he probably had no idea what he was doing with it anyway. Hopefully the farrier the vet recommended gets things on the right track!

FURTHER UPDATE:  I waited until I could TALK to my farrier instead of just texting or leaving a voice mail.  It was pretty emotional for me and I just told him that I felt like I had to do the best thing for my horse, I hadn't made this decision lightly and another farrier had been recommended to me that had a lot of experience with working with horses like mine.  I did't get into any of the issues that I was upset about...what's the point?  He's a friend and I want to keep it that way.  He said it had been a pleasure working with me over the years and if I ever needed him to call.  However, he was pretty mad about my vet recommending someone else.  He said that it ends up this way with every client of his that has her for a vet.  I'm just sad but also looking forward to working with someone that may bring my boy some comfort and perhaps one day I can throw a leg over my big blonde pony again.

Thanks for listening and for all of the advice.  <3