Horse Farriers: Find a Great One and Keep ‘Em
posted by citizen.K on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 / 
Print & Hang in the Barn
Farriers are one of the great wonders of horse ownership and care. Horses require meticulous hoof care and generally YOU are of no impact to your horses hoof health. It is entirely up to your farrier to provide a solid foundation for your horse to stay sound, move comfortably, and perform at his/her abilities.
No matter how many years of experience you have with horse owning, riding, training, and often times even equine medicine, your ability to evaluate your horses hoof balance, shoeing, and overall hoof health is minimal. Unless there are obvious hoof cracks, chips, thrush, or excessive shoe loss, you are not going to be able to tell if your horse is shod correctly, has healthy horn, or even has the correct hoof shape. This is where your farrier comes into play. But how do you know you have a good farrier?
Farriers are an interesting breed of professionals. A farrier or blacksmith has a very difficult job. Not only is their job incredibly physically demanding, they are dealing with people, crazy horse people; in itself not a job for the feint of heart. If someone complains about a farrier, most likely is never related to their ability to shoe a horse, trim a hoof, or anything else technical. Generally, complaints about farriers have to do with their personalities, the way they handle the horses, or their inability to return phone calls.
Top Ten Complaints About Farriers:
- Never return phone calls
- Always late
- Don’t show up
- Aren’t very talkative
- Doesn’t come back to tack on lost shoes very quickly
- Too expensive
- Rough with horses
- Won’t shoe horse how I want
- Takes too long
- Smells like alcohol
Complaints 1-5 could largely have to do with the fact that YOU are a pain in the a$$. Most farriers or blacksmiths are true professionals, who take pride in their work, but YOU might be so difficult to deal with they don’t want to return your phone calls, dread coming to your barn, so end up late, completely blow off your appointment because they don’t actually want to tell you they no longer want to shoe your horse(s), absolutely hate talking to you, and don’t come back in a timely manner to tack lost shoes on because they told you not to turn that particular horse out in a large pasture because they knew that horse would loose a shoe!
If you’ve cycled through several farriers who won’t return your phone calls, seek attention for your bothersome personality elsewhere (cool farriers, you’re welcome).
Farriers can be very expensive; you get what you pay for. $50-$75 for a trim and four shoes? Bargain!!!!!
Wrong. Cheap prices aren’t a 100% guarantee that you have a bad farrier, it could be a newer, inexperienced farrier or a competitive price for that area, but generally speaking, a cheap farrier is cheap for a reason. But $350-a-shoeing farriers aren’t necessarily great (or even good) either.
In the top five reasons to choose a farrier, price should not be a factor. If you are looking for a new farrier only because the current farrier has increased his/her prices, sell your horse instead. Quality shodding is hard to come by; expect to pay for it. Shopping around for a horse farrier isn’t bad, but if your horse is happy with the current farrier, an increase in price is worth it.
Complaint 7 and 8 are difficult because it really depends on the circumstances and your horse. You might have gotten upset because the farrier had to get after your horse because he wouldn’t hold his leg up. Sure, you think your horse is just tired, needs to have a rest, or obviously the farrier keeps doing something wrong.
A farrier is in a position to easily get hurt, very hurt, by the actions of your horse. Although it can be fair to not assume all horses can stand perfectly still all the time, mature horses, without any lameness or neurological problems should stand still. A horse CAN stand still, and if a farrier has to remind the horse that standing still is important, you cannot fault the farrier for this. Not only is it in the farrier’s best interest and safety for a horse to comply with his wishes, while tacking on a shoe, the farrier is also thinking of your horse’s health and safety.
Farrier speed also does not indicate their ability to properly shoe a horse. Farriers have their reasons for speeds; let ‘em be. Ask your farrier about his/her speed if it is really bothering you. Maybe there is a good reason for it.
If your farrier smells of alcohol, they probably just needed a drink to ease the pain of your mouth flapping the whole time they’re working.
There are, of course, farriers out there that fail at complaints 1-5 just because they aren’t good at business or interpersonal communication. If you’re bothered by 1-5, be a good client and find out why before you dump them.
Evaluating if you are a good client starts with how you treat your farrier, what you expect from your farrier, and how your horse is with the farrier. So many people just don’t treat farriers as professionals. 
A farrier should be treated with the same amount of respect as your horses veterinarian. With that, the more trust you have in your farrier and veterinarian, the better relationship you’ll have with those your horse really needs.
Of course, you need to have reasons to have trust in either one of them, but it’s fair to say most horse owners immediately respect a veterinarian. Why not the farrier? Lack of a college degree? Lack of a special title such as Dr.? A farrier is essentially a podiatrist, so without the formal, professional given title of Dr., the farrier is a doctor of the equine foot. RESPECT YOUR HORSE’S FOOT DOCTOR.
Sure, there are bad farriers, just as there are bad vets, bad trainers, bad horse owners, and bad horses. There are also good farriers, and even more importantly, GREAT farriers. If you are lucky enough to have one of these GREAT farriers working on your horse, don’t take that for granted. Treat your farrier with respect and don’t tell them how to shoe your horse.
If you really don’t think your horse is shod correctly, make sure you aren’t just a hypochondriac horse owner first, if you rule that out, then maybe you DO need a different farrier.
But, why exactly are you giving advise to a farrier on how your horses feet are getting trimmed or shod? Learn WHY the farrier is trimming your horse a particular way, or why the feet or shoes look different. YOU are not a farrier. If you are giving advice to a farrier, why not just do it yourself?
Top 5 Methods for Choosing a Farrier:
- Word of Mouth – take these with a grain of salt, and don’t just go off one recommendation (good or bad). Ask around; veterinarians, trainers, barn owners, and other riders.
- Research – check for a website, see if the farrier has been published anywhere, see if the farrier is “certified” or who he/she apprenticed under. Do not to discount a farrier based on memberships of big farrier guilds or associations.
- Interview – it is entirely fair to conduct an interview. Of course, if you are at a big barn and there is a “barn” farrier, he may not be very open to this. A farrier might be more willing to talk if you offer up sincere kindness because of “bad shoeing experiences.” Ask why he likes being a farrier, how he shoes most horses, and what is the craziest corrective shoeing he’s ever done. You don’t have to understand the answers, but see if the farrier is enthusiastic about the job, make sure not all horses are shod the same, and see that there is experience in “difficult” shoeing.
- Appearance – I know, it seems silly. I’m not saying a farrier should be wearing a suit. Take clothing out of the picture; does the farrier present himself as a professional? It’s a dirty job, dirt is okay, but do the farrier take pride in the job of blacksmithing?
- Location – Make sure the farrier is not only willing, but able to come to your area regularly. The farrier may live far away, but if he/she has several barns or clients in the same area, there is a better chance they will be able to make it out to your horse on short notice if needed.
If you already have a great farrier, good for you; keep them happy with respect for what they do and how they do it. Try to learn about your horse’s hooves, and always mention any soundness issues you might be having. You would be surprised at the insight farriers can share about your horse. The hoof is the foundation for all riding and all disciplines; great farriers can look at a horse and tell you how it rides (and they may have never been in a saddle, ever, think about it).
If you are in need of a great farrier, don’t give up, and don’t settle. There is a farrier right for your horse, but evaluate how you treat farriers if you’re having trouble keeping one.
On a side note, I apologize for any nouns specific to he or him. It is not to downplay the increasing amount of women as farriers. I give a woman a lot of credit for being a farrier; it’s a physically demanding job, but there are, no doubt, many woman can do this job equally, if not better than any man, given the training, tools, and strength!
Oh, and just as “natural horsemanship” is a marketing scheme, so is “natural hoof trimming”. [Barf] Horses, are bred by people. People have bred horses who need shoes, by and large. If your horse is sore after seeing the “natural” trimmer, find a real farrier. Horse’s like comfortable feet, iron or no iron.
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One Response to “Horse Farriers: Find a Great One and Keep ‘Em”
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February 18th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
just stumbled upon this web site. Cool. I have owned my farrier business in New Mexico for 25 years now. I specialize in performance and therapudic shoeing. Going crazy with the natural movement in the horse world. Any good horseman can see past the dog and pony show! I never went to shoeing school. I learned as a kid. I found my years of endurance racing to teach me so much. I shod the horses that I got to watch going down the trail with me.I learned to keep it simple.