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Post by Susan on Nov 2, 2007 0:34:43 GMT 1
oh and chitori., that was sooooo funny, and often posts like this help..lighten the thread...yours did it for me..
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Post by iwillbuy on Nov 2, 2007 0:45:18 GMT 1
what is this bs are they a new style of trimmers jeez i have just got used to eps and now there are bs,s aswell
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Post by june on Nov 2, 2007 0:47:48 GMT 1
BS - barefoot specialists ;.)
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Post by sarahfox on Nov 2, 2007 1:23:49 GMT 1
LOL!
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Post by janetgeorge on Nov 2, 2007 1:52:44 GMT 1
I think JG is luckier than she thinks she is in finding a good farrier who does a good BF trim. Having said that, we've had good farriers before who did good BF trims. Our last farrier did a good BF trim for a while and then suddenly starting making the horses sore. Not really sure why and even though I thought I was being direct enough in telling him "that horse was sore last time so please be gentle", the message didn't get across and I ended up switching to EPs and with an offended farrier. I've been able to work with the EPs when things weren't going as well as they should have been and we can have rational discussions and try different things which has been a huge benefit to the horses. I haven't found that many farriers are as approachable. Oh I think there's some luck involved! There has to be a good farrier in your area before you can find him - and - as the saying goes - you may have to kiss a lot of frogs! But there are good farriers hiding within some of the 'bad' ones. When I first came to England, I took over managing quite a large commercial riding school (with a generally bad reputation!) There wasn't a horse there who was well shod! I had a chat with the farrier, put myself on his side, and discussed the different horses' problems with him, asked him what he would suggest (while making sure he knew what I expected!) He'd put up with a total lack of interest, irregular payment, and more. He had got careless and slipshod. He changed! I hear a lot of people dithering about how to tell the farrier they weren't happy - farriers TEND to be straight-talking types. I've only had one I had to sack after 'having a word' - his shoeing was fine, but he couldn't control his temper. Two I didn't bother having a word with - well ,I had TWO short words with them! ;D One I actually said two words to before he removed the 3rd shoe (he was VERY surprised - he was used to his customers being polite to him!)
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Post by iwillbuy on Nov 2, 2007 2:04:06 GMT 1
he he sarah
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esther
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Post by esther on Nov 2, 2007 7:09:45 GMT 1
:echo: JG (again) It can be very very hard to find a good farrier. I had an excellent farrier when I lived back home. I then found an excellent farrier when I moved to Sussex. When I left Sussex my farrier moved too, so if I'd stayed, heaven knows what I would have done as there was no=one else in the area that I rated at all. Then when I came up here to Yorkshire....my word the battle was on. I had a very good bloke who had just trained initially (A), but then as he got more experienced he got more lazy and greedy. Trimming and shoeing became rushed and haphazard - I sacked him after he took 30 minutes to shoe two pones and none of their feet matched. I think that's more frustrating than someone who is a rubbish farrier, to be honest - someone who can be a good farrier but chooses not to be. But whilst trying to find a recommendation for someone else, I realised that 90% of the recommendations I was getting were for unregistered (and therefore uninsured/possibly unqualified/struck off) farriers. There are so many round here - I was amazed. I just think people tend to go off word of mouth and don't ask the question and don't check. I then found my current farriers. When I first rung them, I spent an hour and a half on the phone with them discussing how I liked my horses feet doing, what I did with my pones, etc etc. It turned out that they knew my original very good farriers from Surrey. and really rated them. They take time over my pones - three or four hours to do one and a half sets of shoes and four trims. They watch them move. They are very very cynical about the standard of farrier training in the colleges and run extra classes and semi-formal training for their own apprentices (decent lecture room in their forge). They take the CPD of the qualified farriers seriously too. They've got no control over the quality of their farriers once they've left their forge though - I understand through the grapevine that one of theirs that we found really good moved south and has done an 'A' and has got lazy. Gah If my current farriers dropped off the face of the earth, I don't know what I'd do as there is no-one else round here that I rate at all. I'd manage to trim four of them OK myself but would struggle with the laminitics. We've got a friend a bit further north who actually boxes her horses 90 miles to her old farrier's forge each month because there are no good farriers in her area. Would I go down the EP route? Personally the ones I've seen seem a bit ineffective. It's like they've shyed so far away from the Strasser school of extreme trimming that instead they don't do enough - which when you have a laminitic can be just as bad as doing too much. Just my personal opinion though - your views may differ. Plus the politics/evangalism does my head in. I guess if I didn't have the option of my farriers and I could find a trimmer on the same wavelength as me, maybe, who knows. Never say never. ps I like the kittens.
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chitori
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Post by chitori on Nov 2, 2007 9:52:12 GMT 1
I like kittens too hehe
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Post by Karon on Nov 2, 2007 9:52:37 GMT 1
I do think there is some luck involved in finding a good farrier - we do have a God of Farriery near here, and he kept Ash sound when shod, but it was hit and miss whether he'd come out or whether one of his minions would be shoeing - and none of the latter could keep Ash sound for minutes let alone weeks. If I said anything, then the GoF would be out for a couple of visits then it would be back to the minions OK I know, I wasn't assertive enough but in the end he did me a huge favour as going barefoot has meant Ash has had 6 more years of being ridden (and, I hope, many more) when, with shoes and the minions shoeing her, she was facing an early retirement. Love the kittens
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2007 10:04:52 GMT 1
There has to be a good farrier in your area before you can find him - and - as the saying goes - you may have to kiss a lot of frogs! Sorry to have a new voice weigh in on page 24 but why on earth should we all have to go round snogging amphibians to have our horses' feet properly cared for? Surely if you have a registered farrier, he should be professional enough to a) care for your horse's feet properly, b) treat your horse with consideration and c) treat you with respect? Surely if the profession hadn't slid into it's current depths (and I think it has), it wouldn't be so hard to find a good farrier? Is it then fair to expect your horse to put up with the poor foot care, arrogance, temper tantrums, etc. that we do seem to agree to be far too common with many farriers while we try to seek out a good one? I would certainly not put any of mine through that again. Surely it shouldn't be necessary to have any words at all? Over the last 5 or 6 years, since I became much more educated in feet, I've had 2 farriers and 3 EPs. The first farrier was on the yard where I bought my horse. He ruined my horse's legs with bad shoeing (in the vet's opinion) in the time before I bought her. I changed to another one who came recommended but was shocking in his treatment of the horses, had no respect for the yard, and had no solution to my horse's feet other than pads to try and keep her comfortable in the field. Hence my search for an alternative, an EP. I've worked with 3 because one became ill, then I moved. All 3 I've been happy with technically and personally. And I now have a sound and happy horse. That's what I pay my extra money for.
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Post by Yann on Nov 2, 2007 10:22:53 GMT 1
I agree 100% There's more than luck and personnel management involved too, the good farrier has to be out there in the first place. Out of the numerous farriers who have come to our yard since we've been there only one was consistently good and reliable and he sadly emigrated, otherwise I'd probably still be using him. There was another one other who did a really good job but treated his customers like muck.
My last farrier was definitely one who was capable of really good work but seemed to have off days. It's very frustrating.
My own experiences and those of others I've come across suggest this is a valid comment. Sometimes too much do no harm can end up as do no good.
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Post by fin on Nov 2, 2007 10:36:50 GMT 1
Lol, I kind of like the idea of having to re-train the farrier Some frogs are beyond hope though, and sometimes a frog's a frog, however well snogged.....some of our local ones are definately of an amphibian bent, though I have just heard that we have a newly qualified chap just up the coast. Apparently he's quite good. Needless to say he's also intending to emigrate to Aus in a few months time...........
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gillmcg
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Post by gillmcg on Nov 2, 2007 11:04:42 GMT 1
If farriers (in general - not saying there aren't good ones out there) had stayed up to date and seen their work as a profession rather than a job then we wouldn't have EPs at all as there wouldn't have been a market for them. Clients/customers are voting with their horses' feet!
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Post by jennyf on Nov 2, 2007 11:36:06 GMT 1
I think farriers have had things their own way for far too long. They should all be good, all be polite, all treat horses fairly and with patience and understanding - and they don't. I wouldn't bother kissing frogs either. I had the same farrier for several years and then things started to go wrong. He got quicker and quicker, one of my horses starting getting abscess's and the last straw came when he was unjustly very rough with my old pony. I've had an EP since then and yes, it is quite a bit more expensive. I have a little loan pony at the moment with issues, especially with the back feet. My very patient and calm EP took the necessary time with her this week in order to get her back feet trimmed, having been warned in advance about the problems. I'm certain none of the farriers in this area would have taken the same amount of time and trouble.
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