Why (we think) We Like Our New Farrier
Posted by Mikki on Jul 21 2007 at 08:01 am | Tagged as: Horse Health
Our new farrier, “J”, came out on Thursday, and we are cautiously optimistic. First of all, he showed up on time, which was a pleasant surprise. He brought his teenage son as an assistant, and they were both polite, friendly and quietly competent. Both horses were less of a pain than usual (although it’s possible that we woke them up when we called them up to the barn); because of that, and the fact that he had help, it took him a good 45 minutes less than it did G. Their feet look great, and J guarantees that the shoes will stay on for at least six weeks - he’ll come out and replace any shoe that falls off before then, no matter what the reason. We didn’t even know farriers offered that kind of guarantee; G was going to charge us $20 to replace the shoe Valentine lost after only 2 weeks - if he had ever shown up, that is.
We feel very fortunate to have found this farrier, and even more since he told us that he doesn’t accept new clients. He only agreed to take us on because (1) some of our neighbors are already clients; and (2) more importantly, he’s friends with one of our friends. So we’re very grateful.
There is one downside, though - isn’t there always? J charges about 35% more than G ($150 vs $110, for both). However, he returns our calls in a timely manner, shows up on time and guarantees his work. I guess you get what you pay for, right?
Once again, we’ll keep you posted.
I felt bad for you until I realized that you were getting TWO horses shod for the price that I pay for ONE horse! LOL!
Good Luck in your new horse ownership. I would like to include a link to your blog on my page, and will do so unless I hear back from you that it is NOT ok.
Thx,
Cathy
I would definetly keep him, no matter the cost. As the saying goes “good help is hard to find” and since he sounds like a an angel, I’d try to hang on to him!
Sounds like “J” has potential, and a good farrier is so important. $150 for 2 horses is a very good price. Here in Houston the price is about $90 for 4 shoes (nothing fancy).
Good grief, you have to pay $150 EACH!? Just when we start complaining how expenses horses are, someone comes along and tells us it’s more expensive elsewhere. I guess we should be grateful.
Sure, please do link to us. And thanks! We’ll gladly reciprocate (http://reinerchick.blogspot.com/ right?).
Thanks Shelly and I think “you get what you pay for” applies, too. We were pleased with him so I asked if I could have some cards to pass out to our local horse friends. He replied “no way!”. Turns out he has more business than he can handle now and doesn’t want anymore. We were lucky he agreed to become our farrier.
So it seems good farriers aren’t hurting for business and that’s probably why they can charge $150 a horse, like Cathy is paying.