[Jenje!]

After spending four hours in the sun on Saturday holding six horses for their new pedicures- five trims, one set of shoes- I wonder: how long does your farrier usually take?

Our new gal (I LOVE HER by the way, she is fantastic with them) took four hours, again to do five trims and one set of shoes... and that was with a bunch of really level-headed horses! Even Allure was pretty darn good. I couldn't do her job at all- she kept talking about how the little things ours were doing that annoy me (and that I apologized for) were "nothing" and then telling me stories about other people's nutty horses... I wondered how long she could potentially wind up at a barn before the herd is done!

I don't care what she says... next time... we are trimming in the BARN! With fans!

[doublebarr]

Mine is coming tomorrow again. I'll get out the stopwatch and time him. He'll LOVE that, LOL.

It really depends on what we are doing and which horse is getting done. We HAD to have two horses done in 1 hour one time just as he showed up. Poor Luke was ready to drop when he was done, but he got 2 horses reset and ready in that hour. And the shoes held for the full 6 weeks till the next appointment. I did have to give him a beer after he finished the 2nd one though, LOL.

[Jenje!]

I wasn't upset at the time it took- ours were a bit overdue and every horse deserves special attention, heheh- I was thinking more along the lines of GEEZ, I could NOT do that job! It was 91 degrees and had been for a while when we were done!

At least with dentistry it's less bending over (what I'm going to school for next year).

My gal keeps a cooler of gatorade and water in her truck, so I couldn't help there but did give her a $20 tip! Gas being expensive and all... it turns out (AFTER we made the appointment and she came out) that she doesn't really take new clients and wanted to know where I got her number. So I tried to make a good impression to keep her coming back. The horses really love her.

You seem to have a pretty big herd, Cindy, so I'll bet yours are an all day thing! How many horses do you have right now?

[doublebarr]

HEHE! I watched my farrier grow up. He's the son of long time rancher friends of ours. I can give him heck and tell him he can't raise my rates since I was there at the beginning of his career. And since we're friends with his parents, he can't "fire" me becasue of my insane demands like getting two horses done in under an hour, LOL.

I do treat Luke pretty good, but being family friends sure makes life with my farrier MUCH easier.

[doublebarr]

Originally Posted by Jenje!

You seem to have a pretty big herd, Cindy, so I'll bet yours are an all day thing! How many horses do you have right now?

I have a standing farrier appointment every 3 weeks, with visits in between as needed to stay on top of things. I should keep a check book just for Luke, LOL.

Right now, I'm overseeing 50+ head. 27 are owned by me, and the others are "ranch property", owned by our business and used by whoever needs one to get the job done.

[ILoveRedRanger!]

My old farrier use to take like 3 hours. He took forever!! But my horses shoes never fell off.

[Fire]

With a well-mannered horse, just doing a trim, my farrier takes 45 minutes or so. He's very precise. Shoe jobs take well over an hour. It took him an hour and a half to just do a trim on a very unruly stallion. Hah. He has a lot of patience, but he's a young guy. I felt embarassed when my horse pulled his hoof off the stand a couple times...but this stud was something else. I feel sorry for farriers. Love mine, though!

[Jenje!]

Man, I was so thrilled with my new girl. Page gets sore through the hips due to an old injury, and when asked to hold either hind leg (worse on the right side) up for too long, she will very politely take her foot away, stretch the leg and put it down... after which you can pick it up again.

I mentioned it to her before I even brought her out- I hate it when people don't let their farriers and vets know what's going on up front- and she really took her time with her, let her stretch the leg and was careful not to yank it up too high all at once.

[ShowJumper23]

My farrier took 45 minutes on Satuday when B got new shoes. However, he only worked on the front ones (he had come out 2 weeks before and did the back ones. the vet liked the back, didn't like the front, so out he came again to re do those ones).

[RickB.]

Generally speaking, it takes me an average of 15 minutes to trim a horse who has been in my custom for a while, and anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to reset my own work, and an hour to an hour and a half for new shoes on all four hooves.

But then, I'm old, fat, and lazy now. In my younger years, when I was feeling sprightly, i was somewhat quicker under a horse.

Of course, if I talking instead of working, then there's no telling how long the job will take.