what is your pet peeve on clients or other farriers?

[vthorseshoe]

A while back the "Draft Horse Journal" posted questions to 5 different Draft Shoers in their monthly magazine for subscribers to read, and this was one of them. I found it to be a great question and I was curious what responce would come from you folks.

One shoer<Dale Schlabach, from Sugar Creek, Ohio> answered with this.

"My pet peeve is a client trying to tell me exactly how to shoe a problem horse, when I am sure it is incorrect and will not solve the problem. Yet, you have to strive to keep the client satisfied.
Another one is other FARRIERS telling my clients that I didn't shoe their horses right. If they are serious, "why not tell me instead of my client?" I always appreciate bits of good advice. Or are they trying to downgrade me and hurt my business?"<I copied this from the Farriers Round Table: Shoeing Draft Horses>

What are your pet peeves to this question?

[J.H. shoeing]

I had my favorite pet peeve happened to me yesterday. I pull up 10 minutes early with a person with me to hold the horse, my 16 year old daughter, and the Client says: "I guess I should have called I want to cancell the appointment".

It is a one horse account and she had trouble finding someone that would take it. Anyway we left and my daughter says: "I bet it will be really expensive the next time that horse gets shod". I think it will be expensive also.

Jeff

[Ronald Aalders]

I got a nice one too.

Came up to a barn years ago, to go see a huge overweight haflinger pony that I had shod for the first time 4 weeks or so earlier. Reportedly the horse was lame. When I got there I saw a foundering horse. When I tried to explain what I thought was wrong with the horse and told them to get a vet in, the owner said: "with the other shoer she never had a problem"

There you go................


Ronald Aalders

[Bill Adams]

When I was getting started, a couple of times I would call a client as their horse was comming due, and they'd say, "Oh you don't need to come over, my neighbor was having their horse done so I had them do mine so you wouldn't have to hassel with it".
Hasn't happened for years, but if it dose I'm ready with "Oh good, now my wife dosen't have to hassel with grocery shopping, you so-n-so!!"
I've tried not to do that to one of the other guys, too.
My $0.02, Bill

[Mike Ferrara]

Stop it!

I'm just starting to take customers again with my present job going away in June and you guys are scaring me. LOL

Thinking back to before I stoped shoeing full time (in the 80s) I ram into all kinds of things.

When I first started on my own after serving about a 2 year apprenticeship, I got busy fast. Once I was even threatened by another farrier. I was young and mean though so it didn't bother me too much.

I've pulled up to a deserted barn where I was to work for the day only to see all 6 horses out in a huge pasture standing knee deep in mud.

We fight old wives tales and customers who read and know far more than we ever will.

I've been cut and bleeding and had the owner walk in and go into hysterics thinking the it was the horse that was bleeding. Once they found out it was me doing the bleeding they calmed down though.

I've had a goats take off with my apron...not to mention butting me when I tried to get it back.

I've had goofy animals like peacocks attack me and spook the horse I was working on.

And what's with the dogs? Just about everyplace I shoe now, I have to work with dogs under my feet. They don't get them out of the way unless I ask. Just the other day I was trimming a coming yearling who is about the most intense thing you've ever seen. She stood but I could say "boo" and this philly would land on the moon....dogs in my face, people plowing back and forth feeding and watering...ect. You'd think they could be still or go take the dogs for a walk and give a guy 15 minutes and a reasonable chance of survival wouldn't you?

Once I was shoeing for a circus that was in town. It was a truck show as apposed to one that travels by train and I had to work out in a parking lot with the horses tied to a truck trailer. That was bad enough but I'm bent over working on a foot and I hear this low growl. I look over my shoulder to see this leopard standing behind me looking at me like I was lunch. It had a collar and a leash but there was no one at the end of the leash. The guy who taught me to shoe was good and I still call him for advice but he never prepared me for stuff like this.

I guess I could go on and on but...