George,

I'm just pointing out how it's matched my price pretty consistently. Inflation is inescapable.

As for value- I get a nice magazine, some extra life insurance and the knowledge that none of my $150 went to the Kerry campaign.

George Geist wrote:
Perhaps it's the other way around. Maybe you and those around you should seriously look into the cost of shoeing a horse and raise your prices accordingly. Just a thought. This is one reason I miss Anvil Magazine. Each issue used to give the average price for 4 shoes, I believe the high's and low's also. In fact in the June/July 2002 issue the high was $165, the average was $90 and the low was $70. Where do you think the scale is at now? I know more than a handful of guys charging over $200, most in my area are somewhere between $125 and $175. In 2002 the average in my area was around $90.


Dave

Roy Amaral CJF wrote:
I get a nice magazine for hell of a lot less and the pics are MUCH better to look at!!!

George has his own beliefs and follows his understandings of the world.

The AFA has and needed an overhaul of it's under the covers mantras, they still believe a test willl give the best future for the industry>

Roy,
From time to time everyone raises prices. I agree that this is a fact of life. I seriously doubt that very many raise it by $45 though.

Dave,
I too miss the anvil magazine. It was my favorite of all. To the best of my knowledge I dont think their survey ever extended outside of California. I could be wrong though. As for trying to get area guys to cooperate a little bit on that, all I can say is I've been trying for a number of years now. Glad to see you agree with me about something.
George

George, you're right $45 is a big jump but it's been six years since the last price increase. I think most of us raise our prices every year at least to avoid that kind of "shock and awe"

Since our overhead consists mainly of insurance, fuel and steel, I'm not really sure my current prices reflect inflation the way they should.

Roy,
Perhaps not. Last year the price of steel skyrocketed due to scr*p steel markets going haywire. This year its fuel. The rumor mill has it that aluminum is going to be the next thing to get out of control with pricing.

It certainly is presenting some challenges to all of us.
George

Hey Guys,
In I believe the last issue of PF, AFA President Ferguson wrote about back in the early '80s and sooner the AFA requiring references on an application form.

I remember this too but had forgotten all about it until reminded by that article.

Do any of you guys remember when and why this was changed?
George

I have been a farrier (non AFA) for about 13 yrs now. I apprenticed with 3 different farriers, at diff. times, 2 CJF and 1 NON AFA. over a 4 yr period. I felt at the time that these men gave me an excellent start. The methods were similer and all had a theme of allowing each horse you shod, and the experience you gained from doing so, teach you how to be a more knowlagable farrier. I continue my education daily. 4 yrs ago I ckd into being an AFA cert farrier and started to talk to some AFA farriers and to my supprise I found no consistantcy in any of it. I found them that had the same ideas that id been taught and could talk with them about any thing and they even would ask me questions about my experiances, I thought cool I WANNA JOIN, but then there were the other kind (There's all kinds you know!) that scoffed at me for ideas I had, cause it wasn't text book, or felt that because I wasnt certified, im some second class citizen. **ck that! I see no difference in or out of the association. I know awsome AFA guys/gals and Know Awsome non AFA.
Some of these disscussions sound like the religion that Jesus warned us about. He hated religion you know. Or to be Fair I have to say they sound like

---

that

---

said! (fill in the blanks) To date i have not seen any 2 shoers shoe EXACTLY the same, yes even inside of the assoc. every horse is diff. anyway But I respect them all for there individual experiances, which WE can all learn from, even if you dont agree sometimes.
I know, What if we all just join this Forum, Its Free and we can all express our thoughts, Learn new things, Help each other, without all the Drama.

Codymichael wrote: De facto, we already have. De facto, we already do. I think that most will agree that at times, drama abounds here on some of the forums.