I've been trimmin and shoein on my own for about a year now so im getting a good number of unruly horses but not nearly as bad as people!.
first time trimming for this teenage girl had the young mare for a week. last call on the way home on a friday . Mare was ok for her fronts but bad for her hinds. i could get her foot up for an instant but shes slam then down hard and try and body check me with her ***. she was not a happy camper and neither was I. the right hind was impossible She kicked out at me but missed. i felt she could have nailed me if she ment business. i got to thinking here back was sore. i ran my hand along her spine and hit an spot and boy did she react ear back and kicked out with both feet. She also had a gruesome saddle sore . The horse was not in fear and was not being an ***. i chose not to tie up the leg. I made arrangements to stop by in the next day or two and finish up and get paid. I suggested that maybe some bute would realeave the muscle pain. the horse also had awful trush and the foot was hot so i told her how to treat that.
Needless to say the owners didnt agree, she also didnt want to "drug her horses" and though a big guy would be able to out muscle her and that she was just badly behaved ...This was fine with me!
(missed 4 wks of work due to horse sprained ankle this year). when i called to find out abot getting paid turns out the other farrer"wasnt taking new clients" (he is recovering from getting kicked inthe head).
6 days later!!!!i get a rude message from the girl telling me to "get out here right away" to take a look at her horse because her dad picked out her feet and they started bleeding..hmmm.....i called back and the mother acused me of over trimming the frog, it was 730pm and she expected that i wouldnt come out to check on the horse and was rude when i told her my phone would be off for 2 hrs because i was at a seminar.
Needless to say another farrier whom i know ended up tying up her leg and finishing her dispite alot of dificulty. The vet was out to give shots and diagnosed the bleeding for as a bad case of trush (i toda so). Now these people are all buddy buddy.
I do not want to deal with these people again. ive delt with worse horses but these people made me so mad i lost sleep! any idea as to how i could tell them (politely) that DONT WANT TO BE THIER FARRIER!
(keep in mind i wanna try and stay proffessional here)

It doesn't appear that you'll have to worry about being asked to provide services again. If by chance you are asked, and you are still owed money, just tell them to send you the money you are owed and then you can talk about making another appointment. When you get paid and the money is in the bank, call them back and politely explain to tham that you fell it would be better if they sought the services of a different farrier as you will be unable to service their account.

If you've already been paid, just politely tell them that you are unable to service their account.

I had a similar situation. You guys will just naturally lose touch. She wont pay you. She is accusing you. This is what some lower clients do to get free services. :/

Yep, I know it. I've gotten kicked. Huge mistake for me to go runing and chasing after some new client's horse. I dont care how big the account is, dont bend your rules for people, especially not people who accuse you when they are at fault.

Did you charge her extra for the behavior of her horse and the payment being late? Well, I'm assuming you didnt. You were a dream come true for people like that. Good luck to her in finiding a farrier that will tolerate accusations, ill mannered clients, pained and mistreated horses, all in one nice, neat package. It's too much for anyone, believe me.

Just tell her that you are a little booked up. End of story.

I start on the backend of most new horses. If they fire a kick off when I run my hand down the leg, or try to lay on you I generally tell them I cannot handle the horse at their current level of training.

Professional is as professional does. If by chance I start on the front but the hinds are unmanageable I have a set fee for only trimming two feet at 75% of my normal trim price.

In any case I do not leave without full payment for services rendered. Shoeing gaited horses I'm at a bit of an advantage as horses are often only worked on 2 feet at a time as they progress through their training. So I already have "front/hind feet only" worked into my pricing.

A second trip means higher expense ratio, a second trip is billed as such.

Don't tell them no. Tell them how much. Just tell them you have instituted a new charge of $5 for ever time a horse pull its leg away, kicks, or bites. Or let them know if they are not willing to pay that you be more then happy to trim the horse while they hold the feet up for you.

find another client and write it off.

I would set an outrageous price so it may not be so bad if you have to do him again. If you do have to shoe the horse again try taping a 3 degree wedge pad under the opposite back foot that you are working on. This usually works very well for me when you have a horse that will suddenly slam the hip back down as soon as you get the hoof 10 inches off the ground. If it works shoe the horse that way.


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Rick Burten wrote:

Agreed. It is not unprofessional to ask them to find a different farrier. I would be very upfront about the reasons. Go out with your head held high.

I've been doing this for 45 years now. When I was young and bulletproof, I would drug, tie, wrestle, lip chain, etc. to get the job done. Now, when a horse is unruly, I pack up my tools and leave. If they didn't pay you, they can't badmouth you. I have returned money to a client who insisted that I take another 1/2" off to make her horse look better. I had already finished, and she left the check with her son. When she returned, she called me and complained. I told her that I wouldn't hurt a horse to make it "look" better. She said her former shoer cut to the quick often and the horse recovered. I took the check back and told her I didn't charge if she wasn't satisfied. I also warned all the farriers in the area about her.

i was talking to a retired farrier who had a neat little trick,

he would take his trim price and multiply it by five then make the owner of unruly animals prepay the resulting number,

he would then return 1/5 of the money for each foot that horse stood well for and keep what was left over. i dont think he delt with very many ill mannered pukes more than once.

I can't believe the ******ity y'all have to put up with! I wouldn't dream of telling my farrier what to do!

the same way as they dump you ,goodbye
chris

I let a client go yesterday
A nice kid working hard at school to continue his good grades to enter uni and on to medicine
I think he,ll get there well n good
a good lad that works part time to get a quid
sold horse to better spend him monies on ?

Id put up with the ill mannered beast which had to be sedated to be shod fore some time as a favour to the lad
shod it for the last time yesterday and told the lad to tell the new owners to find another Farrier
He said thanks and understood
the only real insurance we have is our common sense
Ive had cause to let others go in the past and no doubt will again
for my own protection if nothing else
lookem in the eye tell them your needs n fears if no true help is offered n gives bid them gday

The story had a very surprising ending as after the other farrier came tyed up the leg and the vet diagnosed the trush she called me and asked when she could pay me ( at that point i didnt really care about the hassel). She dropped off the money and a thank you note. boy was I surprised. i guess she needed to hear it from the vet and also see the big strong farrier tossed around to realise i actually knew what i was talking about. haha. im gonna give the other farrier a call and say thanks! she still thinks the horse is being ignorant but im still willing to bet back or hock problems. From the way these people acted when the horse eventualy dumps while she s riding they will blame the horse and send her for meat. (yes there is still meat market in canada which is a good thing most of the time)

ps
I ended up charging her my regular trim price. i figure that although only 3 feet got done the remaining was compensation for my time, getting kicked, and frustration in dealing with these people via phone calls so many times.