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punctuality with equine jobs- rant

4K views 41 replies 28 participants last post by  bigbayboy 
#1 ·
So today I sat up at my barn for over two hours waiting for the farrier to arrive. I never received so much as a phone call, and she never showed! Everytime we schedule a time, she makes me the last stop of the day and never gets here on time!
I expect someone who has experience with horses to understand how frustrating it is to pull in the horses, pick their hooves, and have them stand for there for two hours! Its not just Farriers either, I know many trainers( including mine) who arrive late constantly. Punctuality is very important, especially when you have a few 1200 lb horses that need to cooperate. Anyone else had this happen to them lately?
 
#3 ·
I can understand your stress. I work with a large animal vet and we are tragically late a lot. We have emergencies, owners talk, the easy lameness turns into you chasing an mystery around for an hour, or you get a call that says "Its down and rolling or its down and having trouble breathing". You have to attend.

That being said, I also had a farrier that would chronically blow me off and not show. I changed farriers. The current farrier shows up on time and gets the job done. That said I make sure that each horse is in, cleaned and what not. My farrier is also an avid fisherman so I tell him that if the fishing gets hot and he needs to cancel no problem. Likewise if the weather is bad we can reschedule. Also having money ready to pay as soon as done goes a long way.

If you are committed to the farrier request a early morning appointment and work with your horse. If your horse is standing there for two hours, brush it work on its ground manners. Its the barn I am sure there is something that needs to be done or bring a book. If your horse is having trouble being good for two hours on the cross ties its a gap in your training. If your horse is bad for the farrier work on that as well. Don't give the farrier a reason to want to not be at the barn.
 
#4 ·
i had vets I fired about a year ago. They did tend to call, but going back about 5 years I couldnt remember a single appointment they ever kept. The vets were pretty good and I really liked them but the owner was arragant. I didnt like him at all. Final straw was when I jumped through hoops at work to be here for apointment only to have them call and want to reschedule. Told them if they cant keep an appointment dont bother to come at all was sick of them.
Id line up a new farrier and make sure the new farrier knows why you fired the last one. Oh and dont bother to tell the old farrier till they show up that they are no longer required. tell them you didnt call because you assumed their phone was broke.
 
#9 ·
Id line up a new farrier and make sure the new farrier knows why you fired the last one. Oh and dont bother to tell the old farrier till they show up that they are no longer required. tell them you didnt call because you assumed their phone was broke.

However, a repeat offender would get THEIR time wasted. If I had a farrier that didn't show up, I wold schedule a different farrier to come at the designated time and not tell the original one. Let them figure it out.
I am shocked at these responses, and what a great way to lose your new farrier because he doesn't want to be involved in that kind of drama.

I just changed farriers recently and I was warned my new farrier is usually late. I scheduled a rough time with him but requested he texted me when he was 20 mins away from my barn. I live 10 mins from there, so I had plenty of time to pull the horse in and pick his feet.

OP why did your horse stand there for 2 hours waiting? Don't you have a paddock or stall you could have put the horse in with some hay?

I appreciate that when I have an emergency that my vet or farrier makes their other customers wait while they come to me. I would think it's common manners to wait patiently in return.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Our farrier is good about being ontime. He was supposed to be out the 11th for trimming. We moved it up from the 16th cause our horses hooves are so bad. (11th was a Saturday mind you) and farrier didnt show up at 1pm like scheduled. He called and was confused about which day to show up.

We had a horse show to get to. Our farrier said it was his mistake, met us at the horse show and trimmed everyone before the first class. Now thats what i call service.

He'll be out the 16th to trim the last horse (have 4 horses, 3 place trailer) but im very pleased with him if i do say so myself...

Vet on the otherhand. Is always late. We expect it. But its no big deal. I understand about emergencies. If it was my horse that had an emergency, id want her to show up asap and shift everyone else back. Its known in the horseworld. She also is the only vet at her clinic so theres no partner to pick up slack when needed. Its not a big deal to me. :) She never has to reschedule though.
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#6 ·
I understand that horses are horses and can be unpredictable and emergencies arise, yadda yadda.

However, a repeat offender would get THEIR time wasted. If I had a farrier that didn't show up, I wold schedule a different farrier to come at the designated time and not tell the original one. Let them figure it out.

But then again, I can be a bit of a jerk.
 
#33 ·
I understand that horses are horses and can be unpredictable and emergencies arise, yadda yadda.

However, a repeat offender would get THEIR time wasted. If I had a farrier that didn't show up, I would schedule a different farrier to come at the designated time and not tell the original one. Let them figure it out.

But then again, I can be a bit of a jerk.
Nope, you are not a jerk, just responsible. Too many people have never run their own business and don't know that this is how you lose business. Good businessmen wear a watch, and arrive early for appointment. I had farrier problems, too, and I found a young, Amish farrier, starting his business, some 7 years ago. Even when I don't trailer to his place, when he gets driven--sometimes, like tomorrow, he'll get a ride from his place and travel an hour to do customers in my area--he's on time, or just a few minutes late. We also calls me, even if we play phone tag until we connect.
A chronically late trainer makes your wonder about what training they can deliver.
Nope, not a jerk, just courteous.
 
#7 ·
I'm lucky, I don't deal with that. My farrier is awesome, he's only been late once and he called well ahead of time to let me know he was running behind because of an idiot horse at his first appointment. Vet, rarely late but if she is it is an emergency situation and she calls to let me know. I have zero problem with that because if I'm the emergency call one day I expect the same. I'm my trainer and I'm punctual to a fault so no worries there either ;)
 
#11 ·
We just had one recently. It sucked big time. We switched because our farrier was over-charging for a crap job so we switched to someone my BO's wife's friend recommended(she uses him) He came to his first appt he was over an hour and a half late. He said the barn he was at before us threw 4 more horses to shoe under him. OKay that happens sometimes we let it go and he did a great job. He seemed to like our horses and us too as he stayed for a bit and had conversation and it was hot so we gave him a bottle of water. At the end of the appt we scheduled the next one.

A few days before the appt he called to reschedule because of a family emergency. OK no worries we rescheduled. The day before our RESCHEDULED appt he called to reschedule again! But didn't give a reason this time.

So the day comes for the appt we've got the horses all situated and ready for him. (Also it was important we had the horses done this day because my little mare was going to her new home the next day and they were already overdue.) We had all 7 horses ready to go all separated in different pens to make it easier to catch them and all hooves picked. We waited...and waited. After 45 mins my BO calls him and is very nice on the phone and leaves a message asking if he was still coming out. Another half hour later we call again and leave another nice message(And they were legitimently nice I'm not being sarcastic) Another 45 mins later it's getting dark and my BO is really ticked off and so am I. He calls again and leaves a message (still respectful but you could tell he was ticked)

Guy never showed up and we never got a call back. I was livid because I had to transport my mare to her new home with feet that looked like hell! I felt so bad and apologized profusely to the new owner and explained the situation. They completely understood(thank goodness).

The worst part is the farrier is still doing my BO's Wife's friend's horses and even did her horses 2 days before he was to do ours and told her friend that he was heading to our house in 2 days.

Needless to say we found a new farrier and he is awesome. Does a very good job and shows up on time. He came out today and was even early! He's awesome I love him and I'm going to spoil him so he stays =P
 
#12 ·
You see Phantom with situations like that, I would be more tolerant and just turn the horses back out and leave him a message asking him to call if he was coming.
He already said that he had a family emergency, does he really need to tell every client that he is going through a divorce, his child or mother is dying - whatever. People have real life going on, farriers are no different.
 
#14 ·
I completely understand what you're saying. I guess the real thing that ticks me off (because I could care less why he can't come out it's his life he's allowed to live it if he wanted to go to the beach go for it haha we all need a break once in a while) is that he's still doing the BO's friend's horses and we never got a phone call back. It was basically like he dropped us flat and at that point our horses had gone 9 weeks without a trim and they looked really bad. None of our phone calls were rude we left 3 nice messages granted the last one probably sounded a little urgent but not rude by no means. We simply left messages asking if he was coming out and to give us a call back.

We never got a call back and we know he's still alive and well and still doing horses.

I can deal with rescheduling a lot within reason. But to just drop and ignore a client is just plain rude to me and that I can't bring myself to be nice about.
 
#13 ·
well it has been raining here for the past few days so my corral was pure mud. I have one large (12x24) stall but the goats were holed up in it and would not budge due to the rain. I have to put hay in the corral to easily catch the horses( i know they need work). I ended up doing full grooms, then some groundork with the saddle, and then said "oh whatever" and went for a 45 minute ride around the pasture and down the road a few times.
I cant understand why she wouldnt want to come to my pasture. She says I am one of the only people that lets her drive up to the barn, so she doesnt have to carry everything from the road. My horses stand very nicely and have never offered to kick or pull away from her. I always pay her before she starts.
Last time she trimmed my arabian too short so he was out of work for about a week, but I hadnt confronted her about this yet. I do understand that things come up, but every time she is always 30+ minutes late because so and so added 5 horses last minute.
It gets on my nerves because i found out that she did a call to a horse show the same time our appointment was scheduled....
 
#15 · (Edited)
bnayc YOU ARE RIGHT!! now while I can understand the vet being late they are doctors and that is the nature of the business! and the farrier sure things can happen but WE ARE PAYING CUSTOMERS! and we have a right to a common courtesy phone call , they are no bussier than I am or you are , I just request the same courtesy I GIVE OTHERS! this is a huge trend, with it seems everybody! last week i had a fit about the same thing not my farrier but still another horse person issue , dont tell me you are going to do something and not do it, not show up, not be at the meeting place whatever, I am a little bit sick of hearing how busy everyone is, SO AM I. But as someone posted earlier, much of it is greed and poor managment,and poor oranization. I no longer stand for it, what is the saying, screw me once shame on you screw me twice shame on me. I had a farrier do that to me one time the next time i sat waited for her ,when she showed up late then I went out got my horse came back slowly, and i knew she would say"i would appreciate it if you have the horses ready when I get here," my reply was " oh i would if I knew what time were going to be here,but when you sa 11,you show up at 1 or 2, and your time is no more important than mine, so I figure if I have towait on you ...then you have to wait on me " she didnt like it but she did make sure to be on time, until she about 5 times later she didnt show and I got a new farrier and he is really good and always keeps in contact with me, I explained the problem I had with the other farrier and he said he hears that alot, about alot of farriers. Mine has been one for 28 years and knows what its like to run a business.
 
#16 ·
Thank you stormy for agreeing! Yes as horse owners, we have to work to afford our horses. So having a 3pm appointment means I have to leave work early!
I do understand the greed aspect, like my trainer decided to trim at a show instead of doing my horses. She obviously made more money at the show, but still! I make my appointments after every trim, 6-8 weeks in advance.
I think that some people might look at it as we NEED our horses to be trimmed, so we may be willing to stand their crap longer. Like well i know this person needs there horses done today, but if i skip them today, they still will need a trim tomorrow. I dont know! anyone feel free to elaborate on the inner thoughts of a farrier!
 
#18 ·
I do understand the greed aspect, like my trainer decided to trim at a show instead of doing my horses. She obviously made more money at the show, but still! I make my appointments after every trim, 6-8 weeks in advance.
Whoa! This is a deal-breaker! This is exactly what some farriers do... you schedule them a week ahead, and then they blow you off for a bigger deal that comes up last-minute.
I always schedule routine farrier/vet calls when I have 1/2 a day available. My vet is great. They give a one-hour arrival window and call when it doesn't happen. If it were my horse with an emergency, I would hope that the vet would put me ahead of routine vacs, so I understand the rare late arrival, which is always with a phone call & explanation.
Bnayc, I envy the "she" referral to your farrier!
 
#17 ·
Personally..I'm ecstatic that I'll be doing my own farrier work, haha. I absolutely hate when people are more than 10-15 minutes late (comes from my mum being 30-60mins pate for everything when I was younger). I understand that there's life, and I'd want others to understand if I were late. The problem with being late is the fact that a lot of people don't call to let their appt know. If I'm going to be late, I'll send out a text or make a quick call letting them know. I don't need a reason, but they could be doing other things with their time (as could I in their position).
The first farrier I knew had no care for others' time or plans and never called when she was going to be late. Her excuse was always that she was trying to hurry and get to us and calling would've taken longer..I consider that BS, I'd rather you be another 5 minutes late than me have no idea when you're going to show up, or if you even will.
This new farrier I met calls if he's going to be late, texts when he's on his way, said he'd send his overflow to me when I'm done with training and get my cert., and was great with the horses (no rasp whacking either. -.- ).
If I'm around when he shows up at fair to finish Super's back feet/shoes (he had a coronet injury and didn't want to hold his foot up), I'll make sure to ask him his opinion on farriers that show up late, or don't show at all, without a call or text. :p
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#19 ·
I can understand people running late .. I do run late from time to time, especially if I'm between jobs, or clients.

But, for me, it's always polite to either phone or send a text, to let them know.
My old farrier would run late, or early, and not tell me. Or he'd just simply not show up .. no call, no message.. I'd have to call him, and he would either be around the corner (after an hour of waiting), or "Oh yeah, I can't make it today, someone else needed me".
I gave him the flick ;)

My new trimmer is wonderful - we don't book a time, although she says 1pm, as she does the police horses before doing my 2, but I make it on a day where I don't work, and it's my 'chore' day (mucking out, riding, cleaning tack, etc..). She's usually on time at 1pm, but I tell her not to worry about being late - she's the most amazing trimmer, and I'm very lucky to have her do my horses. She is the ONLY exception to my 'being late' rule ;)

But as a rule, people, especially professionals, should call. People run late, horses play up, some take longer than others - I get it. But just let me know, so I can turn my horses out for a while .. standing for 2 hours tied up isn't fun for anyone :(
 
#21 ·
I'm female and talk less than the average. Guess I should be good to go as a female farrier next year? haha
Will say though, this new farrier I met talks more than a lot of the females I know. o.o I guess it just depends, eh?
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#23 ·
I think where some of the issue with farriers is in situations where people forget that others are out there. My farrier told me about a client who called with an "emergency shoeing need", had him rush out to put shoes and trim a horse that was going to a show the next day. At the end of the appointment the owner said "I don't have any money right now. I will pay you next time." In my book thats just a rude as not being on time.

I know owners love it when the vet or farrier calls ahead. Its great and its not done enough. At the same time a lot of owners will keep cell phone numbers in their personal file folders. I work with someone who routinely has clients call when they don't like the vet on call. Which means they get emergency calls from clients at 4 am when they are in a different state on vacation. Which is still better than the people that show up on their front lawn sobbing and wanting to have them euthanize their pet. That scene makes for an awkward family gathering. I know a farrier might flake out and should call; however, some people abuse the number.

In the end, I think if your farrier or vets chronic tardiness upsets you than its time to find someone else to do your work.
 
#24 ·
I can't believe you'd wait for two hours!

I'd never wait that long, I'd wait 15 mins, give them a call, then start packing up at the horse, feeding her, and then if they didn't show then I'd leave. I'm paying this person a fair bit of money, if they can't show up I'm not going to wait for them.

Have you called and asked why they didn't show up?
 
#25 ·
ha I haul my horses to my farrier and still wait for him. I got my horses re-set last Friday and sat at his house for an hour before he got there. Then we (read: he) talk(s) for a good half hour before he starts.. Then he'll do one and sit down and talk at me some more and have a beer and then we'll do the next one, same routine, and then for the third, he informs me that he'll be out on Monday or Tuesday morning (I'm most available in the mornings.. Its Tuesday morning and he's not even called me yet). Then I stand there with my horses loaded up while he talks at me some more.

I'm not really complaining.. Its good practice for the horses; the new surroundings, standing tied while the others are getting worked on, standing tied in the trailer, etc.. But it does get a little annoying that farrier work is an all day deal for me. ha ha

He is completely and totally unprofessional (always late, his topics of discussion, drinking on the job), but I tried another farrier a while ago, and I will not be doing so again. He is the best farrier I have ever seen work and I'll be quite lost without him when he retires.. His old and a bit worse for the wear, which is why there's so much darn talking between horses.

If he wasn't so good, you can be sure that I would not tolerate him. ha ha I should mention though, that my grandpa is a cattle hoof trimmer, and he's one of those chronically late, self-employed individuals.. Despite that, he is always in very high demand. He's got a full schedule year round, even during winter in MN. Some farriers (or cattle hoof trimmers, as the case may be) are worth waiting for. If yours isn't, don't.
 
#26 ·
My farrier is nothing special. I called last night and still haven't gotten a response. I ended up calling another gal today who comes highly recommended so hopefully this wont happen again . Lol if I were hauling to a Farriers house I would not stand around like you do soileddove. May I ask why you don't just have him travel to you?
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#28 ·
My farrier is nothing special. I called last night and still haven't gotten a response. I ended up calling another gal today who comes highly recommended so hopefully this wont happen again . Lol if I were hauling to a Farriers house I would not stand around like you do soileddove. May I ask why you don't just have him travel to you?
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No.. I expect most people wouldn't. ha ha If he were anyone else, I wouldn't either. He does travel to me about a third of the time now, but I guess my family has always hauled to him. Back in the day he did our horses and my grandpa did his show cattle, so they'd do it on the same day, at the same time.. Its easier to haul horses than cattle.. The habit has just sorta stuck now that I'm responsible for my farrier bills.

Standing around isn't really the norm when I haul to him.. Usually if I'm hauling to him, I'm the first appointment of the day. He usually isn't late that way.. You know.. Since I'm at his house. :wink: ha ha He's also generally fresher, or not as sore.. So there isn't quite as much time between horses.. Although there's still a fair amount!

Good luck with your new farrier though! Hopefully she works out better for you.
 
#27 ·
Unless you are the first customer of the day, neither my Vet or my Farrier will be on-time.

I've accepted that I can have an expensive Vet (same quality as my cheap, going to be late to his own funeral one) or a crappy farrier that are on-time or deal with mine.

So I deal... farrier and I worked out a deal where he gives me a call on his way and I run over to the barn and he gets the horse in "as-is" condition which he actually prefers.

The vet, I just schedule for mid-morning and do all my barn chores in-between the scheduled time and when he actually arrives.
 
#29 ·
loved my first farrier to no end but he was never, ever on time and no communication with him. We finally fired him and have used a couple since that show up on time, but I don't think the work is as good. We are learning how to do our own.
 
#30 ·
When I was working as a BM I would get very upset when the farrier would be running late. I mean, I do get hungry some times. So I called, every week (farrier would come every wednesday), in the morning to check in with him. If he wasn't there within 10 minutes of the time he said, I called again. He caught on. I basically trained him to let me know what his plan was. Soon, he would call me in the mornings and let me know when he would be there, and if he had something else come up, he would call to let me know.
 
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