• Scheduling! Scheduling is probably the most difficult part of my job which is saying something when you’re a farrier. If you can’t make your scheduled appointment please let me know a minimum of 24 hours in advance so we can reschedule. I am currently scheduling 4-5 weeks out and have clients waiting to get on my schedule sooner if someone cancels. Also if the number of horses I am going to trim at our appointment changes, more or less, please let me know as soon as possible so I can adjust my schedule accordingly. If I have to re-schedule you on a day when I will not be in your area to try to fit your horse(s) in, I will charge a travel fee to your location.

• Catching! If you have a horse(s) that is/are difficult to catch, please have them caught and ready for when I get there. If it takes 20 minutes to catch your horse that doesn’t leave me very much time to trim their feet. Or it will make me late for my next appointment. 

• Flies! They are infuriating to the horses and many will stomp and kick to try to keep the flies off. One of the places horses can’t really reach is the middle of their bellies and will kick at this area to try to get rid of those pesky flies. If a horse kicks at its belly while I am trimming its front feet I am going to get kicked in the head. So please spray your horses with fly spray before I get there to trim! I really don’t want to have to start wearing a helmet to trim feet!  If they are afraid of fly spray, spray some into your hand or on a rag and rub it on them. If they aren’t ok with that they probably aren’t safe for me to trim and need some training. I don’t care what type of fly spray you use. If you don’t have any we can use mine. I’d rather go home greasy than injured!

• Horse hair! While you have your horse out for a trim I know it’s tempting to “kill 2 birds with 1 stone” and give them a grooming session. Please do not groom, brush, or clip your horse while I am trimming to limit the amount of dirt and hair I get in my mouth, eyes, up my nose, in my pants, and down my bra. I also may have other appointments after yours and try to avoid showing up to those looking like a whoolie mammoth! 

• Dogs! I absolutely love dogs and have 4 myself. But dogs being under foot while I’m trimming can cause me problems. Some love hoof trimmings so much they almost try to eat them directly off the foot! I would feel horrible if I accidentally wacked somebody’s dog in the head with my rasp or even worse cut them with my knife. Plus some horses aren’t all that fond of dogs scurrying around by their legs. I don’t want any clients' dogs to get kicked or stomped on and I certainly don’t want to be between the two of them if that occurs!  It would be helpful and safer for me, the horse, and the dog(s) to keep them out of the barn or trimming area until I am finished. If you have a dangerous dog that attacks me, I will leave immediately and not come back. That is a set in stone, personal boundary. 

• Payment! Payment is due at time of service. I currently accept cash, checks, and PayPal (with 3.50% extra charge). If a client's check bounces I am going to start charging a $35/fee. If the hooves have not been trimmed for some time and require much more than a regular maintenance trim I will charge my hourly rate at my discretion.

• Training and behavior! If your horse cannot stand well for a trim or is dangerous to work on. I will charge a training fee or my hourly rate.

• Please provide a safe place for me to work on your horses feet that is clean, dry, and sheltered from the elements including shade from the sun.

• I am going to start charging for extra services due to the fact that I feel some people are unfortunately taking advantage of my kindness. I don’t mind going the extra mile for horses and their humans. In fact it warms my heart and feeds my soul to do so! I love these animals and I truly want to do everything I can to help them live their best lives!  But with a very small number of clients my kindness has become somewhat of an expected entitlement and that makes me feel pretty icky inside. Horse trainer Ray Hunt once said he would love to work for free but he can’t. I’m no Ray Hunt but it’s a sentiment I can definitely understand. If I didn’t have to make a living to support my family I would do all this stuff for free. 

• All that said, nobody is perfect and sometimes life just happens! I feel like it’s foolish to live by absolutes in such an uncertain, uncontrollable reality. If you have extenuating circumstances please feel free to send me a message or an email so we can discuss your specific situation. 

• I want to do a great job trimming everyone’s horses. But the reality is, horses that don’t stand well don’t get the best trims. A horse that can pick up all four feet is very different than a horse that can stand for a trim. They need to be able to hold up each foot for a minimum of 2 minutes. When scheduling I allot 30 minutes/horse for a regular maintenance trim (On average I can trim a well behaved animal in 15 minutes so I feel 30 minutes is a very generous amount of time. I allot even more time for setup trims. If the horse can’t stand to have its feet trimmed I will spend that 30 minutes training the horse and charge my hourly rate. During that time I may not even touch a single hoof. But if that’s where the horse is at then that’s our starting point. I won’t stress or overface a horse to try to tolerate something it hasn’t been prepared for. If I go over the 30 minutes/horse I will be late getting to my next appointment and that isn’t fair to my other clients. 

• I have a 3 strikes rule. Most of the horses I trim are on a 4-6 week schedule. So if a horses behavior hasn’t improved in 3-4 1/2 months (3 trim cycles)  I’m done. Difficult horses don’t have to be perfect they just have to be better than they were the last time I worked on them. I have a family with young kids and have many clients now that rely on me to take care of their horses feet. If I get hurt and can’t work it negatively impacts a multitude of people and their horses. Trying to handle the dangerous ones just isn’t worth the risk to my health and well being. 

• Some horses that have trouble standing or behave poorly are in pain. Sometimes that pain can be relieved by getting the horse adjusted by a chiropractor, osteopath, or body worker. If you need a referral I know some great ones!  If that currently isn’t a feasible option, please give your horse a pain reliever like bute. In emergency situations I also have no problem working with a vet to have a horse, donkey, or mule sedated so they can be trimmed safely.

• Oftentimes the horse needs a lot more training than I can provide in one 30 minute session. Many of my clients know that I used to be a trainer. I love to teach and help people understand and communicate with their horses! I just don’t have the time to do lessons and training anymore. I recommend owners check out Warwick Schillers Performance Horsemanship on YouTube and pay for his online subscription. Warwick has a wealth of information to share and is a wonderful horseman and teacher. His online subscription is the best training tool I have ever spent money on and it’s less than my lesson fee!