Hi, you’re a farrier, right? Can you come out here and shoe my horses?”

Every farrier takes a phone call like this. In an ideal and unrealistic world, clients come prescreened. Instead, it’s necessary to ask questions and gain some knowledge about that horse and client before you say “yes.” Every farrier has certain questions to ask potential clients.

From his time as a farrier serving the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, Cornell University farrier Steve Kraus developed his own list for asking the right questions and gathering the right information when a possible new client inquires about your services. This list might help you take on clients who best match your practice or avoid those who don’t.

Kraus has a few different levels of information that farriers should gather. First is the “need to know” information, which is absolutely essential to being able to get to the work site and get the job done.

The next tier is “knowledge is power” questions that will provide information to help farriers prepare for the job and know exactly what’s expected of them.

The final set of questions is “client assessment”…