Close up of hot fitting for a horseshoe.

A 4-week shoeing cycle will add one or two farrier visits during the year; however, it also will reduce soft tissue injuries and improve performance, Wes Meyer says. “I tell the client that it might cost them an extra $600 a year in shoeing, but it prevents veterinary bills and downtime. A veterinarian is going to cost more than $600 in an afternoon.”

4 Easy Steps to Grow Your Business


Pictured Above: A 4-week shoeing cycle will add one or two farrier visits during the course of the year; however, it also will reduce soft tissue injuries and improve performance, Wes Meyer says. “I tell the client that it might cost them an extra $600 a year in shoeing, but it prevents veterinary bills and downtime. A veterinarian is going to cost more than $600 in an afternoon.”

Farrier Takeaways

  • A business owner cannot accurately determine whether a profit is being made unless it’s determined how much it costs to operate it. Farriers can calculate how much to charge for each horse with an easy-to-use worksheet.
  • Switching clients to pay for services via a credit card will eliminate unpaid bills, as well as the time it takes to chase them down.
  • Reducing all clients’ shoeing cycles to 4 weeks decreases the likelihood of lost shoes, promotes optimal foot balance, improves performance, and results in fewer injuries and fewer veterinary bills.

Seven years ago, Wes Meyer was trimming and shoeing a lot of horses and making good money. Yet, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., farrier’s practice wasn’t doing as well as it should be. Meyer was chasing outstanding payments, his inventory was too high, and his horses were losing shoes. He recognized the need for an improved way of doing business.

Meyer’s fortunes changed when he met Coshocton, Ohio, and Wellington, Fla., farrier Dave Farley and his wife Karen.

“That one dinner that I had with Dave and his wife in Wellington…

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Jeff cota 2023

Jeff Cota

Jeff Cota has been a writer, photographer and editor with newspapers and magazines for 30 years. A native of Maine, he is the editor of American Farriers Journal.

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