Results from two recent American Farriers Journal surveys indicate horse owners want considerably more hoof-care information than many farriers are providing. The owners also urged farriers to improve communications, get tougher on collecting past due payments and start accepting credit cards.

Based on their personal business experiences, owners indicated farriers are much too lenient when it comes to dealing with late payment issues. One owner even went so far as to suggest farriers remove the shoes from horses for which payment is long overdue.

No Pay, No Work

Horse owners agreed that farriers should not work for clients anytime that payments are 4 to 8 weeks overdue. 

“Your farrier is like the hay supplier for your horses,” wrote one owner. “They need to be paid on time and be afforded every courtesy that you can give them. It’s important not to tick off your farrier.”

One says 80% of his work is paid for with blank signed checks while the other 20% is cash or the barn manager pays for the services.

Most owners felt late payment concerns are mainly due to farriers who let clients get away with this. A number of these owners, who are also small business folks, have little patience with customers who don’t pay for services at the completion of the work, and believe farriers should operate in the same way.

A 31-year shoeing veteran recalls a story from an old-time farrier. He told him that if you leave a bill and the client forgets…