Teaching someone how to nail on a keg shoe, according to Bob Smith of Plymouth, Calif., isn’t the most difficult lesson. Of course, that doesn’t account for selecting the correct shoe, shaping it properly to the trim and other aspects of doing that job well. But to successfully run a farrier business takes investment — you need to know more than just how to shoe a horse.

About 15 years ago Smith surveyed clients asking why they fired their farriers. He received 318 responses. Every respondent had fired a farrier for that shoer’s failure to show up on time. More than 90% discharged their farrier for not returning a phone call in a timely fashion. Showing up more than 2 hours late resulted in 85% firings. In cases where the farrier was confrontational with the owner or veterinarian or abusive to the horse resulted in 60% being fired. Nearly half were fired because the horse lost a shoe or was lame after the appointment.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve accomplished with your achievements or how beautiful your work is, but if you lose a shoe, the client doesn’t care,” he says. “It is amazing to me, but we get judged for how long a shoe stays on.”