Saturday, September 9, 2017

Days of Our Rasps: Season 2

Farrier Drama
Yeah, at this point I don't have much else to post about but there have been updates in the farrier saga.

I had done some snooping and checked with a couple of friends who use the same farrier and as of the week prior to when he was scheduled to trim Katai he was still showing up. I did find out some other things that were going on with him in his personal life but injury or illness still wasn't completely off the table.

In the meantime I was able to talk with Jane's farrier. He was reluctant because he assumed that my farrier had stopped showing up for a reason (of course) and unfortunately because I didn't know why he'd stopped showing up I didn't have anything to say. Jane talked to him though and he agreed to come out and trim Katai on Monday as long as Jane was able to be there. I'm a very professional and reliable person and Katai's good for her feet to be trimmed so I'm confident that he'll see that but I'll do whatever I need to at this point to get Katai's feet done. Even if that means having my trainer baby sit us.

Also, I'm really glad I actually have someone scheduled to trim but disappointed that the weekend is really off the table for riding at this point. It may not be for all horses at 9 weeks between trim cycles but Katai has a foot that's slightly clubbed and she grows a ton of heel which makes her more unstable. Luckily her breakover isn't bad, but it's like she's wearing high heels. With that, there's no way I'm going to risk riding her and asking for anything athletic. The fact that I know she may be doing that in her paddock makes me nervous and I'm going to be worried until she gets trimmed.

Really no new media so you got a roany butt shot that I took for the saddle fitter
This is also a good place to say that next time (if there is ever a next time) I'm going to be more aggressive in finding a different farrier so that it doesn't go this long. It was just so tough to know when to do when my, up until three weeks ago, very reliable farrier didn't show up for an appointment and didn't let me know why.

Then, this morning I finally got a text from my farrier. I put what he said together with what I know from my friends and let's just say that he hasn't been physically ill or injured AND it also had nothing to do with me or Katai. He let me know that the last few days(!?!) had gotten away from him and that he'd be able to come out on Monday. At this point I'm extremely frustrated with him AND I already have someone coming out who will hopefully be more reliable. I wrote a very polite and pleasant message back to him that I wanted to see how it went with the new farrier and I'd let him know if I wanted him to continue to trim Katai. At this point I don't believe I do but I also haven't even met the new farrier yet so we'll see plus I don't believe in burning bridges.

Fingers crossed that everything goes well with the new farrier on Monday and that Katai's able to be back to normal after. The nice thing about this farrier is that he's already coming out to the barn to trim Jane's horses (my previous farrier was just coming out for Katai) so he's already out there on a regular basis. Hopefully that means that there's an extra layer of reliability there :)

4 comments:

  1. That must be so frustrating. It sounds like he had a personal crisis. If this is new behaviour I would try to talk to him to see what's up.

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    1. Typically I would but I have to deal with this sort of thing at my job all day so outside of work my tolerance is much lower. If he had at any point texted me that he wasn't able to make it I would have worked really hard to get him back. As it is, no communication at all for three weeks feels pretty inexcusable to me

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  2. ugh i hate situations like that. we want to be able to rely on the professionals involved in our horse's care, we want to be able to trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt.... but we also have to balance that with advocating for our horses. i don't blame you in the least for feeling like maybe it's worth testing out new waters.

    my horse gets his feet done literally every 3 weeks at this point - he'd be CRIPPLED if he went 5 weeks, let alone 9. so that's one of the things i had to discuss with potential new farriers when i switched barns. can you be available for a horse with that kind of need bc if not, it won't work out... ugh. horses. whyyy..

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    1. Yeah, I agree completely. If he'd texted and just said he couldn't make it I could have found someone way sooner. I completely understand having a personal crisis take over your life but a short text would have been so much more professional and appreciated on my end.

      Yeah... If this ever happens again I'll be more aggressive in finding someone else but as it was I was trying to give him a chance to let me know what was going on and reschedule. I was soooo relieved to finally get Katai trimmed this morning!

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