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 :)

Days of Our Rasps

Well, we're sort of sidelined over here because Katai hasn't had her feet done over the past couple of weeks. It all started with a scheduled appointment on August 18th (a Friday). It was scheduled just like normal (over text), normal date range etc. I left a check on the bulletin for my farrier who is a very professional sort.

When I showed up at the barn the next morning I was surprised to see the check still on the bulletin board and that Katai's feet clearly hadn't been done. I figured he was running a bit behind and that he'd reschedule which I think he's done once in the past. However, after a couple of days when I still hadn't heard from him I went ahead and sent a text.

I gave that a few days and then texted and emailed. Still nothing...

I talked to Jane and tried giving him a call and leaving a message. I also checked his Facebook profile and there hasn't been any activity since the end of July.

At this point I'm still concerned that something happened to him. I would hope that at some point, if that's the case, that someone would follow up with his customers but he's such a professional that I just can't quite imagine that he just gave up on me and stopped showing up. I also just don't think anything has changed on my end. If Katai was misbehaving (he typically schedules time when I can't be there) I would hope that he would have said something so that I could work with her and/or let me know that he wants me to be there so that we could find a time when I can typically be there.

At any rate I'm really disappointed and frustrated that it's now been almost three weeks since Katai should have had her feet done. This weekend I finally called someone else, Jane's typical farrier, but he's out of town for the holiday :(

If I don't hear back from him by tomorrow I may actually try to contact another farrier. Fingers crossed that I have some luck soon because she's definitely getting long and I'm starting to worry.