This is true, too...my first shoer, when I went to him after his first time
with her and told him that she's now forging a lot made a comment something like
'Maybe she likes to hear her feet hit...' NOT, charged me $45 for trim and shoes
on the front...I'd gladly pay more (which I now do) to have her moving better
and not 'listening to her feet hit'!!
The cost of shoeing varies greatly depending on the area of the
country. Talk to other horse owners in area and find out what the range of
charges are.
If one wants a sound horse that can "go the distance"
the cost should be the least of your worries. Around here there are
some cheap farriers, who advertise in the newspaper. My farrier is
one of the most expensive ones in the valley and has more clients than he
can handle. The difference is in the shoeing job.
The shoes
stay on. The horses do not interfear. Their gaits are proper, for their
conformation. For a nominal fee he has trained some of our horses to stand
properly.
On the other hand, I tried a similarly priced farrier and
found that all our horses lost shoes with great regularity. There
also are some highly praised farriers who specialize in "show
horses". Some of them know lots of tricks to make a horse move in
the way the show judge wants. This can be disasterous for an
endurance horse that has some conformation issues.
If your horses are
sound, if the shoes stay on, if your farrier shows up on time, count your
blessings and pay his/her bill.
Ed Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994
Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875
