I'm your farrier but I'm not just *your* farrier
Farriers play a unique role in the equine industry, not only for the service they provide, but also for the relationships they cultivate with their clients and the horses they serve. We tend to see your horse more frequently than your veterinarian, equine dentist, some trainers and or body workers. We come to know and truly care about you and your horses. We love catching up, hearing about your adventures with family and friends, we love to laugh with you about funny and relatable stories and we cry with you when things are tough. I think I speak for most farriers when I say we value each of our clients in a different and unique way. We may be your only farrier, but you are not our only client.
While we greatly appreciate that you are always on time for your appointment and have your horse up and ready with her feet picked out, realize not all of our clients are as great as you are! If you're having a farrier out there's a good chance you're a horse owner and therefore you know horses can, and often do, get into strange predicaments and or act unlike themselves when you need them to behave the most. "He must know you're coming ‘cause I can't catch him!" "She's never done THAT before". "He wasn't lame this morning?!? We've heard, and seen, it all.
If you have a late afternoon or early evening appointment (especially on a Friday) the chance of your farrier running late is greatly increased. Not all horses are as well behaved as your beloved Fluffykins and injuries and emergencies happen.
So sometimes we run late. Sometimes we reschedule. Big River Equine's policy is to notify clients if we're going to be more than 15 minutes late. Oftentimes my assistant or I will send an ETA just as a courtesy even when we're running on time. Likewise, if you know in advance you have time constraints that may conflict with the adjusted time of your farriers arrival, let them know when you receive the first “running late” notification so there are no miscommunications or hurt feelings on either end. Just let them know right away you would like to reschedule and it will likely be to both of your benefit. If we do need to reschedule due to an emergency, illness or personal reason we will give you as much notification as we can.
So please try and be understanding when we send you a notification to let you know we are running behind and or need to reschedule, and know that we are doing our very best to keep you updated as we go about our busy day. During these instances, you are not the only one inconvenienced. Appointments after yours are often impacted too and we are likely skipping lunch to try and get ahead again.
We don't like running late or rescheduling as much as you don't like us being late or rescheduling. Us running late means less time for family and friends, less time for taking care of our own horses, less time for eating dinner, doing laundry, paying bills and winding down before doing it all again in the morning. Rescheduling usually means working on a coveted day off or canceling plans to keep your horse on schedule.
It’s important to remember that the time we spend with true emergencies or unruly horses (and sometimes unruly clients), is time we would gladly give you the same benefit of were it your horse having an emergency or acting up. Yes it sucks to be on the receiving end of the "running late" notification but you're not the only one it impacts. It’s not personal, and it is not a reflection of our relationship, it is just the nature of the business.