Farrier Consultation

American Farriers Journal  Roundtable  Response  -  September/October 2013

By: Michael DeLeonardo Jr., CJF, APF, RJF

 

Q: What do you say to a horse owner who sees your apprentice working on his horse and isn’t happy about it? Even though the apprentice is only clinching the nails on, the owner says he expects only you, as the farrier, to be working on his horse. How do you handle that situation?

A: This is a loaded roundtable set of questions because many of us have apprentices as well as other farriers working for us. I will try to answer this in the way I handle these types of questions in my own business.

The fist thing that I do when we arrive on the job is to introduce my team of farriers to the client. If there is a question from the client about who will be working on the horse I respond that our team will be working on your horse. I explain that the client is hiring the company and not the individual farrier. I let them know that both my team and I go to continuing education  clinics, seminars and that they are working towards the next certification level. I assure them that if I have a particular team member working on a  certain job that they are qualified to do so. I explain to them that farriering was not meant to be a one man job and that a better job for their horse will be accomplished by a team of farriers. I stand behind the work my team does to assure that they the client are getting  the best service possible.

You can use examples such as when you call a veterinarian out , to care for the horse, they may bring  vet tech to perform certain procedures on your horse. The same would hold true for an apprentice on my team. To help build the confidence with your client you can make positive comments to your apprentice. A comment such as nice clinching which will reassure your client that you are paying close attention to what the apprentice is doing. This will go a long way in building good team support and client confidence in your apprentice.

You as the head farrier and owner of the business you want to keep control the situation in order to provide the best possible service for the client and the horse. In doing this here are just a few bits of information that I have gleaned over the years. Your farrier business name should indicate that it is a business and not just an individual's name. Your office telephone number should be a separate number from your home telephone  and you should always identify the business when answering the incoming call.

Even though your clients are as different as the horses that you trim and shoe in your business your response to these types of questions should be the same.  I hope this helps you when dealing with your clients.