Scheduling a farrier

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

How many people schedule their next shoing at the time of the one
that was just done (or are on a regular schedule)?

If you don't do this, what do you do?

Me?  _I_ call my farrier when my horse/s are "about due for shoes" which may be anywhere from 4-7 weeks depending on the
horse, the time of year, the horse's workload, the ride schedule,
etc.

I DO try to set up the shoings so that they work around my show/
ride schedule (which is different for different horses), and if
I have a big event that I know the horse is going to need new 
shoes for I will give him/her (I have two shoers depending on 
the horse) a head's up a few weeks in advance (as in, I need to
have the horse shod before _____ date).

We then work out a mutually convenient time for us to meet and
get the shoes on the horse/s.  Since both me and my shoers have
very busy schedules we need to all be flexible about what will
work for both of us.

I my shoer insisted on scheduling  my next appointment at the time of
the current appointment, I would get another shoer.

I do not let shoers shoe my horse/s when I am not there...unless
I am absolutely desperate and there is NO way to get our 
schedules to meet.  I do not consider this to be fair to the
shoer or the horse, and there are some things I can only
tell about a horse's way of going by looking at the wear on
both shoes (left and right) at the same time.  And there is no
way to do this while they are on the bottom of the horse's feet.
And I want to do this (and correlate it with what I have been
experiencing riding) before any new shoes are put on.

Just curious about what other people do. And how they manage it.

kat
Orange County, Calif.