For St. Croix Eventers all around, with borium
added to the heels, I pay $140 here in the Baltimore area. Paid $40
to have the shoes pulled and feet trimmed a week ago. During the
season, my gelding is done every 4-6 weeks depending on his rate of hoof growth
and our ride schedule. Now we'll go about 8 weeks until his next trim and
then shoe again about four weeks after that.
This farrier is so busy that he doesn't need to put
up with the hassle of taking any new clients. He was willing to come
out for my one-and-only horse because he knew me and my gelding from a
prior boarding place and because my horse is now located close to his
home.
He shows up on time (or early, so I try to be ready
early), and he seems to enjoy answering my questions and discussing issues
about shoeing. He likes having a client who knows something about her
horse's feet and wants to know more. He has only one other endurance
client, but he does lots of eventers and foxhunters. And, very
importantly, he knows how to deal with special-needs horses. My
gelding has never been lame in the hind end, but something causes him to react
(involuntarily, confirmed by farriers and vets) with spasmodic jerking when a
hind leg is raised high and to the side. This farrier is able to work on
those hind feet without difficulty by extending then directly to the rear
and not raising them too high (he says that doing yoga enables him to hold that
position, and that my gelding is not the only horse on his client list with this
problem).
This guy is worth every penny he charges, and I'm
thrilled to have him shoeing my horse once again.
