I'd bet many, if not most farriers make more profit
on a trim, than they do on putting on a set of shoes. When you add up the
expense of all the tools, and the supplies (shoes and those evil nails that hold
on the shoes) etc. that are used, the fee they charge for shoes is not that huge
of a "profit". And personally, I'd not have either a "trimmer", or farrier work
on my horses that has not had the education to do so, so I'm not sure where the
expense of such education plays into what they charge for their services.
Of course, I know many would not have a regular farrier who was not trained in
the barefoot method of choice trim their horses. I won't have
someone work on my horses feet that *I* don't feel is doing the job that I want,
regardless of what clinics they have or have not gone to. I found a farrier I
like, and to use him, I haul 40 miles to a friends place to get the horses done.
If I am off the normal schedule, and need the horses done early for a ride, I
haul to his house, 80 miles 1 way. But he is the best I have found for my
horses. He shoes some, trims some. Never tries to convince me to shoe all of
them.
