Nine o'clock, and the farrier is waiting
Your yard farrier comes every other Thursday. By nine he has his anvil out and is ready. The list he was sent says six horses. Two of them are still in the field because the groom did not know they were on the list. One owner booked directly with the farrier and forgot to tell the yard. Another thought her horse was booked for this week, but the farrier has her down for the next visit.
He works through the horses that are in, waits while two are brought up from the field, and leaves an hour later than planned. He mentions, politely, that other yards have their horses ready.
Where farrier bookings go wrong
Farrier visits on a livery yard involve three parties: the owner, the farrier and the yard. Each holds part of the information, and they rarely share it in one place.
- Each horse has its own interval between visits, set by the owner and farrier, and it varies.
- Some owners book through the yard, others book directly with the farrier.
- The list for a farrier day is written the night before, from texts.
- Staff do not always know which horses need holding in.
- Lost shoes between visits create extra calls that do not fit the pattern.
Nobody is at fault. It is simply a job with no single record.
Wasted visits and frustrated farriers
Good farriers are busy, and a yard that makes their day harder risks losing its slot. When horses are not ready, the farrier's time is wasted, and the owner may be charged for a visit that did not happen or wait weeks for the next slot.
For liveries, it is frustrating to find their horse was missed. For the yard, farrier day becomes a morning of phone calls and running to fields. If holding horses in for the farrier is a chargeable extra, those charges are often missed as well.
A farrier schedule for the whole yard
We build a farrier schedule that brings the owner, the yard and the farrier onto the same list.
- Each horse has a farrier record: which farrier, the interval the owner and farrier have agreed, the date of the last visit and any notes the owner wants staff to know.
- The system shows which horses are coming due before each farrier day, so owners can be asked to confirm.
- Owners confirm or change their horse's booking from a link. Bookings made directly with the farrier can be entered by the owner or the yard in a few seconds.
- The confirmed list is sent to the farrier ahead of the visit, with the horse's name, stable and owner.
- Staff see a hold list for that morning, so the right horses are kept in and ready.
- After the visit, the farrier or staff tick each horse done, which resets the due date and records any hold charge for billing.
- Lost shoe call-outs between visits are recorded against the horse, so the history is complete.
| Arranged by text | Farrier schedule | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is due | Owners remember, or not | Shown from each horse's agreed interval |
| List for the farrier | Written the night before | Confirmed by owners in advance |
| Horses ready | If staff were told | Hold list on the morning plan |
| After the visit | Nothing recorded | Date logged, next due date set |
| Hold charges | Often missed | Recorded for the monthly invoice |
The interval between visits and all decisions about the horse's feet stay with the owner and the farrier. The system only keeps the dates and the list.
A farrier day that runs to time
The day before, the farrier gets a clear list. In the morning, staff see which horses stay in, and they are in their stables with their feet picked out when the van arrives. The farrier works through the list without waiting. Each horse is ticked off, and the owners get a short message that it is done.
Over time, the yard builds a history of visits per horse that owners can see. When a horse changes farrier or moves yard, the record goes with the conversation rather than being lost in texts.
Is farrier day chaotic on your yard?
- The farrier often waits for horses to be brought in.
- Owners book directly and the yard is not told.
- You write the farrier list from texts the night before.
- Horses have been missed because nobody knew they were due.
- Hold-in charges for farrier visits are rarely billed.