My friend Mark, after he was diagnosed with MS, used on of those for a while. I think it got him by for 2 or 3 years; until he ended up on one of those scooter chairs. By then, his oldest son was able to take over the business. It kept his family off welfare. desperate times call for desperate measures
Now THAT'S funny. If you can't laugh at that.......................... ( with apologies to Larry the Cable guy ) Regards
I just thinkin it mite get me though the day some days ..... That last horse that is the third too many 120 miles from home can be the pitts... Sent from my phone
Mark told me, more than a few times, that he had heard ALL the possible funny jokes about that appendage, he was wearing, SO DON'T EVEN START.LOL!
If you're not able to give the last foot of the day the same effort and attention that you gave to the first foot,you're doing too damn many horses. You are doing yourself, your profession, and most importantly, THE HORSE, a great injustice. There is a finite amount of horses in all of our bodies and you can choose to use them up in 3 years or 30, but you're gonna use them up.... JMO Dave As far as the "backjack" while shoeing? Trainwreck waiting to happen............
It's time to get a job greeting folks at Walmart front door if you need that to get thru the day.. that's just hideous..I would really love to know just how many have been sold..
I remember seeing one of those for sale at a convention. Later that night at dinner someone brought it up and I went off on how ridiculous it was , then one of the guys sheepishly admitted he bought one. He tried it a couple times but never used it after that. I want to see the video of someone using it in an old barn and set the pole in a ol' knot hole in the floor when they go to sit down.
I agree ... But I've found it a struggle when I have a client that is 2 hours from my home .. And has say 7-8 full sets ... Are you going to go back for 2 or 3 sets ... Or how do you all handle this situations ? Sent from my phone
Add a little on to each horse to afford a sleep cheap and dinner+breakfast. Back in 1975, I fell asleep driving home after a long day, rolled my rig, put my anvil thru the windshield & scattered my stuff all over the highway; learned alot of lessons that night.
Ya, I know sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do..... All my clients are now less than an hour from home.... I would still break an 8 horse all full sets of four client into two groups and put them a half cycle apart,(3 weeks if you had them on a 6 week schedule). That allows you to provide better service in case of emergencies without having to blow your regular schedule...... Maybe you have "lighter" stop,(a few trims?), between home and them that you could add to half the load and make them a two stop client?? I find that if I can do a couple-three, drive 20 minutes, do a couple more, drive 15 minutes,etc..I can do way more than trying to do 8 in one spot...... I have an Icelandic farm client with 17 horses, 11 with full sets, and I break them into three appointments... Dave
Chris, as to the number of horses in us, depends on how many bills you have and whether or not you have a wife with a great job/benefits or an inheritance. Although I have heard that the hardest way to earn money is to marry in to it
I don't know, Chris...... I guess that would vary greatly depending on your health, age when you started, and how efficiently you work? I know at 58, I don't have the daily count in me that I did at 30..... I sure wouldn't want to do an 8 set day in one place now....to clear my schedule, I did 62 horses the week before the IHCS in Cincinnati last month and I was a tired boy and only a couple dozen of them were in shoes... looking back, I guess I have probably averaged around 50 horses per 5 day work week over the years, ( my practice is about 40% barefoot during riding weather and 80% barefoot in the Winter). So, I'm probably at about 75-80,000 horses now and plan to really back off in two years at 60 and ride my Harleys more..... 75,000 horses? Damn, Chris, I'm tired now..need a nap.... Dave
Meet up with a new guy in that area to pull and finish, get a few more horses to make a two day trip pay better, run the numbers, maybe you shouldn't go at all.
If people see you show up with that strapped to your butt, they probably won't invite you back. Doing less work is easier on your back. LOL, maybe they should call it the "don't come back-jack". Regards
