I don't make as many handmades any more due to a bad left shoulder. I've just started to enjoy Werkman's Warrior Special with the wider heal and more support. I started shoeing with diamonds because that was all there was. Never had any lame horses with them. I do like the Jim Blurton bar and eggbar shoes and carry them in my van. I got a few horses who wear them. If I go to a horse for the first time and it needs something special, I'll make it. If it is a shoe the horse will wear a long time, then I know the size and will buy it. Just makes economic sense and also easier on my body.
financial sense ? a 51/2" blurton barshoe a pair £15.60 plus vat , 1"x 3/8 flat bar about 80p per foot , £1.60 a pair , for example for a 12" shoe readymade prices vary from £1.93 plus vat to £6.oo plus depending on brand , concave steel costs me for 12" no more than £1.oo a shoe , flat bar less , IMO folk are more obssessed with leisure time than farriery , wear and tear on the body ? WTF do you expect doing this job , i ache like xxxx but just get on with it , there are far better ways to save money than using baggies as an excuse
yeah, it's why George Giest started making all his own shoes now for the last 2 years; and he told me hasn't look back. He hasn't bought a kegger in 2 years; and not about to start. Keg shoes are very expense and clipped are even more and you have to have different nails for the different brands of shoes. George just punches out plain barstock, and uses a CH stamp, pritchel and buys only CH5 nails to nail on all his own shoes; and if the horse needs a bar; he welds that on site to in his forgemaster. ps.....he does plate racehorses with racingplates; but everything else is handforged now.
You guys must be thinking with your hammers instead of your heads. I takes me at least a half hour to make a pair of bar shoes. I can easily trim a horse in less than a half hour for $40. So, the time it takes to make a set of bar shoes costs me $40.00. I can buy a pair of bar shoes for less than that. The negative difference is even wider for open heeled shoes. Sometimes it's necessary to hand make a shoe, I know, but on a regular basis you're cheating yourselves. I'm guessing your response will be to get faster making shoes. My retort will be "how 'bout I get faster trimming?" There is no shortage of work for me to do. My only limits to the amount is what I can physically do. My plate is overflowing. Regards
Chris, then how do you justify, quantify,excuse buying 25% baggies? from YOUR #s you are wasting money on 25% on your purchases ! ray
Yea, I know Chris, but after my all expense paid trip to Iraq and with the injury I came home with, the next stop is to replace my left shoulder.
Well I have a family and I would like to keep it. I have a 10 year old son that for the first few years of his life I was gone shoeing way more than I was home. I got to wondering why my son liked spending so much time with his grandpa so I asked him. He said cause your never home dad. That's bull#%*+ on my part as to not paying attention to being a dad. I cut back on shoeing and made sure I figured what I had to make to pay the bills and put some money away. I now have time to coach little league, go to the park every day if we want, and be a real dad not just a sperm donor as my two step daughters called their real dad cause he was never around and my wife left his butt for that. If someone wants to be a slave to their work go ahead and do it, but don't tell me I have to. I hurt just like you do Chris, working six days a week to shorten the hours so I can do what my family needs for time also. I make shoes in the evenings to use cause I like it, not cause it's easy. I shoe 4 to 5 a day and add 3 to 4 trims, get done by 2:00 or 3:00 and spend my afternoons lie a dad should. As a workaholic it's not easy to take time off. Vacations use to kill me. Not any more. This year was the best vacation of my life, my boy and I fly fishing, laughing and having a great time. No huge list of horses to get done before and after all the while waiting for the phone to ring a hundred times while on vacation. Nope, not for me anymore.
I work from 7:00 to 3:00 cause that's what I want to do Smitty. I could work more but what would I have to sacrifice to do so? I want to be there with my son while he is growing up and playing ball. I want to be there with my wife to go out to dinner instead of someone else being in my place. If doing 8 to 10 horses is only half a day to you, that's ok with me. It's my day and I work it how I want. I make enough money to pay the bills, feed the family, and take vacations, as well as put some away for later in life. What is wrong with that?
No when you said your finished at 2 that's lunch time here 1/2 day dident mean anything about doing 4/5 sets if that's what you do that's what you do
Smitty, I start early enough to get done between 2:00 and 3:00 because that's when my son get's out of school. My wife works until 5:00 and can't be home. I don't like him being home alone. Some days I pick him up and go back to work. But that's why I work Saturdays. Instead of 5 long days I work six shorter days. So I have my afternoons with my kid. That's all.
You're my kind of guy, and glad you got your priorities straight. You only get one chance to see your kids grow up.
Plater, so we can put the word out ,on your say so, that a farrier whose name I won t besmirch the way that you did, will shoe all horses no matter , with plain bar stock and 5 ch nails, i think this farrier might shoe a racing t bred or two, i m guessing that they get the same! Plater, I said it before and am saying it again, your full of shyte! Ray
I got primary custody of my son when he was 6 when I divorced his mother...I dropped him off at school and was there to pick him up everyday..the only time he rode a school bus was when I was down in my back flat on the floor all day to recover from tryin to shoe from can til can't. I don't have a helper or apprentice to do the heavy lifting for me so like Ben I only did 5 to 6 head and some trims or all trims in one day..I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China...I was able to buy a small boat and took him out to fish or waterski and while we were on the lake looking at all the high dollar houses that were buttoned up because the folks that owned them were in Dallas working to pay for it ....the Best Thing about being a Farrier is the freedom it gives you to work and spend quality time with your family before they grow up and away...
All of my 'hourly' friends are becoming more and more envious as the work 80hrs for 700-2000 dollars every two weeks. While I pull that down in three to four days and I'm usually off shooting my guns by 3pm. ;-)
ray......I talk to George all the time on the phone/text or e-mail and I have know him for years and years, and have been to his shop/home and he has been to my home and had Thankgiving dinners and to clinics and hammer in's and forged with him; it what he says to me; and it's okay.......on raceplating yes uses plates; but he has been making all his own shoes for the last 2 years. I believe him; because I have been there to see him to it and even when with him on a trim run here this year with Lynny in the truck.
well all i can say is that those 5 ch heads in the t breds must be for traction , and the 5ch in the larger sections must be for less traction!
