I temporarily lost a client once because a vet recommended another farrier to trim a horse that was always barefoot. They called me back about 8 weeks later and said the new guy hadn't done anything different than I had been doing. I raised my prices and went back to work.
I lost a client yesterday because one of the vets they used said the horse was shod improperly. According to the vet the shoe was an inch to far forward and he had to much toe. This is a draft by the way. I saw the horse last sometime in June so he was seriously overdue. They said the vet pulled the shoes and trimmed and said it would take several shoeing cycles to "fix" the horse.
the Vets are financially hurting , worse than us, in Michigan. Hell around here, even the trainers are starting to trim and reset shoes "to keep the wolf away from the door"
I think I'd be calling that vet and having a discussion with him/her about making pronouncements without knowing all the facts. Then I'd tell him he needed to call the client and tell her he screwed up when he "dissed" your work. Then, for good measure, I'd say something along the lines of "when I start practicing veterinary medicine, you can start practicing to be a farrier. Until then, stick to what you know, OK?" 'course,in situations like this, my 'give a damn' is broken so for all I care, the vet can go piss up a rope. What s/he doesn't get to do is piss on my/my client's leg and tell me its raining.
I've thought about calling the vet but figured if I did he would just start bad mouthing me to everyone he could.
Ur correct draftshoer thats how it would play out..some vets can be devastating ti a business. .ive been lucky but ive seen more than one time where a vet a farrier mix it up and both cut each other to clients. .and the bad part is vets carry alot of weight with some clients. .but a passive aggressive approach will work ..call and say I understand you feel my shoeing was not correct at the tail end of a long shoeing..I would love the chance to work with you on this because I have others that get a long toe at around 8 weeks and learning how to prevent this would really help me..I even buy you lunch doc..
