Trim - $35
Trim + Front Shoes - $85
Farm Call - $25 (my farrier travels about an hour to get to me)
I’m charging $40 now to all new clients for a trim. I was charging $35 for local folks with a $5 trip charge to anyone 45 minute or more away. I will be passing out a notice to existing clients next visit of my increase. It is the first pay raise I’ve had in three years and I just can’t keep it down any longer. As Patty pointed out, you have to cover expenses and make it worth doing.
In our area I’ve seen trims from $25 to 45 by farriers. I’m the only trimmer operating around here so you can see where I fall out in the pack. I have to agree with Patty, that from what I’ve seen, the $25 range trims are not worth the money.
I have no idea what shoeing costs are here but I suspect there is quite a range from the low end folks to those who are more highly priced and most likely the best educated and capable.
My farrier is older with a lot of experience- he charges $110 for a trim and 4 shoes (it was still $110 even when my horse needed regular shoes in front and eggbars or straightbars in back).
Most of them aren’t Patty. I know a couple guys that do a good job and I recommend people to them all the time. Both of them charge $20 if you pay cash and $25 if you write a check.
In our area we are innundated with Amish farriers that will trim a horse for $7-10. So that drives the pricing quite a bit as well.
Also, since the trim is a huge part of a proper shoeing it should be at least a third to half of the total shoeing cost. :yes:
Most trained farriers or trimmers are charging at least $40, and many are $55 to $60.
Well like I said, when the one guy here raised his rate to $45 for a trim, he lost much of his customer base. I know because many of them were calling me. 
But I also recall the threads on this board, and horseshoes.com in which trimmers were heavily chastised for charging 50 or 60 for a trim - it is “highway robbery” and they’re trying to gouge customers because they’re applying a “fancy schmancy barefoot trim.” So the response to charging more hasn’t generally been favorable either.
For $25 bucks, the trimmer is barely covering business expenses, let alone making a profit. There is a lot more actual cost to doing business than just buying the tools and driving to the client.
I agree. 25 bucks doesn’t even buy a rasp. But what can you do when the going rate is about 20 bucks and you already charge 10 over that? 
And I do this part time (evenings/weekends) so I’m not having to put food on my table with trimming money. It’s just extra to fund my hobby.
I charge less to owners that schedule every 6 weeks like clockwork, their horses stand great, and there isn’t much to do. Generally if a trim takes me 10-15 minutes because all conditions are right, I only charge 20. Owners that touch up their own trims in between so I have very little to do are usually charged about 10-15.
Trim $25 at my house
$16 if I go to his house
My horses are all barefoot but I think he charges $75 for front steel shoes only.
ETA…my farrier has an engineering degree and works for the Department of Defense for his daytime job. He is also a certified farrier which he does to earn money to pay for his horse habit. He is not a full time farrier so doesn’t have to earn a living at it.
Dallas, TX
Trim-$40
Fronts-$80
All 4- $120
Connecticut
Trim - 60
Fonrts - dunno
All 4 - 135.00
Trim - $30
Fronts/trim - $75-$80…he makes them on the spot
Can’t remember what all four is, haven’t had shoes all around on any of them with him as the farrier
No farm charge, travels about an hour to get to me, usually tries to do my area together.
Trim all four = $35.00
Reset (4) - $115.00
Trim all four and reset front —$78.00
Leather pads - $24.00 a pair
So what’s your idea of expensive?
Farriers have to pay for their rig, gas, tools, propane, office supplies, phone, etc.
If the farrier is full time, throw in medical insurance, retirement, enough to cover vacation & sick days… like someone with a “regular job” would have.
What about the cost of shoeing school, continuing education, publications and such to keep up with the latest products, techniques, and research?
How much is left for an actual hourly wage after all that and then paying taxes?
And a raise is to be expected after several years of work and all the experience that accumulates during those years.
I believe most of us farriers try to keep our prices reasonable, but we expect a decent wage for the hard work we do. If you take all that into consideration and still think he’s too expensive for the area and the work he provides, shop around for someone cheaper.
Central FL
Trim=$35
2 fronts=$100
4 all the way around=$170
Trim 40
fronts 70
all four 85
$25 for Trims
$75 for Trim + Shoes
(not special shoes and she charges the same for all four
as she does just fronts)
$70 for Trim +Reset of Same shoes
She does charge like $5 extra for any extra stuff such as anti-fungal and such…but well worth it
Special shoes with special pads and such cost extra.
$45 for a trim
$110 for fronts
$165 steel all around
[QUOTE=Patty Stiller;5014985]
I find it hard to believe that anyone trimming for $20 or $25 is actually taking the time to do a decent trim. [/QUOTE]
I wonder if it makes a difference if the farrier stays all day at one barn v. going from small barn to small barn? My farrier does mostly small barns so I always think he charges too little since he has to drive around all day on top of the work actually performed, but he must think it’s enough. But maybe some farriers give a discount if they have enough horses at one location?
My farrier is just a kid, and we’ve known him since be was about 6 years old. He charges he $10-15 for a trim depending on his mood, and I think it’s $25 to reset fronts. I can’t remember what new shoes all around are- maybe $50-60. I do pay a little less because he’s almost like family and he only live a few miles from him so he can reschedule me easily if he needs to, or just do a few at a time. A few weeks ago he put shoes on my normally barefoot stallion that tore the hell out of his front feet stall walking- not much to nail to. I told him if he could get 2 nails in each side we’d try it- he got three. He wouldn’t have tried to nail to those feet if it was anybody else, but since he knows I won’t get mad if they come off and I’m close to home he tried it. So far they’ve been on 3 weeks and still tight! I think most of the farriers around charge a little more than my guy. The ones that have letters after their names charge at least double.
Quite honestly, I don’t put much faith in farriers that have a bunch of letters after their name. They don’t like to listen and think they know it all. I certainly don’t know it all, but if I tell you a certain horse needs to be trimmed a certain way, you need to listen. Sorry, but you can’t correct conformation defects in an older horse. And by God if my horse wasn’t sore before you trimmed he better not be sore after!
The very best farriers I’ve had are old dudes that have been shoeing since they were big enough to hold up a foot. Never been to horseshoeing school or any such thing and think the fancy “barefoot trims” are silly. Their horses aren’t ever sore after a trim or shoes and they can make any kind of shoe you want. I did have one guy that went to horseshoeing school as a second career and he was pretty good- since he’s been working with the old guy he’s a whole lot better.
The most I’ve ever paid for shoes was about $250. That was for a set of handmade show shoes and pads for a Saddlebred.
North-Central Mississippi
For trims = $30
For trim+fronts only = $60
i know we pay more for everything in the north east but $25 for a trim??? does that farrier WALK to your barn b/c surely that can’t be enough to pay for his gas and wear and tear on the car… :eek:
trims around here are $50 and up.
shoes range tremendously but i don’t know anyone who charges less than $150 for fronts only. and at a risk of sounding like a snob, i don’t know if i’d want to use the services of someone who does charge less…:no:
Trim is $30, fronts is $60, I don’t know what all 4 is because I’ve never had 4 shoes on my mare. :lol:
He’ll come out if a horse pulled a shoe and put it back on, or put a new one on if the shoe is lose/unsalvageable, for free. I usually pay him $10 at least for his gas though. He reluctantly takes it and reminds me I don’t have to pay him. :winkgrin:
I don’t think you can put a price on a good farrier.
If yours is good, then the price is right. If there are cheaper and better and more reliable farriers around, then go shopping.
I pay a lot but I have horses with hoof issues, special shoes, etc. I compare horse shoes to designer shoes or ariat boots.
so let’s see, I’ve in my entire lifetime never had just a “trim” so 4 shoes all around now, with everything, $250. And if one has 2 hooves “cast” it is $50extra.
