Farrier costs?

[Thoro]

Eastern CT. Former backyard/local type former farrier: $40 for trim, $90 for fronts, $140 all around. Pads $20 and glueons $200.
Farrier who does some of the bigger barns and more therapeutic work: $50 a trim, $125 for fronts, $200 all around. Pads etc included.
The "best " farrier in the area: $300 for just fronts with travel call.

There’s a LOT of variation around here, even in the same area!

[J-Lu]

@eruss

I charge 175 for front shoes / trim behind. That’s probably the upper end of average in my area. There’s also guys here that charge double that and some charge half that.

I charge the same new or reset. Only reason I do that is because when I was apprenticing we had a client who wanted new shoes every time because there was only a $15 difference between new and reset. Also, shoers aren’t perfect, I like the option to shape a new shoe if I’m not happy with the old one or it would take too much work to reshape the old one.

As far as 2 shoes and 4 shoe prices. I used to charge, say, 200 for 4 and 120 for 2. I’d go to a barn and shoe a bunch of horses with front shoes. I’d be wore out and not make much money. Go to a barn and shoe a bunch with 4 shoes and I wasn’t as wore out and made a lot more money because I got a break from being under the horse to shape hind shoes. Now I bumped my trims and front shoes up so they’re actually money makers for me.

It’s best to talk to people in your area about prices. It varies greatly from area to area.

I’m not a farrier. Why would you be more worn out shoeing in front than all four? There seems to be much less time trimming and shaping unshod hind feet than trimming and shaping shoes for said feet. This is what my farrier tells me. I’d appreciate hearing why shoeing “a bunch of horses” fronts only at your price wasn’t making you much money. That’s much more than $120/hr. What am I not understanding?

[CanteringCarrot]

My costs may be fairly irrelevant as I’m across the pond, but I cannot recall any of my farriers ever resetting shoes, or being asked about a reset. Every ~6 weeks, new shoes are put on. I figured that resetting wasn’t really a thing anymore. So I’ve been interested to see a few reset options from this thread. What is the driving factor behind a reset, cost savings?

[eruss]

@J-Lu

I’m not a farrier. Why would you be more worn out shoeing in front than all four? There seems to be much less time trimming and shaping unshod hind feet than trimming and shaping shoes for said feet. This is what my farrier tells me. I’d appreciate hearing why shoeing “a bunch of horses” fronts only at your price wasn’t making you much money. That’s much more than $120/hr. What am I not understanding?

Have you ever had to take a shoe off your horse? It’s hard work. If I gave you tongs and a hammer I’d bet you could bang on the shoe for awhile without getting tired.

If I did 4 trims in an hour vs 1 shod all around in an hour. That’s an hour of being bent over holding a horses foot up. I would expect to make more money off those 4 trims than 4 shoes because it’s more work.

3 horses fronts - 360. 3 all around - 600. I’d have to go do more work to try to catch up to the 600.

Not making much money was in reference to the 600 I could make. It’d take about an hours extra time to get hind shoes on 3 horses. Thats’ 240 in an hour.

You have to be careful about adding the numbers up in your head. For all the good money making days there’s an equal amount of non money making days.

[eruss]

@CanteringCarrot

My costs may be fairly irrelevant as I’m across the pond, but I cannot recall any of my farriers ever resetting shoes, or being asked about a reset. Every ~6 weeks, new shoes are put on. I figured that resetting wasn’t really a thing anymore. So I’ve been interested to see a few reset options from this thread. What is the driving factor behind a reset, cost savings?

With steel shoes I normally get 1 reset out of them. If the nail holes are still good and the toe isn’t excessively worn out there’s no real reason to put a new shoe on them.

If there’s a cheaper price for resets, I’ve seen people ask for resets until the shoes broke in half.

Resets are a lot quicker than making new shoes. Farrier probably saves around $15 on resets from the price of new shoes, less propane, less wear on grinding belts.

[AEQ817]

My farrier is probably the most expensive in the area. He charges $250 for 4 steel shoes, not add ons. I am paying $240 for just front shoes with snow pads. $200 front shoes no pads. RI/MA area.

[mswillie]

@CanteringCarrot

My costs may be fairly irrelevant as I’m across the pond, but I cannot recall any of my farriers ever resetting shoes, or being asked about a reset. Every ~6 weeks, new shoes are put on. I figured that resetting wasn’t really a thing anymore. So I’ve been interested to see a few reset options from this thread. What is the driving factor behind a reset, cost savings?

My farrier says he doesn’t reset because in his experience, even if the nail holes look good, he has more call backs for lost or pulled shoes. He expects his work to last a cycle and does not charge for putting a shoe back on so won’t reset.