yes I do tip my farrier. I know he is in busines for himself but you can still give a tip now and then to show your appreciation for a job well done.

I also tip my hair dresser and they are self empolyed as well.

My farrier, vet and hay supplier get homemade brownies, or pies, etc., with every visit. The vet gets 2 containers, one for his office staff (the "gatekeepers") and one for he and his wife. If it is an emergency, I take the goodies to the office at a later time. The farrier and his wife get a gift certificate at Christmas, and he keeps the "change" when paid. Such as $141 bill, he is given $145 or $150. The farrier is my neighbor, so gas is not an issue. The hay supplier also gets an outfit for his 3 year old daughter with each delivery. He could be charging me alot more to deliver and stack in the barn, and I am appreciative!

Brenda

I don't normally tip the farrier.  I do provide cold drinks and a fan in the aisle of the barn where they work.  However, in Lea Anne's situation, I might have thrown in a few extra dollars to compensate for the horse being cantankerous.

Hound dog - when the farrier is Amish...yes, you take the horses to them.  At least that's how they do it here.  The Amish shoe for outsiders on Wed. and Sat. and the trailers will be lined up six or seven deep by 8:00am.  The Amish around here do a great job on QH types, but I don't like how they set my gaited horses, so we only use them occasionally.

RIDE ON!

DANG!!!If that's all I had to pay,I guess I WOULD tip the farrier something!

I just paid ours $145 to shoe 2 adults and do a trim on a yearling!

Well, I tip my farrier!  (he's my husband!)

Just in a days work, he normally does not get a $ tip.  Glass of tea, soda pop etc maybe, and appreciates that. 

On race horses and show horses, when they have a special competition or special problem, a lot of times there is a significant tip, but those are horses that are making money, and there is a lot of difference in that, and the regular recreational horse owner.  He has flown across the country to do two shoes, but that horse needed to qualify for a futurity finals, and spent a week on one horse, but it need to run the the Derby, so those are  much different.  Horses have been hauled here a bunch, and he also spends a lot of time at the vet clinics for calls  and to farms.  I agree, there are a lot of inconsiderate "professionals" out there.  Alot of times, when he goes to a job, there is the "while you're here" extra project, and if that is early in the day, that makes for a late day.  He does call if he is running late, which often happens.  He does not say "See ya Tuesday" and not show and no call.  He knows people make special arrangements, horses shut up, people to be there etc, and to be a no show is very rude. 

Did he tell you that? What is "make"? Net income? Gross income? Revenue?

I seriously doubt any farrier clears $300k per year. Let's pretend it is just revenue, and do some math. To simplify, let's figure it in equivalent trims, acknowledging that a shoe job takes more time than a trim, but also costs more (for both the farrier and the customer). So, at $30 for a trim he'd have to do 27 horses every day of every week, or at $50 he'd have to do 16 horses every day of every week. I have two friends that are farriers in their late 20s and are in prime physical condition. Both would say that they physically could not do 27 horses every single day. 16 would even be a stretch. Sure, there's probably plenty of days when they do 27 or more horses, but it's not every day or even a stretch of days in a row. So, even if it's $300k in revenue, I still have a tough time believing it.

Let's go about the math another way. Pretend he can get every horse on an 8 week schedule. We know very few customers actually do that, but it would be ideal for the farrier. At $50 each, he'd have to have 923 horses. The 923 would grow significantly, considering the longer/inconsistent schedule most people keep. 923. That's ridiculous. And the number grows to over 1500 at $30 each. Both of my farrier friends say if they had 300 to 400 horses, they'd have about as much as they could handle.

Now, income. Subtract cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance, shoes, rasps, other tools, cell phone, showing up for no-show customers, self-paid costs that most of us have through our employer, etc.

I bet his 1040 doesn't show $300k, and if it does he better get a new accountant.

My husband is also a farrier - part time on nights and weekends. He is no where near as prestigious as your husband, Flying H.

Jay does not normally get tips (at least not that I know of ). He charges $25 for trim and $50/75 for shoes front/all round. He always calls if he's going to be late and I've never known him to no show for a client.

Some things he appreciates much more than a tip are

1. Not having to train a client's horse to trim/shoe it. He charges $400 a month to break horses.

2. Not having to chase horses in 10 acre pastures. His clients always know when he's coming. He does not mind catching the horses and a lot of times clients will not be there (he's been doing most of his clients for 4+ years and they trust him with their horses). But he's not going to chase our horses & he's certainly not going to chase a client's.

3. A cool drink on a hot day. July, August, & September are particularily hot in SC. A cool drink between horses is much appreciated.

4. Payment before he leaves. He has a few customers with horses at a boarding stable that are on a routine, he's goes and trims them and then let's the owner know the amount. He's never had any problems but these are 'special' customers.

Ummm.... I didn't say clears that kind of $, those figures are gross income.  But here in SoCal the good shoers get $ 100.00 to $ 150.00 for a set of normal  shoes.  Pads or special shoeing is much higher.   He charges $ 140.00 for a normal set of shoes, he gives us a very good discount (thank goodness), but he does 10 to 15 horses a day (and has more work than he can handle), so you do the math.