Cooper Farrier Services

Cooper Farrier Services wishes to acknowledge the passing of our CEO ( Chief Eating Officer )

Rest in Peace Koda Twinkle (Tinks)

It won't be the same on the road without you

Fuel surcharge update. Very happy to say that the arbitrary amount of $2.50 per litre which I decided on some weeks ago has been at a consistent price now for enough weeks that I am comfortable removing the service fee effective from Monday 13 July. It's not quite the $1.90 we had before this fuel situation but it is an amount that I'm able to absorb. I am grateful to you all for understanding

Happy long weekend everyone

Winter

Winter is a tough time for us all! It gets cold, it gets wet and it gets dark. Without the nice weather and daylight hours, and the horse shows to go with it, a lot of people choose to take their shoes off for the winter. This can be a great idea to rest the horses feet and save your bank balance.

Winter is the farriers toughest time of the year as well. Appointments get rained off, tools get wet and damaged, and the workload, and therefore income drops significantly.

What can you do to help the situation?

If you're planning on taking shoes off, let your farrier know at the time that you book the appointment.

There is nothing more frustrating than organising your day allowing time to shoe a horse, only to arrive and be told it's a trim and then having the next hour as dead time. Letting us know in advance allows us to plan our schedule and also sets an expectation of what our earnings are for the day.

Pay your bill on time!

The climate that we live in at the moment has meant things are tight for a lot of people. I've noticed a massive increase in people not paying their bills on time, or deciding after the shoeing appointment that they're going to pay it off over a number of weeks. These types of arrangements are fine if they're made in advance, but remember if you're not paying this week, I'm not getting paid this week!

Communicate with your farrier.

If things are tight and you're planning on extending your schedules out to stretch a few more weeks out of that set of shoes, let us know! We spend a lot of our year trying to organise our schedules so that things line up for particular areas, and to get our run into a nice tidy schedule so while we have some flexibility, it is really handy to know when you're planning to change your schedule.

Things are tough out there! But please keep in mind, if you still want the farrier to be here by summertime when the shows do start again, then we need your support year round, not just when the riding is good!

Hi Valued Clients and Cooper Farrier Followers

I'm sharing this on behalf of a little girl called Nala.

Nala and her Sister are Daycare mates of Addison, my youngest daughter. Their family are in for a long road, and my family and I have experienced first hand, the overwhelming feeling of keeping things afloat while you are off work undergoing treatment .

If you are in a position to donate, I encourage you to consider supporting this family in their journey, and I'll be making a donation on behalf of my Business and Family as well

Little Nala’s Cancer Fight: Support When It’s Needed Most Supporting Nala and her family as they navigate her cancer diagnosis, helping ease the burden so they can focus on being by her side

Response to Fuel Price Increases

To my valued clients -

Unfortunately, the increases in fuel prices are not able to be absorbed on an ongoing basis. For this reason, I find it necessary to add a Service Fee to my invoices for the duration of the fuel price increase.

Please be understanding, as I am fully aware that there is ongoing increases for everyone.

The Service fee will not be a broad increase to the price of every horse, but rather a single fee per stop

This means that, instead of adding to the price of all services, clients will pay one fee of $10, regardless of how many horses are attended to at the site.

If there are multiple clients at the same site , this will be reduced to $5 per client.

As always, I appreciate my clients loyalty and understanding, and I look forward to continuing to provide the best service possible to you all!

3D pads are a great addition to the farrier's toolbox. They allow us to provide extra support to the caudal aspect of the foot, distributing weight across a wider area, and offering extra load carrying capacity with use of a frog plate.

Addison also thinks they happen to make an excellent teething ring...

I continue to be disappointed by the dishonesty that some people in the horse industry display.

Today I read a "For Sale" post for a horse I worked on in January which was downright dangerous. The shoeing nearly couldn't be completed as the horse reared, kicked, and slipped over while playing up for me to work on . Today I read in its ad that it is being sold as " immaculate manners on the ground " as well as the stock standard line of " Good to float, shoe worm etc." This is absolutely not the case, as I also saw the same horse having to be forcibly loaded onto a truck at a show in January where a dressage whip was used, and the person assisting loading the horse narrowly missed a violent kick to the head.

This kind of ongoing behavior is the reason people are being sold unsuitable horses, and is going to be the reason that a rider, or an Equine professional, be it Bodyworker, Farrier, Vet gets seriously injured .

It is time to stop selling horses as safe when there are behavioral issues . It is just not fair on the horse, or the buyer, or anyone else who has to deal with the issue down track.

My only hope is that people do their due dilligence when buying horses - don't be afraid to question things, ask for references, try the horse in different scenarios
We ALL stand to benefit from people being more honest as sellers, and more cautious as buyers

The week hasn't started as planned!

After a quick trip away to visit a sick family member last week, we came across to Taupo for the weekend and into the middle of this storm .

I was meant to fly home this morning and after several delays to my flight it has finally been cancelled , so for those people waiting to hear from me for appointments this week, please be patient as I try to get home !

Hope everyone is safe and warm in what sounds like some horrific weather!

Here's an odd one for you

Over the weekend, a mysterious horse owner has paid me for some work rendered. The only trouble is, I don't recognise the name of the horse, or the name of the person who has paid it to me. My suspicion is that somebody has accidentally paid me instead of their regular farrier.

So, Facebook world, if you think that you are Cinderella and you fit this transaction, private message me with the exact amount that you mistakenly transferred me, and I will consider returning your money to you.

Hint, the amount is not a value that I have ever charged for any of my services.

If anybody else wants to randomly transfer me money, I'm saving for a wedding, a new car, and university fees for two beautiful girls