Overview
Our service policies
result from a review process where we compare feedback from clients
to the results we strive for in our business plan. We constantly
work to improve the quality of our service and our ability to
deliver that service reliably. Therefore we ask for your
feedback, ideas, and suggestions whenever you believe we can do
something better. We place a very high value on client feedback
and expect our clients to DEMAND a lot from us. Because
demanding clients who want the absolute best care available for
their equines, choose to do business with Blackburn Forge, Inc.
Contents
- Emergency
Service and Lost Shoe Replacement.
- What
should you expect from us?
- What
we expect from you?
- EHP
Appointments
- Non-Scheduled
Appointments
- Changes
and Cancellations
- COMMUNICATION!!!
Emergency
Service and Lost Shoe Replacement
Blackburn Forge, Inc
has a farrier on call 24x7 to replace lost shoes and respond to
emergencies. Our policy is to repair or replace lost, loose,
or sprung shoes within 24 hours of notification.
If you see that your horse is missing a shoe or has a loose shoe
in the morning, do not wait until the end of the day to contact
us for service. If we are servicing your area that day, we might
be able to get to you in just a few hours. Waiting until the end
of the day means that we may not be there until the end of the
following day. The sooner you contact us the better for your horse.
Within 4-weeks of our
last appointment we will replace lost or loose shoes free
of charge under the following conditions:
- You have found the
shoe, therefore we do not have to make or fit a replacement.
- You have kept the
horse on the Planned
appointment schedule.
Please do not ride
or work your horse if it is missing a shoe or has a loose shoe.
A “sprung shoe” is a shoe
that is bent away from the hoof at one or both heels. If you notice
that your horse has a sprung shoe, this is can be a serious problem.
A sprung shoe can damage a horse’s foot including the possibility
of a coffin bone fracture. Therefore it is best to pull the shoe
off immediately and then call us to come repair and reapply the
shoe. If you are unable to pull off a sprung shoe, put the horse
in a stall or otherwise confine its movement to nothing more than
walking until we arrive to make repairs.
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What
should you expect from us?
- Comprehensive premium
hoof care service from fully qualified, educated, skilled, professionals.
- Your horse receives
our undivided attention and our best work at every appointment.
- We will be punctual
and reliable for appointments and keep your horses on a regular
schedule.
- You will find us
available on short notice. Because we do not overbook
appointments, we will never be too busy to return a
call or stop by to replace a lost shoe.
- We take great pride
in our horsemanship skills in respect to managing factitious
horses on the ground. Your horses will receive gentle
and patient handling. We will not allow our tempers to dictate
the quality of our horsemanship.
- We will cleanup
our mess (nails, hoof trimmings, old shoes, etc.) before we
leave your stables.
- To make sure we
are all working together for the best interest of your horse,
we will cooperate and communicate with your trainer and veterinarian.
- So that we always
have what we need in the rig to shoe your horse appropriately,
we will maintain a comprehensive inventory of supplies and tools.
- Communication.
You will get honest, thoughtful, educated answers to your questions.
If we do not know the answer, we will refer you to someone
in our professional network that does know the answer.
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What
we expect from you?
-
Blackburn
Forge, Inc. has established a reputation for delivering SUPERIOR
QUALITY WORKMANSHIP, SUPERIOR HORSEMANSHIP, AND PREMIUM SERVICE.
The most important thing we ask of YOU, our clients, is to MAKE
A COMITMENT to providing regular hoof care (maintenance)
as part of your equine husbandry program. Our goal
is to schedule according to the needs of the individual horse.
Because hoof growth rates change with climate and husbandry
conditions, in the warmer months (April through October) we
provide Planned Hoof Care
on a 4 to 6-week schedule because this allows us to provide
optimal hoof care (maintenance) for most horses in our service
area. In the colder months we may increase the time between
appointments up to 8 weeks to accommodate slower hoof growth
due to colder temperatures.
-
We
do our best work when you provide us with a clean, safe,
and efficient work environment.
If working
conditions are such that the quality of our workmanship or our
ability to deliver service efficiently is compromised, then
we will do the best work we can under the conditions you provide.
We realize that not everyone can afford to build a show barn
with a paved aisle. If the work environment you provide
for us is unacceptable, we will help you figure out a way to
make changes to meet our work environment needs that is within
your budget. However, please keep in mind that ignoring
work environment issues when we point them out to you is not
going to have a positive effect on our business relationship.
- We do not require
our clients to be present when we work on their horses.
We don't mind catching horses out of the field and returning them
when we finish work. As long as we can find a halter, lead
rope, and your horse, we are happy to provide "catch and
return" service at no additional charge. However, if
your field is so big that we cannot see your horses when we pull
up to the work area, it is not fair for you to expect us
to go looking for your horses.
- No one wants to work
under a wet, dirty, or muddy horse. Horses should be reasonably
clean and dry. Remove loose dirt and mud from the hip down and
from the shoulder down. Although it is not necessary for your
horses to be show groomed, we should not have to change clothes
after working on your horses either.
- Food will distract
horses and make our job more difficult. Wait until we leave to
feed any horses or feed all of them in time for them to finish
eating before we arrive. PLEASE do not feed treats to
your horses during farrier visits.
- Keep a bottle of bug
repellent nearby during fly season. A big fan is better at keeping
flies away than bug spray. A work area that is free of manure
will have fewer flies. Clean horses attract fewer flies than dirty
horses.
-
Occasionally
we encounter horses with behavior problems that prevent us from
working safely and efficiently. In most cases we are able
to work through the behavior issues and get the job done.
We very seldom encounter a horse that is so mentally traumatized
that we cannot achieve a trusting and respectful working relationship.
We do not turn away horses with behavior
problems as long as our clients are committed to working toward
a solution. The
only thing we ask from our clients is that you notify us in
advance if you know that your horse has a behavior problem that
may require additional time for us to do our job. We have
a track record of success in delivering quality hoof care to
horses with behavior problems that have prevented other farriers
from getting the job done. <TOP
Appointments
We will establish
an appointment schedule for each horse as an individual
while we are at your stables for the current appointment.
Usually we keep all horses at the same stables on the same schedule.
However, if some horses require a different schedule due to individual
circumstances, we prioritize our schedule according to that individual
need. Your horse's next EHP Appointment will usually be
4 to 6-weeks or less from the current appointment date on a weekday
between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm. This allows us to
run an efficient business with appointments grouped according
to a particular geographic area and to spread the cost of travel
over several locations. We will make reminder calls to each
client the week preceding your next appointment. This way
no one forgets when his or her next appointment is scheduled.
If you plan to change
the number of horses or the kind of work done on a horse at the
next appointment, please notify us in advance. Please do
not substitute one horse for another. Some horses require
a few minutes, and some require a few hours. We schedule appointments
to accommodate enough time for the horses and the work that we
expect to find when arriving at your stables. If you add
or change horses without advanced notice, there may not be enough
time scheduled to get all of the work done at the current appointment.
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Non-Scheduled
Appointments
If your horse does
not have an appointment schedule, we
strongly advise you to call at least 2 weeks in advance to arrange
a your next appointment. However, please understand that
scheduled appointments take priority.
Non-Scheduled Appointments are subject to higher fees.
We do our best to
meet the needs of the individual horse. However, we also
attempt to organize our appointment schedule to minimize travel
expenses by grouping appointments in the same area on the same
day. Some clients try to take advantage of our scheduling
flexibility by pushing for longer times between appointments.
While this tactic may provide some cost savings, it does not
allow us to deliver service efficiently AND it certainly does
not allow us to MAINTAIN your horses feet in optimal condition.
Instead we wind up having to spend more time and do more
work to repair the damage that has occurred as a result of pushing
for longer times between appointments. Therefore, if
you want to customize your hoof care appointments to suit your
personal convenience instead of the health of your horses feet,
we will be happy to provide you with that convenience as long
as you make it worth our while to do so. <TOP
Changes
and Cancellations
"The
best-laid plans ...” Once in a while we run in to a problem
that requires us to change our schedule. Unless you have
an emergency, please notify us NO LESS than 24 hours in advance.
Then you can schedule for the next available appointment.
Calling the night before or worse yet while we are on the way
leaves a hole in our schedule and interferes with our ability
to produce a regular income. Please remember that farrier
work is our full time business and our sole source of income.
We do our best to stay on schedule and call ahead when
running late. If we work together to keep things organized
and running efficiently, it helps us both to keep costs down.
When you are waiting
for us to show up for an appointment, please make sure that you
have a telephone nearby. If due to some unavoidable circumstance
we are running late or have to cancel, we will be trying to call
you from a mobile phone to let you know about it. If we
are more than 15 minutes late for an appointment, you should be
looking for your telephone, because we will be trying to reach
you. <TOP
COMMUNICATION!!!
It is surprising
how often we hear horse owners complain about how their farrier
is not addressing lameness or performance problems to their
satisfaction. Yet, when we ask, "Have you
told your farrier there is a problem?" more often
than not the answer is "NO."
Because we run a
high
availability service, our clients do not have the
excuse that they cannot reach their farrier. If your horse
appears to have a lameness/performance problem or you have a
complaint about our service, we would like to know about it
IMMEDIATELY! We will return your call promptly - HONEST,
we really do excellent follow up with our clients.
When we take on a new
client we ask a lot of questions. As much as possible we
would like to have a complete history on every horse we service.
We may ask to see your horse's medical records, request
x-rays, or to talk directly with your veterinarian or trainer.
Rather than having owners deliver messages to us from veterinarians
or trainers, we prefer to communicate with other equine professionals
directly in person or at least over the telephone. Often
we will ask a client or their trainer to tack-up a horse and ride
it so we can observe the horse in motion while carrying a rider.
We follow the the AAEP Code of Ethics "Guidelines
for VETERINARIAN / FARRIER PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT" and we
expect other equine professionals to follow these guidelines as
well. The better we professionals communicate and
the more information we have, the better we can serve your horses
needs.
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