Is Your Barn Farrier Friendly?
By Jeri Sparshu, Certified Farrier

As a practicing farrier, I have found frustrating aspects of barn design in several of the barns I work in. Many barns have been designed with the utmost care and attention for boarders and trainers, but little or no thought of the farriers who will visit regularly and spend a good deal of time working there.

When planning a barn, your farrier will appreciate any aspects of design which will help him or her work more efficiently, and everyone else will appreciate the reduced disturbance in the barn environment during the farrier's visits.

Here are some tips to make your barn more “farrier friendly”:

1. Is there room for the farrier to get a vehicle close to the work area? It isn't fair to expect a farrier to work outside in the pouring rain or in severely cold temperatures. Many farriers have tools which are a part of their rigs and therefore cannot be disassembled and moved inside. On the “wet” coast a roof or overhang under which the farrier can back his vehicle is adequate if it's close to the work area. In less predictable climates–where it can be warm and sunny one day and snowing the next–it is important that the vehicle can get into the building and the door closed to prevent heat loss. With up to six months of inclement weather per year in some areas, this is an important consideration.

2. If your driveway and stable area tend to get muddy, will the farrier need a 4 x 4 to get up to the barn? If your farrier carries his equipment in a trailer, will it get stuck in your yard?

3. Will access be blocked? Is there room to walk all around the farrier's vehicle, with the horse tied safely close by, without blocking tack lockers, stall doors, feed rooms, or other areas needing access? It's a huge disruption for a farrier to have to stop halfway through nailing on a set of shoes to move the truck, or re-arrange his tools.

4. Is there convenient access to water and electricity? With the introduction of many power tools to the farrier's arsenal, a close, safe source of power is essential. It wastes time and disrupts your farrier's schedule when he or she arrives at the barn ready to work, only to stand and wait while you track down a longer extension cord because the nearest plug-in is on the other end of the barn behind a tack trunk.

5. Is the ground surface solid and flat? Concrete meets both of these requirements, and tool boxes tend to roll well on it. Cement and tarmac are also fire resistant. One barn I worked in was used as a calving barn as well; the ground in the whole building was shavings. It was like walking on a foam mattress. Often shavings can be raked aside; in this situation, however, they were about 15 inches deep and my anvil stand proceeded to sink deeper and deeper as I worked my way through the three horses I had to shoe there.

6. Is there adequate ventilation to clear the smoke from hot-shoeing? Those who employ a farrier who hot-shoes are choosing to be in this environment as well, yet often take offence to the odour.

7. Does your barn employ more than one farrier? Is there enough room for both of them to work efficiently at the same time?

All this may seem like a lot to ask, but depending on the number of horses, a barn can expect regular or even weekly visits from the farrier(s) who service it. Anyone who has experienced the inconvenience of having to rearrange the daily routine, because it is minus 20 degrees and the farrier is parked indoors and in the way, can relate to the stress felt towards the farrier, and by the farrier. As owners, you want top quality farriers to keep your valued animals sound and happy. Allow them an environment that is conductive to them doing the best possible work they can. They will look forward to coming to your barn instead of dreading the hassle that arises every time.

Most farriers are thankful to arrive at a new place and find it has shelter in any form, especially if it happens to start raining or snowing just as the tools are being unloaded. If you maintain one or two horses that need trimming every eight weeks, these suggestions may not be as important. If you are planning to build the 30-stall barn of your dreams with a lounge, laundry room, feed room, tack room, indoor hot walker, wash racks and grooming stalls, include an area that will accommodate the farriers and other professionals who work there regularly.

This farrier's work environment ranges from one extreme to the other–from small barns with well-designed areas where a farrier can work comfortably, to barns that require weekly farrier visits yet don't even have a proper place to tie a horse, to prominent international show facilities that don't even have a designated place for the farrier to set up.

Having had illusions of becoming a trainer before I started shoeing, I went through the process of designing and doing preliminary drawings for the barn of my dreams. Yet this barn did not include a proper area for the farrier to work in–it had a common area where the farrier “should be able to work” but it was definitely inadequate and would have resulted in the same old frustrating comments... “the farrier's in the way and he sure is making it stink in here!”

Jeri Sparshu, a Certified Farrier living in Olds, Alberta, is an assistant instructor at the Olds College Advanced Farrier Science program. Sparshu has been shoeing for five years and instructing at the college for four. His practice is mainly hunter, jumper and dressage horses, and some reining horses. Sparshu serves Calgary and area, and he is one of two farriers for Spruce Meadows' tournament series. He enjoys competing in horseshoeing and blacksmithing competitions and participated in the World Championship Blacksmith's Competition at the Calgary Stampede, July 2002.