Daniel Anz, un nuevo concepto en el herrado del Caballo. Herrador Profesional.

I often heard people say: “It’s impossible to charge more because the customer doesn’t pay”, and that’s true, as the customer always desires not to pay anything in exchange for a better service.

The farrier is the one who has to decide the value of his work.

He must be aware that he is lending a service and that its’ value will be defined by the result of his work, and I’m not referring to the work of horseshoeing in itself, but to all that surrounds him and what means a service to the customer.

If the farrier waits for the customer to pay him what he wants to earn in order to be able to offer a good service after that, then he can start forging a chair, so his waiting will be more comfortable.

How many farriers are there in our country, who besides the fact that they are offering a good service, do also charge as they should? Very little.

And it is the rest who say that the customer doesn’t want to pay what one wants to charge.

I personally offer a service on a determined sector of “La Patagonia”, in the south of Argentina. I started doing it when the owners used to exchange the shoeing of a horse for just a little money, or simply for a little food. This sum of money would never be enough to grow and to become a good professional farrier.

During those days I decided that I would impel the customer by myself to pay the real cost of my service.

Although the process lasted several years educating the owners of the horses, the demand of those who request my service, has nowadays defined the value of my work.

The process of education towards the owners which had the need of shoeing their horses, consisted of a slow task of a continuous information, showing so the other side of the work that corresponds to a farrier, that is making them known the existence of a better quality of work, combined with professionalism and a real service towards the customer.

For that majority which prefers to wait until the customers decide about the increasement of the value of the work, it is sure they will be the best users of their chair which they had to forge in order to make their waiting more comfortable. They will wait seated, making an habit of complaints, hanging then around those who think that every growth only depends on the farrier. They will be condemned to remain walking behind.

The new farrier has to assure a good presence of himself and must give an image of professionalism and humbleness. He must show security, order and cleanness. He also has to be disciplined with the prices. His tools have to be of a good quality and he needs a vehicle which allows him to travel and to keep his timetable up-to-date. He must remain open to every change and he has to respect his colleagues and, above all, he must count on the most knowledges as possible about his profession.

In other words, he must assert the price he has to charge, so that he may eat, dress, entitle and remain at the forefront of the profession as well as he has to go on offering a good service.

Besides doing one’s duty and doing the work well, one has to consider that maintaining a good image one allows the customer to count on a reason more within all those he needs at the moment of asking himself why he chose us.

It’s not the same to arrive well dressed than to do it with a shabby shirt, all dirty, with signs of a personal decay.

That means: to accept or to dye.

As I once heard: “As long as you don’t make an attempt on the professional ethics, every weapon you use to survive, is valid”.

We find ourselves faced with an ever more competitive profession and the degree of effort we dedicate to grow, will make the difference between remaining or disappearing.

We shouldn’t forget that the customer must justify himself as for the price we are charging, and it depends on us that it be so. Therefore, every ingredient we can contribute with, so as to reach a high-quality service in horseshoeing, is a reason we are giving the customer in order that he chooses us again.

Daniel Anz

Translations made by Elsa Anz. Contact

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