Hit 300 horses shod before lunch last Friday and it changed my mind about rushing

I always thought speed was the most important thing in this trade. Get em done, get em out, move to the next. But last Friday I hit 300 horses shod before noon and it stopped me cold. That number meant I had been rushing through every trim and nail for the last hour. Looked back at a few feet and noticed I left some flares on a couple of those hooves. That convinced me that hitting a milestone like that just means you cut corners. I went back and fixed those two horses after lunch even though the owner said they looked fine. Has anyone else realized a big number like that actually means you need to slow down? How do you balance keeping up with the schedule without losing quality?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia39829d ago

Pretty much every "record" out there just means something else got sacrificed to make it happen. It's like that with everything now, people bragging about how fast they finished something but you know the corners they cut to get there.

diana_west2729d ago

Totally feel you on that @olivia398, it's like chasing numbers just makes you miss the whole point of doing good work in the first place. Props to you for going back and fixing those horses though, that takes real integrity lol.

wendyg4328d ago

Set a timer for each horse instead of racing against a total number. Helps me catch small things before they become bad habits.