Terms and conditions for a farrier

A farrier's terms have to deal with what happens on the yard: the horse nobody caught, the owner who is not there, the shoe that came off in three days of mud, and the livery client who assumes the yard is paying. I draft customer terms around your round, your travel area and the mix of private owners and commercial yards you shoe, for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Registered farriers in England and Wales, sole traders and limited companies, working private rounds, livery yards, riding schools, studs, competition yards and racing yards. Private horse owners are consumers and have protections you cannot draft away. Yards, schools and studs are business customers, and you can be far firmer with them. One set of terms can serve both if it is written that way.

What matters in a farrier's terms

Visit slots, horses not caught and wasted journeys

Your round is built round travel, and a horse standing in a field at the far end of the yard costs you the slot and the next one. The terms should say when the horse must be caught, dry and ready, who must be present to hold, and what you charge when you arrive and cannot work. For private owners that charge has to reflect your actual loss rather than punish them: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats a disproportionate default charge as unfair, and an unfair term does not bind the customer. Notice periods for cancelling a slot should be stated clearly and applied consistently.

Who presents the horse, and who is liable if it goes wrong

Shoeing is done under a horse that can strike, barge or go over backwards. The terms should put the owner under an obligation to disclose known behaviour, sedation, kicking, needle or box vices and any history of injuring a handler, to provide a competent handler, and to give you a level, dry, lit standing. They should also record your right to stop and leave if the horse or the surroundings are unsafe, with the visit charged. What no term can do is exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by your own negligence, under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Cancellation rights for private owners

Work agreed at the yard, by phone or by text with a private owner is an off-premises or distance contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, with a fourteen-day cancellation right, although contracts of £42 or less agreed away from your own premises fall outside them. In practice you shoe on the spot, so the terms need the owner's express request to begin inside the period and an acknowledgement that a service fully performed cannot then be cancelled. An urgent repair the owner has asked for, such as a shoe replaced before a competition, sits outside the cancellation right for that work. Missing cancellation information can extend the period by up to twelve months.

Getting paid, and knowing who the customer is

The recurring farriery dispute is identity: the owner says the yard books the farrier, the yard manager says they only passed on the message, and neither pays. The terms should name the customer as the person who instructs the work, make an agent personally liable where they book for an owner they cannot bind, and deal with yards that want a monthly account. For riding schools, studs and racing yards you can claim statutory interest, fixed compensation and reasonable recovery costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. For private owners the interest rate must be modest and set out plainly.

Shoe loss, hoof condition and what you actually promise

Shoes come off in deep going, in turnout, on the lorry ramp and when a horse treads on itself. The terms should describe your shoeing interval, say that a lost shoe within the interval is chargeable unless the fit was at fault, and make the owner responsible for turnout conditions, boots and routine checking. Your obligation under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is to work with reasonable care and skill, and you cannot limit liability to a consumer to less than the price. You are not insuring the horse's soundness, and the terms should say so in those words.

Remedial work, vets and complaints

Remedial and surgical shoeing is usually done on veterinary instruction, and the terms should record that you are working to that prescription, that the plan may change after the vet reassesses, and that follow-up visits are charged. They should also require the owner to raise a concern about a shoeing promptly, before another farrier pulls the shoes off, because a complaint made weeks later cannot be investigated. Under the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 you must make available your details, your insurance and professional body information and handle complaints promptly, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 require you to point an unresolved consumer complaint at a certified provider.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Can I charge a livery yard's client and the yard under the same terms?

One document can cover both, but it must make clear who is contracting on each visit and who carries the bill. I draft a clause dealing with bookings made by yard staff, grooms and sharers, so that the person who instructs the work is on the hook and you are not chasing two people who each point at the other.

What can I do about owners who cancel the morning of the visit?

Set a stated notice period for moving or cancelling a slot and a charge that reflects the travel and time you cannot fill. Apply it consistently and tell the owner about it before the booking, not on the invoice. A charge sprung on a private owner afterwards is the kind of term that gets struck down.

Do my terms cover me if a horse injures me or damages my van?

Terms can require the owner to disclose known behaviour, provide a competent handler and reimburse damage caused by the horse, and that is worth having. They do not replace insurance, and they cannot shift responsibility for your own negligence. The value is in the obligations they put on the owner before you get under the horse.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a dog groomer
• Terms and conditions for a mobile hairdresser or beautician

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.