The face of business management is changing with the birth of new technology over the last decade. Although many farriers still use old-fashioned pen and paper for billing and scheduling clients, a growing number are turning to apps and software to help their business run more smoothly.

According to the 2018 American Farriers Journal Farrier Business Practices Survey, 60% use a computer for scheduling and invoicing hoof-care clients — a 22% increase from 2016. The increasing popularity of cloud services allows easier access to records from any device, on the go or at home. Farriers can make appointments and send invoices all from their smartphone or tablet on site.

With today’s technology and numerous operating systems (OS), farriers and equine enthusiasts alike have been coming up with solutions to the everyday problems horse professionals face. Here’s a look at some of the top software tools farriers are using.

iForgeAhead

Cost: 30-day free trial, $20/month thereafter; the remote app is $24/year

OS: Apple, Android, PC

iForgeAhead is a remote app that allows farriers to use it even when they are out of service range. The latest version features the ability to organize clients, horses, scheduling and financial information. With cloud storage, farriers can keep unlimited notes and contacts for their clients. The data can be accessed across devices, and more than one user can be authorized to the account for those with multi-farrier businesses.

Developer Julie Schwalm created this software with farriers in mind and updates it frequently with new features that are requested by users. A recent development includes a change to the invoice capability.

“We now have an option to include a subtotal by horse, which is very helpful for those who bill trainers or stables,” Schwalm says. “It makes it easy for the trainer or stable to pass that charge along to the owner. Also, for those who charge sales tax and have to track multiple sales tax rates, the invoice now displays the amount of tax charged for each rate.”

Upperville, Va., farrier Stephen Mayer was drawn to iForgeAhead because of its invoicing and scheduling features. Now, he uses it every day.

“The app is useful to my farrier business because it keeps me shoeing horses and not doing bookwork,” Mayer says. “It’s very easy to use. Support is amazing from Julie.”

Horsebills.com

Cost: Free to sign-up; free for horse owners; $74.99 monthly subscription cost for vendors

OS: Apple, Android, PC, tablets

Horsebills.com is software built for horse professionals, not only helping them get paid but also eliminating paper waste and lack of communication.

Each bill provides “chat” capabilities for internal approvals or disputes of charges. There is the option of paying by credit card, e-check or ACH through the company Dwolla. Credit card transactions cost are a 2.49% fee while e-check or Dwolla costs 50 cents per transaction. Farriers can choose who pays the fee, either the customer or the farrier. In addition, there is also the option of vendor-to-vendor billing.

There are two types of vendors — primary vendors, which are trainers, consignors and farm managers, and standard vendors, which include farriers, veterinarians, feed companies, dentists, etc. Standard vendors are required to sign up for a platinum subscription package that allows them to service more than 15 horses.

For those in the racing field, most racehorses have been entered into the Horsebills.com database, making billing easy for farriers when they only have to search the horse or owner to send off the right invoice.

“One of the best features for farriers who work at a racetrack is that if the trainer they work for uses Horsebills.com, the farrier just needs to bill the horse,” says Marc Doche, CEO and founder of Horsebills.com. “The system will automatically bill each ownership percentage for the horse correctly.”

BT Farrier

Cost: 30-day free trial, $24.95/month thereafter, currently offering free implementation support

OS: Apple, Android, Windows, Chromebook

Robert van Dam developed BillThis (BT) Farrier when he noticed that a farrier wasn’t taking notes after shoeing at the local barn.

“I realized it is difficult to take notes and have them easily available for future reference,” van Dam says. That set off a desire to create an easy tool for farriers to use on a mobile device with the functionality needed to manage their business efficiently, during the day, in a short amount of time.

In addition to the billing function, farriers can create a schedule and notify clients automatically by standard messaging services (SMS) and receive confirmations without ever needing to answer the phone or respond to text messages.

New client intake is efficient and automated. Patient records are available at a moment’s notice anytime, anywhere, as well as the ability to track shoe inventory including alerts to help minimize shipping expenses and much more. All that it takes is 60 seconds or less directly after shoeing.

The BT Farrier app can send a bill via email or SMS, and include sales tax, adjustments and more. Farriers can sync their work to Quickbooks as well. Multi-farrier practices are supported. The BT Farrier app is part of the BT apps family, which includes BT Eq Vet app and BT Time for keeping track of hours worked of an hourly worker or those who employ them.

The Farriers App by Equitotal

Cost: 30-day free trial, then $39/month thereafter (AAPF or AFA members qualify for a 10% discount)

OS: Android, Apple, PC

With The Farriers App, users can enter client and horse information, complete a service and then get paid through safe credit card processing all before leaving the barn. Designed by Simon Notley of West Sussex, United Kingdom, this app is available on any device, including desktop, and it works offline, syncing once service becomes available.

Notley developed the app after seeing the need for being paid efficiently and quickly. Farriers can store images of horses, barn information, previous shoeing notes and much more all in one place. And the app allows for multiple users, so bookkeepers, for example, can access the financial records at no extra cost.

Clients of Jason Dahl, a farrier from Moreno Valley, Calif., appreciate the use of technology.

“I’ve taken advantage of automatic text and email for years,” Dahl says. “Now clients can pay invoices online or even set up automatic payments through bank Automated Clearing House (ACH) or credit card.”

Dallas Risser, a farrier from Oakland, Md., who uses The Farriers App, enjoys the convenience of it as well.

“I use the app because it is convenient for me in the fact that my secretary can log in at any time and have up-to-date info,” says Risser. “It gives my clients an easy way to pay online, which they had been asking for. It also keeps appointments, invoices, contacts, pictures and more very organized.”

PonyApp

Cost: Basic, free; premium, $9.99/month or $99/year

OS: Apple, Android, PC

Created by Lucy Davis and Lindsay Douglass, PonyApp was designed to connect horse professionals and clients by offering current educational topics. With a library of horse resources, the app provides quick-read articles. Among the content is information on how horse owners can make subtle changes to help improve the condition of their horse’s feet, as well as routine farrier care.

“The app has a really wide audience,” Davis says. “A lot of people aren’t there when their farriers come. A lot of young riders don’t know the difference between different shapes of shoes and other details that farriers are really mindful of. A lot of our reader base is 30 and younger and likes quick content, things they can immediately implement.”

Reference isn’t the only thing this app does. There is also a scheduling capability with reminders to be sure that routine things, like hoof-care, are done in a timely fashion. The schedule works for farriers or clients, both of whom can utilize the clearly laid-out calendar with appointment reminders. Within the scheduling ability, farriers can make notes about a visit for future reference or to share with the horse owner.

“You can really be mindful of your scheduling,” Davis says. “Particularly with a horse that has sensitive feet, I like to plan a couple days for that horse to recover after shoeing just in case. You program it in your schedule that you can give them a nice day after and make sure everything’s set, not that you’re going straight to a shoe and having to maybe compromise their well-being if something wasn’t quite right.”

Hoofmanager

Cost: 30-day free trial, $15/month or $150/year

OS: Apple, Android, PC

Nick and Bob Huyge designed Hoofmanager based on their experience as horsemen and farriers.

With Hoofmanager, farriers can manage clients and horses, make appointments, organize financial data, keep track of inventory and use reports to analyze business. Farriers can sign up and have business and client information added a few minutes later.

The application functions with any browser and does not need to be downloaded on a specific OS. The layout is visually pleasing with ease-of-use
functionality for any tech ability, the Huyges say.

In the future, the Huyges hope to add a virtual library with information on how-tos, horseshoes, forging and whatever else farriers might request. They emphasize that they’re open to suggestions. This app has over 200 farriers, 30,000 horses and 11,000 clients signed up, say the Huyges.

HorseLinc

Cost: Free to download; each credit card transaction subject to Stripe processing fee

OS: Apple, Android

HorseLinc designed by Misty Pleiness eases the process of getting paid by allowing invoicing and money transfer through the app, which uses Stripe.

Stripe is a credit card processing software that doesn’t require the customer to make an account; all they have to do is enter their credit card or banking information, and they are billed directly from the service provider. That means less paperwork and less confusion. HorseLinc includes the Stripe percentage fee within each transaction price set by the service provider, who receives the full billed amount; the customer pays the small fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per credit card or bank transfer transaction.

Service providers can be requested for a job, and they can either accept, decline or defer the job to someone they know. There is the option of saving encrypted credit card information to make transactions a breeze. Farriers don’t need to worry about writing out invoices or losing transaction slips. They can use HorseLinc to keep track of services and bill horse owners directly through the app.

GoHorse

Cost: Free

OS: Apple, Android, PC

With 50 years combined experience in the equine industry, Jenny Fudge and her mother Laurie Massaglia began GoHorse, an online horse business directory. All horse businesses can be listed on the website’s database, including horse trainers, hay providers, saddle makers, health practitioners, farriers and more. Users can enter a location and search the map. All businesses that remain in the directory are verified.

“Farriers are a special market with their own particular challenges,” says Massaglia. “Once farriers add their business and appear on the map, they are in the running when people are looking for services in a specific area. The odds of people picking them up that way are much better, especially if they are from out of the area.”

Farriers often rely on word of mouth, which continuously brings them farther and farther away from home. With the addition of their business to GoHorse, they can appear on the map and end up much closer to the radius of clients they’d like to work with. Farriers can list an overview of any certifications or licenses, their prices, types of services they provide, the miles they’re willing to travel and reviews from customers.

Hoofproof

Cost: Free, up to five horses; $18.85/month

OS: Apple, Android

Hoofproof is an app that safeguards farriers against any accountability claims and allows complete clarity between the farrier and the client to make relationships stronger and more transparent. The app allows farriers to take pictures, videos with slow motion and notes on all the work they carry out on any individual horse. It provides a clear record of equine information that can be shared upon request by another farrier.

Hoofproof allows farriers to efficiently document and evidence the work they have carried out on a horse so that when they revisit, they have their own archive to reference. If a client decides to change farriers, the information gathered by the previous farrier can be sent to the new farrier so that they can review the notes of previous visits before they arrive. All the information collected is stored securely in the cloud, so farriers can be sure if they change devices their data will be safe and available when they next sign in.

Word Champion Farrier, and the creator of Hoofproof app, Jim Blurton says, “Hoofproof is the result of a lot of hard work and over a year’s work consulting with some of the world’s best farriers. This app is one of the high points of my career, it is an app that has the potential to be a real game changer within the industry.”

2019 Getting Started in Hoof Care