So how would you like to schedule 4 weeks of vacation every year? It may sound like a pipe dream, but Mike Ehlert, a veteran farrier from Hartford, Wis., has figured out a way to do it, and shared his method with an audience at the International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ehlert, who’s been shoeing for over 30 years, says the scheduling method he uses will work for just about anyone, but does have a few caveats:

1. It works for him because he strictly controls his schedule (and, as a veteran shoer, he admits he’s probably more able to do that than many novices).
2. He shoes in a colder climate, where his workload eases off in the wintertime.
3. He works in a “horse-heavy” area where there is enough work to keep the good farriers in the area busy.

Setting Ground Rules Early

Ehlert has an established clientele, so he doesn’t take on a lot of new customers. But when he does, perhaps because a current client has moved from the area or sold their horses, he takes control of the scheduling the first time a client calls him.

“If someone calls me, I’ll get the basics, like where they live and when the last time was that the horse was shod,” he says. “If that all checks out, I tell them ‘I will take care of your horse, but it has to be done under my conditions.’ I get to this right away.”

Ehlert’s conditions mean the horse will…