The way James Gilchrist views it, we’re members of various teams throughout our lives. Your family is a team. If you worship as a member of a church, the congregation is another team. Because of this viewpoint, it is no surprise that the veteran shoer from Wellington, Fla., says the team is the basis of success within a multi-farrier practice.

“The little guy at the bottom is as much as part of the team as the guy who is running the show,” he says.

Gilchrist has led a multi-farrier practice in Florida since the early 1980s. Building that team has been an evolution for more than 30 years. He shared the lessons he learned on the subject during the 2015 International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio, lending his insight on how to build a multi-farrier team.

Although Gilchrist’s practice features several members other than himself, he says the definition of the concept is broad.

“If you use a helper or simply someone who sweeps the floor, that’s a multi-farrier practice,” he says. “It could be a full-time employee who along with you makes up the team. Or if your spouse does the accounting, you should consider it a multi-farrier practice.”

The benefits are plentiful for the practice owner, according to Gilchrist. One he highlighted was time off. He is able to enjoy vacation periods that other farriers typically don’t because he has built, trained and utilized his team. This will prove invaluable should Gilchrist suffer an injury and need sick…