KTQ

We're a large stable based in south west West Australia and have struggled for years to find a good farrier in the area. We could guarantee at least 2 full days per week at our stable alone, let alone other stables in the area. Not having a regular farrier means our stable is being held back and horses are slower than we'd like to get racing. Does anyone know a good standardbred farrier that would be interested in a sea change move to the Busselton area? Beautiful beaches, lovely weather and lots of work! Send them my way or Barry Howlett's way or give him a call on 00 61 413 115 609 It's just so frustrating that RWWA isnt putting more resources into bringing more farriers into the industry

We bought 10 I think at a range of prices i wasnt there but the report was that many of the well bred ones had twisted legs and thats not something buyers are willing to risk. We bring most of ours back to Australia. There aren't races for them in nz; we don't want our 2 year olds racing 5 year olds and if they are any good, they get handicapped out of the race anyway. It feels lile they race 5 times a season and spend the rest of their time eating money in the agistment paddock in NZ between the big races. We can race them in WA every week against their own age group and sex for $7k and once a month for $18k. And while there aren't the classics in WA that there are in NZ, there also aren't the All Stars to compete against. No matter how good our horse is, they somehow have one thats the best they've ever had and all we can achieve is a placing. That's coming from an owner.

We're trying to hire a stablehand / trackworker or two in Western Australia and have been for months. Stable is firing - we finished 6th or 7th in the state last season, we've got a bunch of fantastic horses coming through, we pay well but do you think we can find anyone? It's absolutely impossible to find reliable staff full stop. The death of the industry will be the lack of knowledge coming through. We're not prepared to risk our horses with inexperienced people, but the quantity of experienced horsepeople is so low - female or not. (Anyone have a NZ site or FP page we can put our ad on?)

Busselton?