We have people out there talking to you about your concerns, your issues, and your ideas. We combine this with our yearly research that looks at what’s missing in the world of skills, both today and tomorrow, so you can be sure we're working to understand your needs.

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Farriery Skills Needs

We lead the way in understanding farriery needs.

 

Financial & business management skills

Without these your business will not survive no matter how skilled you are. Key issues include the costs of necessary raw materials, financial cost for essential equipment and the running of a mobile forge.

Health and safety

Working with animals, people, fire, gases and hot metal is quite a combination for farriers to contend with so it is critical that health and safety training is updated.

Animal welfare

The Animal Welfare Act and Animal Health and Welfare Act Scotland has placed new responsibilities on all those working with animals for the duty of care.  Farriers are ideally placed to discuss horse welfare with their clients so they must keep up-to-date with codes of practice, personal responsibility for duty of care and potential secondary legislation

Customer care skills

Customer care is an important aspect of any business as it is often what sets you apart from the competition.  Farriers should develop and hold on to a strong client base to provide a competitive edge over other farriers.  Being able to explain how you work with the horse is also important for animal welfare and the health and safety of any humans involved.

Marketing skills

To develop and maintain a successful business, farriers need to market their skills and services effectively to current and prospective clients.

Access to continual professional development

You told us that you want more flexible ways to train yourself and your staff. With 86% of businesses having five members of staff or less, you find it difficult to spend large periods of time on training courses and want more options, such as bite-sized, online and CD-based training.

The Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF for short) now provides an opportunity to ‘pick and mix’ units of learning, at a pace that suits your needs. Find out more.

Clear guidance on funding

We have been listening. You said it was complicated and time-consuming to find funding and support for you and your business. We have created a special tool that does some of the hard work for you and points you in the right direction.

To find out more about Fund Finder and all the ways we can help you, click here.