Income Protection for Farriers
There is no comfortable way to shoe a horse, and that is the whole problem with this trade.
The hoof has to be held off the ground, which means the farrier takes part of the animal's weight while flexed forward and twisted, often with the leg braced against their own thigh. Then there is rasping, nailing and finishing, all in that position, repeated for four feet and then for the next horse.
Income protection pays a monthly amount while you cannot work. For a farrier there is no sick pay behind the work, and the body is the whole business.
The short answer
Shoeing a horse means supporting its leg while bent double with the hoof held between your knees, for several minutes at a time, under an animal that can kick or lean. Farriers have one of the most punishing working postures of any trade, and because registration is a legal requirement for the work, a long absence has a professional dimension as well as a financial one.
What actually stops you working
- Lower back and hip damage from sustained flexed and twisted posture while supporting a horse's leg
- Being kicked, struck or crushed, including against a wall or a stable door by a horse that leans or moves
- Knee damage from taking an animal's weight through a braced leg, repeatedly, over years
- Hand, wrist and elbow conditions from rasping, nailing and hammer work
- Hand-arm vibration from grinders and power tools used on hooves and shoes
- Burns and eye injuries from hot shoeing, forge work and flying metal
Sick pay, if you get any
None. Farriers are self-employed almost without exception, running a round of clients, so there is no occupational sick pay and no statutory sick pay. The van, tools, forge equipment and registration costs continue through an absence. Where an apprentice is employed, their wages continue too, which makes an absence actively expensive rather than simply unprofitable.
Why the definition of incapacity decides it
The clause is close to decisive here. A farrier with a damaged back, hip or knee is a healthy person capable of a great deal of work, and an any occupation definition will say exactly that. An own occupation definition asks whether you can shoe horses, which requires taking an animal's weight while bent double, and the honest answer for a damaged lower back is usually no.
The Posture Is The Trade
This is the most physically unforgiving working position on this site and it is worth describing properly, because people assume the risk in this job is the kick.
To shoe a hoof the farrier must lift the horse's leg and hold it, which means supporting a significant part of a large animal's weight while bent forward at the waist and rotated, frequently with the hoof clamped between their own knees. That position is then held while rasping, measuring, nailing and finishing. Repeat for four feet, then the next horse, several horses a day, for a career.
The lower back, hips and knees take that load and it is cumulative rather than sudden. Farriers in their forties commonly have back problems and farriers in their fifties commonly have decisions to make about how much longer they can do it. The kick is the thing that might happen; the posture is the thing that definitely does.
Registration Means The Work Is Gated
Shoeing horses in the UK is work that requires registration, which gives a long absence an extra dimension most trades do not have.
The practical consequence is worth thinking about rather than worrying about: a long period out means registration and any associated requirements need to remain in order for you to return to chargeable work, and those costs continue while nothing is coming in. It is one more fixed outgoing on the list.
It also means the trade cannot be done casually or partially while recovering. You either hold the registration and do the work properly, or you do not do it. There is no reduced version to come back to, which is another reason the payment period matters as much as the start date.
If you stop
Horses need shoeing on a cycle of roughly six to eight weeks and the cycle does not pause, so clients will find another farrier within a fortnight. Shoeing rounds are built on years of relationships and recommendation, and because the work is regular and essential, a client who has moved tends to stay moved. The round is the business and it empties quickly.
Nothing From Work, And A Round With Real Value
Self-employed farriers have no death in service, so a household has whatever has been arranged personally.
What is worth knowing in this trade is that the round itself has value to another farrier, because it is regular, essential and recurring work. That value depends on somebody being able to service it long enough to pass it on, rather than it dispersing within a month.
So the sum has two parts: what the household needs, and enough that the business can be handed on or sold properly, plus clearing any van and equipment finance so a family is not left with payments and a forge they cannot use.
The Most Likely Ending In This Trade
Farriery has a physical expiry date and most farriers know it, which makes critical illness cover unusually relevant here rather than a secondary consideration.
A back, hip or knee that cannot take the posture ends the trade while leaving somebody employable, which is exactly the gap income protection does not fill once you are judged fit for other work.
A lump sum funds the move: training and assessment work, the retail and supply side, or an entirely different career. For a one-person business with no pension scheme behind it, that capital at the point the body gives out is the difference between a planned change and a crisis.
If You Have An Apprentice
Farriery is trained through apprenticeship, and an employed apprentice turns an absence from lost income into a running cost.
Their wages continue, they cannot do the chargeable work unsupervised, and their training is interrupted. Meanwhile the van, forge equipment and registration costs run on. For a one-person business with an apprentice, those fixed obligations are usually what decides whether the business survives a long absence.
Cover can be sized to include them rather than just your personal income. It is also worth thinking about whether another farrier could service the round temporarily, because the round is the asset and it is the thing that disappears fastest.
Common questions
What actually ends most farriery careers?+
The posture rather than an accident. Supporting a horse's leg while bent double and twisted, several times per horse and several horses a day, damages lower backs, hips and knees cumulatively. Being kicked is the risk people expect; the working position is the one that does the reliable damage.
I am self-employed. What do I get if I cannot work?+
Nothing by way of sick pay, and no statutory sick pay either, while van, tools, forge equipment and registration costs continue, plus any apprentice's wages. That usually means a shorter deferred period makes sense than it would for an employed worker.
Would being kicked be covered?+
Being unable to work through injury is what the cover responds to, however it happened. Kick and crush injuries from horses tend to be serious rather than minor, which usually means a long absence, so it is worth looking at how long the benefit pays as well as when it starts.
How long should the benefit run for?+
Worth thinking about carefully, because shoeing runs on a six to eight week cycle that does not pause. Clients find another farrier within a fortnight and tend to stay, so the income loss continues well after you are able to work again. That argues for a longer payment period.
My back is already a problem. Can I get cover?+
Worth asking rather than assuming not. Honestly, anything already in your medical records will be asked about and may affect the terms offered, and acceptance and any exclusions are the insurer's decision. In this trade, applying before it is documented is a materially better position.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.