One of our bushiness goals has been to define a niche market where we can serve the needs of clients who are not being well served by mainstream hoof care providers.  Looking at the economics of the hoof care service industry, we have discovered the following about supply, demand, and competition:

1. Most farriers want to work in large stables where there are a lot of horses.  Since farriers are paid per horse and not paid for travel, the more horses at each stop, the less travel.  From the farrier's perspective it is very desirable (more profitable) for them to have a full days work or several days work at one location.

2. Finding a good farrier is usually not a problem for a large stables because they have many farriers competing for their business. Therefore they can be selective and in many cases they can negotiate for better rates and/or better service.  If they are not satisfied with their current farrier, they can easily replace them with one of the other farriers knocking on their door.

3. Small private stables, farmettes, and "back yard pet" owners do not have enough horses to make it worthwhile for a "mainstream" hoof care provider to do business with them.  Their horses may not receive regular hoof care because nobody wants to "show up" for just a few horses or just one horse.  Often these individual private stables resort to using a service provider who has no formal training, skill, knowledge, or is lacking in experience because they do not have enough "business" to attract a competent farrier.

Blackburn Forge, Inc. is NOT a mainstream service provider.  We are a specialized, HIGH AVAILABILITY, boutique farrier service.  We provide custom hoof care services to an exclusive clientele of small private stables and farmettes with less than 10 horses.  In some cases we travel a considerable distance to serve the needs of ONE HORSE, because that horse is so important to its owner that they demand the best hoof care available.

We do not compete with mainstream farriers in the large stables commodity market.  Instead, we out perform the mainstream by providing superior service to a select group of clients.  Our Enhanced Hoof Power trademark service is only available to ONE HORSE AT A TIME.  The horse we are working on is the only horse that matters to us until we have fully served that horse's hoof care needs.

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