Schott In The Dark Farms

06/28/2025

🐴DRESSAGE SOLUTIONS!🐴 How To Know If Your Inside Leg Is Effective?

To help you determine if your inside leg is effective in sending energy to the outside rein …

Imagine that, as a result of using the inside leg, the outside of your horse’s neck seems like a balloon filling with air and the outside rein feels like a bungee cord with positive tension and an elastic connection.
— Martin Kuhn

🎨 Sandy Rabinowitz

06/27/2025

Who Needs To Train A Better Walk….

18 Poles!! (You can use less and mark the squares out with witches hats or similar)

In my experience no-one trains the walk nearly enough. Walk movements in dressage tests are often where riders score poorly, purely because I think everyone just wants to train something more interesting than walk. IF you know how to train the walk it’s not boring at all.. it can be very technical and require a lot of feel.

So here’s a walk exercise to inspire you to train your walk more.

Halt in the bottom square far enough away from the first pole out of the square, so your horse can have one footstep of walk in the square.

Walk over the first line keeping the pace active enough not to get extra steps between poles.

The right turn onto the next line is a square turn so you need to use your outside aids and keep your horse’s shoulders almost straight… all while maintaining enough impulsion to push forward onto the next straight line, repeat the turn but to the left and halt in the last square.

Try a turn on the quarters or on the forehand in the square and ride the lines from top to bottom.

This exercise is HARD.. walk poles are hard.. this exercise will not only teach you to train a cracking quality of walk, it will refine your feel, train your horse to be a lot straighter and give you a better idea of what “through” feels like… in a low intensity exercise.

This is psychologically testing for the horse, they have to really focus on where their feet go… if they get annoyed, let them have a trot and canter away from the exercise and come back to it when they feel happier.

06/26/2025

Dear Hunter/jumper industry, I would like to give you my letter of resignation

Today,I found out that some twisted disgusting barbaric so called trainers inject horse with Euthanasia meds to win a 50 cent ribbons in the hunters.
WTF? For real who can be sick enough to even come up with the idea to try it in the first place.

With the PPEs becoming more and more ludicrous, the prices going up, and the direction the industry is taking, I made the decision to downsize my business and starting a new non horsey venture on the side.
No EquiSale is not closing, no I’m not getting out of horses, but yes I am taking a little break where I will just have a handful of sale horses in my backyard and try to keep my sanity intact.
So this week there has been a big uproar about the new rules USEF published in the light of recent events where horses have been collapsing at horse shows.
The rule (which is very poorly worded) was created in an effort to exclude horses who have collapsed, 7 days from the horse shows.
Why are horses collapsing you will ask me? Because apparently some as****es started to inject pentobarbital, a barbiturate used for sedating during euthanasia. No no this is not a typo.
You read this correctly. In order to make horses quiet for the hunters some sociopaths are using a small dose of euthanasia meds.
WTF is wrong with people?
So the substance is not traceable in the blood and the urine so the USEF is going to start testing hair (mane). Yup that’s correct, there enough as****es doing it that it justifies adding one layer of testing.
I’m sick to my stomach to even think that somebody who chooses a career with horses would think that placing at a show would justify this. Also this substance just got put on the list of medications you are not allowed to have with you at a show. Hmm hmm, scuse me, but who has a euthanasia meds vial in their show trunk on hand at all time? Also how is it possible to even get your hands on this stuff, this is not dex or SMZs.

So I knew about the medicine that induce a massive Adrenaline reaction where the horses sweat and shake for hours in their stall while it runs through their body and end up exhausted the next morning.
And now this…
So here are a few thoughts I had about this whole thing.
First, stop protecting those as****es. I don’t care how famous and great they ride. If a horse collapses and tests for any of those substances in their system, banned for life no appeal. You don’t deserve to ever be near a horse.
If you are the owners of said horse, banned for at least 1 year. (I’m going to get a lot of backlash for that) but as the owners of those horses, you need to be more than just an ATM. When you buy a horse he/she becomes your responsibility. Meaning that no trainers should be offended to be asked questions about any of the care of the horses. You should educate yourself on your own (there is magical thing called the internet where you can find an answer about pretty much any topic… listen I have diagnosed myself 10 times with orphan syndromes through web Md). jokes aside, chatGPT can answer so many questions about diet, supplements, diseases, medications. Ask a detailed list of what your horse is getting. Don’t just pay $100 meds every other week (hey chatGPT is it normal for my horse to get Banamine 22 days/month, hey ChatGPT, why am I being charged for 3 vials of dorm each month when I don’t own an elephant. Be hands on, hang out around the barn, show up without announcing yourself. Be there. Talk to other owners, other professionals … do your homework, don’t just look at ribbons, and send a check.
Require transparency, if you feel that every time you ask a question it’s a struggle to get a real answer, move on.

Other controversial take, start allowing herbal calming supplements. Would you rather compete against horses who eat a handful of pellets containing chamomile or against one that got stabbed with death juice. For real, if you let all the herbal stuff become legal, and people give their horses chamomille, valerian roots and some crushed special bush from Namibia, it’s not going to offend me. And if it’s legal then the playing field will be leveled again. You see if everybody takes a gummy, then gummies are not an advantage anymore.
So instead of trying to ban everything ban stuff that actually hurt the horses and let homeopathic stuff alone.
You really think that threatening to ban synchill and make them reformulate their products without l-Theanine was a helping hotses’ welfare? You really think that if I take my hot spooky horse in the hunters he will win because I gave him a dose of synchill AF that still contains the now banned substance will turn my hot fire breathing spooky horse into a tame compliant robotic hunter? Come on!
I would even go one step further, I would feel better with a low dose of ace being legal than the s**t we are giving those poor horses nowadays l.
Again I NEVER drug and I don’t prep and don’t use perfect prep. I’m too cheap and too lazy and so if they are not quiet naturally I don’t even entertain the hunters.
But at this point if I had to choose an evil, I would think it’s safer to give them a low dose of sedative than the stuff that make horses collapse left and right at the horse shows. I hate drugging, I’m not promoting drugging. But it’s like choosing between canabis and fentanyl, I don’t do either but canabis would have my vote as far as being safer if you are going to go the drug route.
Last but not least, I live under a rock and don’t show very much. But to all of you, who show a lot, please see something, say something. Do not be a hypocrite and turn a blind eye to things happening behind closed doors. Those horses have no voice, they need advocates and so I don’t care how famous a trainer is, if you see something bad happening, be the horses’ voices.

Now to finish on a positive note, my horse played a little bit in a change on one of his trip and still earned a 2nd place. So kudos to the judges who are starting to reward horses who are not dead to the World. I think if horses can somewhat look lively and still get top placings, maybe the incentive to drug will be less urgent. Maybe…

Let’s not get PETA a good reason to ban all equestrian sports for a few bad apples.

06/19/2025

05/11/2025

True partnership in the saddle means active listening, thoughtful guidance, and shared effort. It’s not just about sitting pretty — it’s about being present, responsive, and responsible for every stride.

A passenger follows the movement.
A partner shapes it with clarity, softness, and intention.

Whether you’re schooling at home or competing in the arena, strive to ride with your horse, not on them. That’s where real harmony begins.

05/09/2025

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
As a coach in-training, I’ve discovered how powerful visual language can be in the arena. Being a visual learner myself, I’ve found that using imagery helps riders connect with what their body should feel often more effectively than technical instructions alone. It encourages a positive, confident atmosphere while improving technique naturally.

Here are a few of phrases to use during practice ( Kids sometimes find it hard to understand my Irish accent🤣):

“𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐚.”
This helps riders keep their hands soft and steady. It creates the image of carrying something delicate, which promotes quiet, level hands and light contact on the reins.

“𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨.”
This encourages upper body awareness. Rather than turning with the hands alone, riders lead with their torso, guiding the horse with their whole body.

“𝐒𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐝.”
This phrase reminds riders to sit with confidence and balance, without stiffness. It encourages a proud, upright posture while staying supple.

“𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.”
This is useful for softening tense or rigid arms. It creates a sense of freedom and movement, especially at trot or canter, helping the rider stay in sync with the horse.

These cues don’t just teach form, they help riders feel their position and timing. They make the lesson more engaging, and the corrections easier to remember. One thing I love about Pony Club!

Do you have a phrase you use or used when you learning to ride 😃

05/04/2025

So sad but true

03/17/2025

Gene LeBell Memorial ride is in the house 👍🏻 Stunts Unlimited