SKM Equine Services, LLC

03/26/2025

Baby Saint is almost ready to go back home and continue on with his training with his mom, Kim Reynolds. He is going to be superstar when he starts his career whether it’s dressage or over fences 🥰

03/24/2025

If you want to kill a big dream, tell it to a small minded person.

03/22/2025

We will miss having this sweet gelding in our lesson program. Tonka is the perfect horse for teaching beginners.

03/21/2025

Our cats are not just barn cats to us they are part of our family. We sadly and unexpectedly had to lay Bob to rest today. We are going to miss our smallest cat with the biggest personality.

Bob’s favorite pastimes were climbing up our legs, perching on our shoulders, and sitting on his favorite horse Bonnie.

Thank you Lakeview Animal Clinic for your compassion today and for helping Bob pass peacefully. Thank you Damian for making sure he had the perfect final resting place. 💕

~Bob~
August 2024-March 20th 2025

03/20/2025

🔥Fancy and Gorgeous Mare!🔥

❤️ Meet Windy's Southern Sweet T (Diva)

🔥Registered POA 2015 mare by Pardon Me John T (ApHc-65341) x Dbl D's Sweet Streak by Colonel Streak

🔥14.1 hands

🔥Extremely intelligent, talented, and versatile.

🔥Diva is a very sweet mare. This gorgeous mare has been with us for quite some time. She is well schooled with all the basic buttons you need to excel in the dressage ring, ranch riding, hunters or on the trails!!

🔥She is quiet to ride but feely enough to not be boring for the more experienced rider. She has a real look at me presence and everyone is drawn to her when they walk in the barn! She is a true horseman’s horse, and absolutely rides the part. She neck reins with one hand, or can go off and collect up in the bridle. This girl goes around both ways, knows her leads, and has a great stop. On the trail, Diva is sure-footed and reliable. This girl has been trail ridden all over and will go anywhere you point her!

🔥Diva is the definition of an easy keeper. No special feed, farrier work, or living situation. She is a round bale and water kind of girl!

🔥She has a great temperament, is easy to do everything with around the barn, stands for the farrier, and ties easily to be bathed and saddled. She is very personable and wants to be everyone's friend (especially if you bring her cookies!) We really love this one, and someone needs to buy her before Salina decides she needs to keep her, because she does NOT want to part with this one!!

🔥100% sound and no vices.

🔥Can be seen and tried in New Florence, Pa

🔥Call or text Salina Springer (724)875-4816 for more details or to book an appointment to come try her!

🔥Video https://youtu.be/2uy4zxqi_U4?si=VBnYOYHsk8R5opWO

🔥Lowest $1x,###

03/19/2025

Kaitlyn and Talk About Bully 💕

03/17/2025

💥 Perfect Partner for a Beginner or First Time Horse Owner

❤️Meet Old Man Mudd aka Tonka!

🌟 2005 ApHC Leopard Appaloosa gelding

🌟Stands Approx 15.2 hands

🌟Quiet, easy to handle, and loves attention

🌟 100% sound and no vices.

💥Tonka is an absolute sweetheart, and is a favorite in our barn. This incredibly quiet and kind gelding has been with us since 2023, and was a great teacher and first horse for his young and (at the time) beginner owner. We also knew his previous owner and all of his history. His current owner is now ready to move up and it’s time for Tonka to teach a new person. In addition to teaching his owner he also has taught numerous riders in our lesson program and helped them build confidence. As a bonus Tonka is also an incredible trail horse!! This gelding is extremely patient, never gets mad or upset, and wants to please his rider. He is also incredibly calm and gentle to handle and be around. This is a great opportunity to buy a solid beginner safe horse who has been meticulously taken care of and will last for years to come!

🌟Can be seen and tried in New Florence, Pa.

🌟Call Salina Springer (724)875-4816 for more details or to book an appointment to come and try him!

💥Video https://youtu.be/mu1NAKzskGM?si=lZcuoTkO-762Hts8
💥Video https://youtu.be/lvh-8oGmE2M?si=_TPZlg4QT84SzHVl

🌟Mid $x,###

03/17/2025

☘️Happy Saint Patrick’s Day ☘️

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.

03/15/2025

Team “Detective Tickle Turds” is ready to start the scavenger hunt at the On the Road with Dawn and Clea Half Baked Show!!

03/15/2025

Helluva Design’s first ever exhibition 💕

03/15/2025

The 2025 season is off to a good start after day 1 at the Half Baked show. Everyone had great runs for the first show back and we are so happy all of our riders’ hard work over the winter paid off! 🥰

Congratulations to Emily and She’s A Bob N Boon for winning the Open 2D Poles and placing 2nd in the Youth 1D Poles!!

03/13/2025

While we didn’t really slow down much over the winter and maintained a full lesson and training book, we are about to get BUSY as we kick off our 2025 show season this weekend!!

Here is what we have going on this spring!!

3/14-3/16 Half Baked Show at Garwood Arena
3/21 Dressage Clinic with Kim Reynolds at SKM
3/28-3/30 NELBRA Rodeo at Crooked Creek
4/11-4/13 NELBRA Rodeo at Crooked Creek
4/17-4/20 The Panty Raid Futurity at Champions Center
4/25-4/27 Beast of the East/Rebel Soul IBRA Preferred Show at Garwood Arena
5/3-5/4 IBRA Show at Diamond 7 Arena
5/17-5/18 Kristin Weaver Brown Barrel Racing Clinic at SKM
5/23-5/25 Leonard’s Appreciation Show at Garwood Arena

03/12/2025

We don’t mind being “the small trainer” We are a boutique business that takes pride in offering quality education for horse and rider, excellent horse care/management, and exceptional customer service with a personal feel. We want our clients to reach their goals as much as they do and we don’t give up on them!!

We truly believe in quality over quantity and we keep our numbers manageable, so we can offer our very best to every client. We don’t want to become so big that we sacrifice the ability to provide the highly personalized services and experiences that our clients love, and that we are becoming well known for. 💜

That time when your horse isn’t quite right, but you don’t know why…
The small trainer notices.

Who’s going to spend two hours with your two year-old every day to make sure they get a solid foundation?
The small trainer.

What about the horse who doesn’t have the strongest maternal lines?
It’s the small trainer that gives them a chance.

You’ve never done it before, but wanna give it a try?
The small trainer won’t judge you.

Who’s going to take an extra 30 minutes to make sure that turn is in a perfect place to end on?
The small trainer.

Who’s going to walk through the barn at 10 o’clock at night and lay eyes on your pride and joy themselves?
The small trainer.

Who’s going to do their very best to make your dreams affordable?
The small trainer.

Who will keep your horse liking their job?
The small trainer.

Who will try every trick in the book to pull every ounce of talent out of your horse?
The small trainer.

Don’t underestimate the small trainer.

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📸Shannon Anderson Photography

03/11/2025

We love the Equiband Pro system in our barn because it is VERSATILE! The system can be used in many different settings from rehab, to post-surgery recovery, to training and conditioning.

The bands are be a very useful tool for helping encourage horses to use their hind ends, engage their core muscles, and stretch over their top line.

We often use the Equibands to rehab horses and to help build conditioning and proper muscles. It is really beneficial in activating those muscles which can be hard for us riders to get the horse to use.

03/09/2025

We are seeing lots of spots in our barn 👀….. If you love spotted horses keep an eye on our page this week as we start to list the first of our 2025 SKM Signature Horses!!

03/09/2025

These special ponies always enjoy being pampered 🥰

Interested in the benefits of these different therapeutic modalities for your horse, or wanting to schedule a session for your horse? Send us a message!!

03/06/2025

It’s not too often we get to do a mother/daughter lesson! Skylar’s lesson mate has unfortunately been down with the stomach flu, so she joined her mom’s lesson this week. It was a lot of fun!!

03/05/2025

💣 A Toxic Time Bomb: Bad clients - Not everyone is your customer. 💣

The last few years have been dedicated to talking about the great horses and wonderful clients we've had over the years as we are eternally grateful for them and SKM would not be what it is without them. However, we have definitely had quite a few doozies as well that we either asked to leave or they left on their own accord knowing they were on borrowed time in our program.

When we see bad reviews and snippy comments about a barn or a training program our first thought is if the person writing such things is really a victim, or if they were a toxic client that went so far they ended up being evicted for outrageous behavior. It happens far more often than you think and judgement should be reserved until you know both sides of the story.

“….a toxic client is someone who consistently disregards boundaries, doesn't respect your expertise, or engages in unreasonable demands."

There are endless articles, facebook groups, etc., about bad trainers, bad breeders, bad horse traders, even bad organizations. However, there is little feedback about bad clients.

There is a profound silence in the industry over who are bad clients and exactly what they do that makes them so. It's almost as though they get a free pass to barn hop, cause drama, spread rumors, and/or not pay their bills, while pitting barns and professionals against each other.

Then they leave a trail of frustration, bad debts, or bad reviews in their wake, moving on to their next professional.

The sheer amount of energy and money that gets wasted dealing with these professional victims costs us dearly, and the buck has to stop with us.

So how do you do your best to avoid bad clients?

1. Contracts, really specific contracts.

2. Set ground rules. Meltdowns are not to be tolerated. A snippy or passive- aggressive attitude gets them fired or tossed out of the barn around here. If someone is paying you to be the expert, then you're the expert, don't let them talk down to you.

3. Don’t go out of your way to accommodate people that constantly ask your opinion, but instead of listening they either do what they want anyway, or ask 15 other people for their opinion until they get the answer they wanted to hear. We call those people ASKHOLES. Time leeches are some of the worst drains on your business and mental health. Ungrateful clients are masters of this. They certainly don't care and their narcissism puts their needs over your safety and professionalism every time and they don’t need to be in your barn.

4. Do NOT keep excusing late payments. Yes, we all have short months, but REPEATED late payments puts you in a bind to pay your bills and is disrespectful to you and your business. They don’t go to the grocery store and ask if they can pay for their groceries next week when they get paid, so why should it be asked of you?!

5. Have clients fill out an application for services and ask for references. This is a new one for us, but we now ask potential clients for professional references. Vet, farrier, previous trainer (if applicable), etc.

6. Set up an interview/barn tour beforehand to meet prospective clients to see if they will be a good fit for your barn. If there are any red flags do not accept them as a customer. Trust your gut. We have gone against our gut feelings a few times when someone seemed nice and we ignored some minor red flags. It always came back to bite us in the butt. Don’t second guess yourself!

7. Form good relationships with other barns and trainers in your area and look out for each other. If we have a client that was undesirable looking or needing to relocate we will reach out to others as a professional courtesy to give a heads up and we always appreciate when the favor is returned. Just to clarify this does not pertain to clients that were just not a good fit for our program. This is for the clients that it’s like pulling teeth to get them to pay their bill, bounce checks regularly, don’t respect facility rules, the trainer’s time, and/or cause a lot of drama.

Do not be afraid to set boundaries and enforce them. If all of us professionals stick together and look out for each other hopefully the toxic clients become few and far in between.

This industry can and WILL knock the wind out of your sails if you let it and it’s up to us not to let it.