Scotch River Ranch

24/05/2024

Where are my chestnut mare lovers?!

This special little girl is available anytime as she unfortunately lost her mama. She is already such a gem and will just keep getting better!

Take advantage of a good deal on what will surely be an athletic and sweet future partner

21/02/2024

Scottie is a (July 19) 2023 c**t

His sire is CS Limelight (Stagefright/Buntspecht/Fantast) of Crosby Stables in Falmouth
His dam is Check Point (Checkmate/Voltaire/Riverman)

He is a sizeable fellow with good bone and a lovely personality.

He is available for consideration, located in PEI - shipping can easily be arranged across Canada

31/10/2023

26/10/2023

Dearest Riders,

Please let me remind you of something very important. Horse showing, riding and training are insanely difficult. If you have a crappy ride, a less than stellar show ring result (or if you made your trainer want to pull their hair out today), it just means there's more to learn. The people who had good rides today are not exempt from disappointing rides tomorrow. They also have bad days and, if they're very experienced riders, they've had a whole bunch of bad days.

There will always be someone out there on a more talented horse, someone with a bigger bank account, someone who never struggled to learn to sit the trot...life isn't fair. You probably can't win the lottery or grow 5 more inches of leg. You can, however, wake up every morning and be thankful that you're able to ride horses. Work hard at becoming the best rider you can be with the body and the bank account that you have right now. Work at being the rider your horse wants up there on his back. Your horse's opinion of your riding is more valuable than any judge's opinion could ever be.

19/09/2023

Massimîliano Cortis Clinic at H&H Horses in PEI

Sept 30 and Oct 1

$345
Limited stabling available

He coaches all levels so take advantage of this great opportunity to learn!

Massimiliano Cortis is a coach of the Italian Equestrian Federation and a showjumper with international experience.
He has coached showjumpers, eventers, and dressage riders in many different countries, from pony classes to GP level and he has taught clinics to riders in Italy, New Zealand, Ukraine, United States, Poland, Canada.
He competed at international Grand Prix level, and he has been in the top 10 placed riders at the Italian Championships.
His trainers were the Olympian Bruno Scolari, the french world known coach Eric Louradour, former coach of the Italian Junior Team, who worked for years with the former Chef d’Equipe of the US Team George Morris, and Guido Dominici, who was a member of the Italian Team, a semifinalist at the World Championships, a finalist at the European Championships, he was the trainer of the Junior Belgian Team, he worked with the legendary Nelson Pessoa, and he trained with the Olympic and World Champion Rodrigo Pessoa.
Massimiliano was also trained by the famous dutch coach Henk Nooren, Chef d’Equipe of many national teams, now of the french team, and by the World Cup Champion Beat Mandli.
Many of Massimiliano’s students have developed successfully to international GP level, and got medals at National Championships.
Max was the coach of the Ukrainian riders at World Cup shows and one of his students won the National Championships.
In 2023 his students won the bronze medal at the Polish National Championships, competed with clear rounds in the Nations Cup at the CSIO of Gorla, Italy, in the Nations Cup of Lamprechthausen, Austria, in the Nations Cup of Zuidwolde, The Netherlands and competed at the European Championships Y 2023.

16/09/2023

Such a stunner! This c**t is super personable and available

09/09/2023

Full sibling to Pepper, this sweet c**t is by CS Limelight (Stagefright/Buntspecht/Fantast) and out of Checkpoint (Checkmate/Voltaire/Riverman). He is curious and bright with super personality.

05/05/2023

Muscle memory and how it effects your riding.

Cross training is generally healthy, but for adults who are picking up riding later in life and/or have spent considerable time doing a different sport, the muscle memory from your other activities, is going to show up in your equitation. 
Truth time- if you have spent considerable time cycling, or doing ballet before learning basic riding/equitation, you’re gonna struggle!! Cyclists tend to tip forward and draw the leg up. Life long equestrians tend to develop stringy quad muscles, cyclists developing bulky ones…. It’s just such different muscling! Ballet dancers have anterior pelvic tilt and turn those hips way out- equestrians need to turn in to stabilize. Ballet dancers turned equestrians have a heckuva time rotating their thigh so that it lays flat on the horse. Instead, they tend to point their knees out and grip with the calves, and it can be a HARD habit to replace!!

 Once upon a Time ages ago, I had a student that (without me present) decided to ride ba****ck. Her older quiet horse wasn’t used to it and scooted. It didn’t sound like that eventful of a fall, but she was really banged up! I kept having her describe it to me, because I couldn’t understand how she received the injuries she did. Her forearm and the FRONT of one hip were horribly bruised. I had never heard of someone falling like that- especially from such a seemingly benign fall. It was just so weird to me that I suggested she practice some tumbling, so that when she inevitably finds herself hurling towards the ground again, her body find a better position to land in. (Some of you have matched the story with the picture and probably have this all figured out by now.) When I told her she needed to practice falling, she proudly exclaimed, “oh yeah! back when I played beach volleyball we practiced landing in the sand to catch a serve.” Beach volleyball- there was the answer. What the horse did, and how she initially fell was irrelevant. Her body had hours and hours of practice, landing on the front of her hip with an arm reaching out, and as her body found itself caught between gravity and sand, it assumed the position it was taught!!  That position is probably perfectly safe playing beach volleyball, where the only thing tossing you is your own power, but add on the extra Gs of getting yeeted by a horse and….. well, thankfully it was just a simple case of just walking when the horse scooted out from under her ba****ck, because had that been a hard fall from a canter, it would have been pretty bad!

Yoga and Pilates are great for riders. So is walking backwards, and swimming is pretty good too.
Honestly, once you have good muscle memory in the tack, you can then pick up other sports and most likely be fine. The real challenge is trying to learn good equitation when you have muscle memory that is particularly contradictory. 

The great news is, you can absolutely work through it and create new neuron connections, and new muscle memory. But just like in Horses, whatever you learn first has a tendency to stick! So, if as a kid you walked on your toes, you might spend years doing Huntseat equitation with your heels stretched way down, but then you get an injury, or take a riding hiatus during college, or for pregnancy, or whatever, and a few months later, you hop back on, and find out you are struggling to keep your heels down!! I personally was a jumper before learning dressage, and I will forever have jumper tendencies in my riding!! I’ve not ridden one dang time that I don’t have to remind myself to ‘sit back/sit down”. My timing and feel is quite developed from so many years and hours in the saddle riding different disciplines, and so many different types of horses, but honestly, my nine year old students have a better seat than I do!!! 🙈

All that said, contradictory muscle memory is not a limitation- just a challenge that will always be there in the background (if not the foreground at times!)
The best thing you can do is have awareness of it and accept it as a reality that you will always need to work a little extra at building, and maintaining, the muscle memory you need in order to ride well!!

01/02/2023

ADOPT THE HORSE THAT IS “TOO OLD”.
I do quite a bit of sales and one thing I’m constantly running into is “he’s too old “.

Why is it that trainers and clients are discarding horses and ponies based on age without even seeing the horse in person or completing a PPE? I’m not talking about 32 . I’m talking about 17…18… even 22. People are living longer more productive lives into their 80’s when 30 years ago 65 was considered “old”. The same thing has happened with horses.

Obviously there is a suitable job for each horse; for their level of athleticism, taking into account any previous injuries, even
considering taking it a little easier BEFORE problems happen so that they can be productive into their later 20’s years and have a job.

But WHY is an older horse automatically bad , “high maintenance”, lame , “high risk”? Providing these horses have been well cared for these horses are every bit as useful as a younger horse and even more so. They have more experience , they are often less reactive and safer , they know their job and forgive mistakes that greener riders will make . They have great ground manners, are easy to handle , good for the vet and farrier . They bring all the attributes you are shopping for to the table . But you discard them because they are “too old”.

I can honestly say that I’ve had just as many horses that are under the age of 12 that have issues than the ones that are 15+. History is the best indicator of future soundness . More so than x rays. If a horse has made it into their teens doing a job their whole life chances are they will continue to work and be useful for a very long time IF someone reduces their workload slightly each year as they age and continues to provide therapies as needed. Many will give younger horses that luxury but not older ones because they are ”too old “ and not worth the money or work .

I have 8 seniors in my barn that work 5 days a week. Between the ages of 17-26. You know what? They have to see the vet less often than any of the younger ones . They are the best horses I could ever ask for and are treated like the unicorns they are. We always joke that the seniors get treated like FEI grand prix horses, but it’s true.
Can you really even put a price on safety ?
Reliability ?
Knowledge?
When it comes to horses I don’t think you can and if they are priced fairly don’t expect to buy it dirt cheap just because it’s not 10 years old.

The ability to carry your child or nervous amateur rider without a single worry when the wind blows and the cold weather rushes in mid January when turnout is limited sometimes .

That horse that is “too old” doesn’t need a lunge.

That horse that is “too old” doesn’t notice it dropped 15 degrees overnight.

That horse that is “too old” doesn’t need 3 training rides a week to behave and teach you what you want to learn.

Be better horsemen/horsewomen. Worship the horses that are “too old” instead of discarding . You might get lucky enough that you or your client will own the best horse you have ever had in your barn and get many more years of enjoyment from the horse than you ever thought possible.

15/01/2023

Trailer will be on the move between NS/PEI and Ontario end of Jan with spaces currently available in both directions.

Warmblood sized slant load
Able to move smaller animals in separate area
Reliable ground transport for dogs/pets