92 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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Dressage
By Dani Moritz
Linda Schultz, a USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist, had a
thriving career behind a desk as the Director of Marketing for the
United States Dressage Federation from 2006 until 2010. But
every day she worked for the USDF, she longed to ride full-time
more and more – even though she enjoyed what she was doing.
“The most fun part about being the Director of Marketing was
the people and the places I got to go on behalf of the USDF,”
Linda said. “I got to go to the World Cup a couple of times with the
booth…I also got to work at the World Equestrian Games.”
While she did have fun, working a nine to five job limited the
amount of riding she could do. “The most difficult part with working
like that and working so much was it was difficult to ride, so I’m
much happier riding full time than I was at any job.”
So she gave up being a working adult amateur to transition to
a professional trainer. Now, Linda is happily teaching and training
dressage at Fields and Fences Equestrian Center in Gurnee,
Illinois where she is accepting new clients and horses. “So far I
love it,” Linda said. “We all just get along and it’s a nice barn. The
horse care is awesome. I don’t have to ask for extra bedding. I
don’t have to ask for extra hay. The horses get whatever they
need. Everybody goes out every day. It’s the kind of facility that if
I was running it, I would run it the same way.”
Linda focuses on adult amateurs because she was in their
shoes for a long time. “I have been an adult amateur with a job,”
Linda said. “I know their challenges. I know what it feels like to
work all day in a high stress job and come out to the barn and
just relax and ride your horse. And unless you’ve been in those
shoes, it is difficult to imagine how to make that transition and
work through issues that are common to adult amateurs and I do
that really well.”
She is also able to relate well to people who have not ridden
their entire lives. Linda did not find horses until she was around 10
years old. Her passion was actually ignited on a family vacation
Linda Schultz – Better Rider, Better Ride
at a dude ranch and she didn’t begin riding seriously until high
school.
Even then, Linda spent a few years doing Appaloosa shows
on her mare Peppermint Twist before doing eventing and hunters
and eventually finding dressage. “It [hunters] wasn’t enough for
me and then I remembered dressage in the combined training
piece and I came back to dressage,” Linda said. “I took a job as a
working student in Virginia and I haven’t looked back.”
Today, she longs to help more adult amateurs excel in dressage.
As a part of her mission to help adult amateurs, she has written
a book called “Better Rider, Better Ride: Get Fit to Create Riding
Breakthroughs.” The book targets adult amateurs and teaches
them how to connect fitness with better riding.
“I wrote it for the adult amateur market because some of these
ladies really want to learn and they really want to get better but
they can only ride four days a week,” Linda said. “So they struggle
with fitness and they don’t have time to take an hour and a half
and go to the gym five days a week, that’s just craziness, so I
designed a workout program that they can adjust if they need to
their schedule and their fitness level.”
Linda and Rondo Faelleden, a horse she leased from a client.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Munson Photography
Linda riding her own Dauntless B, bred by Bridlewood
Hanoverians, at training level at a USEF/USDF rated dressage
show at Fields & Fences Equestrian Center.
Photo courtesy of Equipix.net
