Drop Your Stirrups - Jenny Schwartz

05/10/2026

For horse show parents who think they know — and for the ones who really do. 🎱

I built something for us.

I know what it’s like. Standing at the rail. Watching your daughter pick up the wrong lead. And you KNOW things, because you rode too.

So I asked Claude AI to build me a Magic 8 Ball specifically designed to help you preserve your relationship with your kid, your trainer — and more importantly, keep you from becoming the typecast for Real Horse Show Moms of Devon. 🎬

Here’s what the ball says:

🎱 She’s on the wrong diagonal → “She’ll make that mistake once. Let her.”

🎱 She picked up the wrong lead → “Walk away.”

🎱 She missed the distance → “She didn’t fall off. Make the sign of the cross and say Amen.”

🎱 She fell off → “Chocolate or Vanilla Häagen-Dazs tonight?”

🎱 She’s crying from disappointment → “Just sit in it with her.”

🎱 She thinks she was robbed → “It all comes out in the wash.”

🎱 She congratulated another rider → “Smile. That’s good sportsmanship.”

🎱 Other parents want your opinion on the class → “I plead the 5th.”

Because some thoughts are better left in the schooling ring.

Link in bio if you want to try it 😂.

04/16/2026

Nobody talks about this in the horse world.

I’m going to.

I grew up competing in hunters, jumpers, and equitation on a national level. I even won a Grand Prix. I have watched uber talented riders — people who won major events, bought and sold expensive horses, earned 15% commissions on millions of dollars in horse sales over decades-long careers —
end up with nothing to show for it.

I know of one famous rider who had it all. Who at one point had to sell her jewelry and live out of her car.

There are a lot of those stories.

The horse business is capital intensive, irregular income, high risk, low margin.

Just because horse people run multi-million dollar businesses doesn’t mean they have money. It means they spend it.

Equestrians are rich in EQ — resilience, discipline, grit, empathy. The barn builds all of it.

But without basic financial literacy, you could spend your whole life chasing titles and prize money and end up living well below what you had imagined for yourself.

And age and physical capabilities will catch you.

Financial literacy is a fundamental life skill. Like learning to boil an egg. Make pasta. Fold a fitted sheet.

30 states now require financial literacy for a high school student to graduate. Society already decided this is non-negotiable.

Horses set you up with EQ.

What’s probably more important? Financial IQ.

I created a personal finance course with equestrians in mind — Rein In Your Finances — and there’s a Try Before You Buy option so you can explore before you commit.

Comment FINLIT below and I’ll send you the link.
🐴

Source: National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), 2025

04/08/2026

Why should companies be actively recruiting horse people?

Because of EQ — and not the equitation kind.

Emotional Intelligence is the fastest-growing skill set employers are searching for right now — and the World Economic Forum, Forbes, and every major hiring platform are sounding the alarm about the skills gap.

Horse people aren’t the skills gap. Horse people are the answer.

Riders, grooms, working students, and the unsung heroes — the parents with the open checkbook who made it all possible — you have been building world-class EQ since the first time you got on a horse. You just don’t know how to talk about it yet.

The barn taught you resilience, integrity, agility, and reliability in ways that no classroom, no corporate training program, and no other sport can replicate.

The World Economic Forum just put those exact skills on their most wanted list.

It’s time to let companies know that horses are the incubators for EQ skills.

Comment PLAYBOOK below and I’ll send you the free Big EQ Playbook — the guide that translates your horse experience into résumé language and LinkedIn keywords so you get past the AI screener and in front of the humans who need to hire you.

🐴 This one’s for all of you.

Sources: WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 → weforum.org “Why Emotional Intelligence Is A Critical Career Advantage” — Tracy Brower, PhD, Forbes, February 16, 2026

04/02/2026

Did you know there are 38 million U.S. households with equestrian enthusiasts? I came across that number recently (American Horse Council 2024 study), and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Think about how many adults leave the horse world to pursue a career that pays enough for them to one day get back to horses.

I get it. I was one of them. I left horses in my early 20's to go to Wall Street. Got married. Raised a family. Got an MBA (wrote my capstone paper on the equestrian industry and the different business models in fact). And found myself back in horses with my daughters and also got involved running an equine non profit, which was so much fun and very rewarding.

I'm thinking about the 22-year-old "barn rat". The one who is facing adulting right now. The one who maybe had a big show record, stood in the spotlight, on the podium, and now is facing a cubicle and asking "What is a W-2? and who the heck is F**A?"

In today's world, I really feel for her/him. The job market is uncertain. The return on investment of a college education is genuinely questionable when you're staring down student loans and credit card debt. AI is reshaping entire industries almost overnight. Housing costs. And social media, for all its gifts, has a real dark side for young people trying to figure out who they are.

There was no one telling me how to build a life that somehow could keep horses in it. I felt I had to choose...for awhile. And that's not really the case.

I wished someone had written me a letter to tell me how to set myself up for a future that would allow me to have horses in it: about career opportunities, what skill sets to pursue, and most importantly how to manage my own money.

So I wrote one.

It's called Dear 22-Year-Old Barn Rat.

Whether you're living this right now or it feels like yesterday, it's for you, if you'd like a copy, comment "Letter" below or send me a DM and I'll get it to you. Completely free. 🐴🤍

— Jenny | dropyourstirrups.com

03/25/2026

See you tomorrow!

03/23/2026

The conversation about the future of horse sport is happening Thursday. Be in it. 🐴

Trainers Symposium East · March 26 · Zoom ·

AI tools, the Riding School Model, subscription pricing — and the money question you should actually be asking.

Comment LINK and I’ll send you the registration info.

03/19/2026

Listen.

Nobody warned me about the whiplash of going from the show ring to a cubicle.

One day you’re on the podium, the next you’re googling “what is a W-2 and who the heck is F**A.” 😅

If that’s you — or was you — I wrote you a letter.

It’s free.

It’s called Dear 22-Year-Old Barn Rat and it covers the 5 things I wish someone had told me about adulting, money, and keeping horses in your life.

Comment LETTER below and I’ll send it straight to your DMs. 🐴⬇️

horselife formerhorsegirl moneyadvice

03/03/2026

This is a great article by EquestrianProfessional.com on honing in your value proposition, and how passion must be cultivated. That's how equestrian business owners build strong programs with a loyal customer base.

https://www.equestrianprofessional.com/public/The-Foundational-Reasons-Policies-and-Pricing-Feel-Heavy-And-How-to-Fix-It.cfm?awt_a=4a3f&awt_l=8Xj7S&awt_m=JwL93PPKF2af3f

In most horse businesses, friction around policies and pricing is not caused by the policies or the pricing. It is caused by missing foundations. When the structural pieces of a business are weak — an unclear value proposition, vague brand position, underdeveloped aspiration — even reasonable po...

02/28/2026

This is a topic that consistently comes up whenever anyone wants to talk about money and planning. Families need a centralized library or file system for all family assets. Know where is your stuff is people. And maybe hold off a little while longer with connecting your AI twin to your main computer files for now.

Anxiety can grow when one half of a couple doesn’t have access to the family’s digital life and finances.

02/28/2026

This is a topic that consistently comes up whenever anyone wants to talk about money and planning. Families need a centralized library or file system for all family assets. Know where is your stuff is people. And maybe hold off a little while longer with connecting your AI twin to your main computer files for now.

Anxiety can grow when one half of a couple doesn’t have access to the family’s digital life and finances.

02/26/2026

Are you the Lemming?👀