This is the next in a series of profiles of members of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022, which will inducted in November. For more information, visit gbsohf.com.
After spending a lifetime in equestrian, Susan Schoellkopf takes Monday afternoons to sit in a large red and green plaid-patterned chair inside the Buffalo Equestrian Center. She observes a young rider and her trainers as they slowly walk to the ring and prepare to mount a horse.
“I would move on and put the hat on right there,” Schoellkopf told the trainer as the rider climbed onto a small platform. “I would just head on down, no questions.”
Schoellkopf kept a close eye on the rider, who wore a smile, and eventually, a small giggle escaped her lips. It was the first time the rider had ever been on a horse.
“These horses know the minute a child is on them that they have special needs,” Schoellkopf said. “They’re all great. There isn’t a bad one in the group, so they really get along with the kids.”
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Schoellkopf was introduced as a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame on June 8. Learning her craft in the same barn she now owns and operates, Schoellkopf has trained seven National High Score award horses. She is a top national horse judge and the executive director of the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center, an equestrian center in the heart of downtown.
She said she believes in growing the equestrian community in Buffalo, allowing children to experience therapeutic riding, equestrian lessons and horsemanship competitions.
“It makes everything I’ve done here and the work that we’ve done worth it,” Schoellkopf said. “We work hard here for all the programs and it’s just a huge honor.”
Schoellkopf was a member of The Saddle and Bridle Club before SBS Farms, Inc., took over in 1982. She was a top equestrian rider in the state, and competed at Madison Square Garden for various shows with her older sisters.
“I always wanted to come back to this place because it’s where I started riding,” She said. “But when I took it over, it was falling down around me. So I always tell my kids now, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”
Built in 1922, the 160-stall facility is a historical landmark. But the barn was worn down with missing or smashed windows and a flooded ring. With SBS Farms considered one of the top barns in the Northeast, the board decided to become not-for-profit and took appropriate actions to keep the century-old building alive.
“I had a really strong board that put everything together,” Schoellkopf said. “And when we were able to become a not-for-profit, it became that much better. There was no way we’d be able to do everything to get it where it needs to be without it being a not-for-profit.”
Schoellkopf is an R-rated horse judge, allowing her to judge U.S. Equestrian Federation competitions to the Fourth Level. By 2010, she was one of the first U.S. Hunter Jumper Association-certified trainers. She has trained five national champion horses – GG Valentine, Gabriel, Big Bad Wolf, Kansas and Jersey Boy.
“We’ve had some great success at SBS Farms, including the national winners,” Schoellkopf said. “[SBS Farms] has been a huge success across the country.”
Before being selected for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, Schoellkopf was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame in 2014.
Although she no longer rides horses, Schoellkopf helps oversee the Buffalo Equestrian Center. As executive director for the Buffalo Therapeutic Riding Center, she cheers on the children ages five to 18 with each lesson. The riding center was created to help children with Autism and Down’s Syndrome, among other mental and physical disabilities, experience basic equestrian skills. For most of the children, it is their first interactions with horses.
“The therapeutic center is really about self esteem,” Schoellkopf said. “Hand-eye coordination, confidence, tools that we give them to help them with life. It’s all pieces of the puzzle.”
Emma Walters, a professional equestrian and Schoellkopf’s longtime student, is a trainer who helps at the Buffalo Equestrian Center. Walters trained with Schoellkopf for 10 years, and became SBS Farms’ first working-student in April 2017.
The two met when Walters received a gift certificate for a free lesson. Although nervous, Walters knew it was an opportunity to help her career and work with one of the best in the business.
“That was definitely a dream of mine to go and ride there,” Walters said. “I remember being so scared, but I wore my nicest clothes and rode as well as I could. And then I realized that it was such a good place and ended up staying.”
Walters volunteered for therapeutic sessions while she was in school, and began competing with SBS Farms. She won a Grand National Championship in 2018 with her horse, Crisp, during one of her last years as a junior. Walters, the day-to-day barn operations manager for SBS Farms, now works with riders of all levels, including competitive riders.
Part of her success came from Schoellkopf’s love for the horses and her detail-oriented manor, Walters said. She uses her trainer’s teachings regularly, and has stayed close with Schoellkopf.
“Everything we do is by the book, there’s no shortcuts,” She said. “She instills that in us, so it’s exactly as it should be.”
Walters said that without Schoellkopf’s dedication to all three organizations, equestrian wouldn’t be as well known to Buffalo.
“She has such a good reputation in the equestrian community,” Walters said. “But I think a lot of people outside the horse world don’t realize what we do, and that it’s really competitive. So it’s great that the Buffalo community is recognizing that, because it can open the door for the equestrian community a little more.”
