The Scratchy Stick Review!

Scratchy Stick Review

I was given the opportunity to share something incredible with all of you. It’s called the scratchy stick, and it is an awesome, and affordable tool for you and your horse!

A little over 2 years ago, a really incredible equestrian reached out to me and we started talking all things YouTube. She was also trying to make a go of having a YouTube channel, and she had some questions about this whole YouTube thing. She is still making videos, and has a lot of fantastic ones that she has shared with us. Her name is Deanna Preis, and her YouTube channel is called Shade Tree Stables.

And she is a little bit different than me, for starters, she’s a professional horse trainer. And she has some pretty incredible videos of how to teach your horse to do the Spanish walk, as well as making an obstacle course for your horse. (Which I really want to do, but just haven’t made the time to do so, yet.)

And she is very creative. So creative in fact that she has come up with an incredible new tool for equestrians. It’s called The Scratchy Stick.

And it’s a tool to reward your horse, while also being practical on the end of a riding crop, or a dressage whip.

I was so excited when Deanna reached out to me and asked if I would like to try it out, and see what I thought of it.

She sent it to me super fast, and let me tell you, this thing is so cool!

She decided to invent this because she is of the mindset that horses respond better to scratches than to being patted as a reward. And I must say, I agree with her. I mean think about it, when we pat our hourses excitedly for something done correctly, it’s like we are smacking them. Do you like being smacked? I don’t know about you, but I don’t.

But think about how your horse reacts when you scratch his favorite spot….

The neck stretches, sometimes his lip will even quiver.

And out in the wild, or even in a pasture, buddy horses will perform mutual grooming, and scratch their buddies favorite scratchy spot.

This is why she made this product. To offer a reward to all of our horses! And because she was tired of destroying all of the fingers of her gloves when she would reward her horses with a scratch for a job well done.

The Scratchy Stick

And the construction of this scratchy stick is really great. On first look, it looks like a normal dressage whip.

But on closer inspection, by the handle, you have the scratchy part of the stick. It is so nice. And it is pretty much invisible to anyone who doesn’t know what it is. The “scratchy” teeth end is mounted to a traditional 40-inch dressage whip with rubber grip handle. Useful for both mounted and in-hand training sessions, this training aid makes it easy to tell your horse they’ve done a good job!

And the rubber grip is awesome! When I’m holding the scratchy stick, it feels very secure, and it is so easy to hold and carry.

So you can use it for training, like you would a normal whip or crop. And then when your horse does what you ask him or her to do, then  you can give him a reward with the scratchy stick! This is such a fantastic idea!

Leave it to Deanna to come up with something so helpful, useful and unique.

If you want to try it out for yourself, you will be happy to know, it’s affordable too. The scratchy stick is a patent pending product, and it is currently being carried by several different online retailers, but my favorite, Riding Warehouse has it! The riding crop is 26” long and costs $17.95. The dressage whip is 40” long and it costs $19.95.

There are lots of other online retailers that are beginning to carry Deanna’s Scratchy Stick, and I can understand why. This is a wonderful tool no matter what discipline you ride!

The key features of the scratchy stick are:

• A positive reinforcement tool
• Scratchy teeth cap
• Mounted cap on traditional 40″ dressage whip
• Can be used for in-hand work as well as mounted

And the dressage whip is made very well. It feels good in my hand, and it’s easy to flip around while in the saddle to offer my obliging partner a quick reward. I really like this tool!

And Deanna talks about this way better than I can.

She does it so well in fact, she has another video sharing how to use it. I love this. Not only do you get a great training tool, but you also get to see how she has intended for it to be used.

So if you are looking for an affordable dressage whip (which I love) or riding crop that also offers you an opportunity to reward your horse, please consider the Scratchy Stick. It is so helpful, both in the saddle as well as on the ground.

Frisby loves it, but he was too dirty to get hos picture with it. Plezant is super sensitive to everything, and yet, he enjoys it too. Although, in odd places. But that’s my horse!

Oh, and while you are perusing the videos that Deanna has created for us, why not subscribe to her channel? She has a lot of incredible videos, and I know she would love the support!

Happy Riding!