Dr. Schott is a native of Ohio who was an avid polo player through high school and college. In fact, he chose his undergraduate college (Cornell) because it had a polo team on which he could play.

The very first month Dr. Schott was in practice, his boss went on vacation, and he was left to manage a horse with chronic renal failure. It was that early case that stimulated a career-long involvement. He subsequently became interested in endurance races after he was asked if he would volunteer to be the official veterinarian at an endurance ride event. He’d had an interest in exercise physiology during vet school and had studied the effect of exercise on kidney function during his PhD, so endurance racing brought together several areas that appealed to him.

Nowadays, he’s often on the road, collecting information from endurances races in Michigan, as well as nationally and internationally. He’s done one 25-mile ride himself.

Dr. Schott is married to Dr. Annette Petersen, a veterinary dermatologist at MSU, and they have two children, Melissa and Noah. Their household includes three horses, all Thoroughbreds -- LeNez, Forever in Orbit, and Peter. Two of them are research horses he adopted, and all three have won at least one race.

They also have a pony named Rusty, an adopted donkey named Sabi, and two dogs, a golden retriever named Simon and a Lab/Newfoundland cross named Lea. The menagerie further includes three cats – Oscar, Pumpkin, and Katie -- a military macaw named Matti, and saltwater aquarium fish.

When he is not working, Dr. Schott likes to spend time with his family, work around their farm, and travel up north. He also likes to run.