Dynamite Arabians

08/16/2025

BARN OWNER REALITY CHECK 🏚️
Things They Don't Tell You About Running a Barn:

💰 "You will make lots of money from horse boarding"
REALITY: The money comes in, and then it immediately goes out. Hay prices are up. The farrier raised his rates. The vet bill for that one colic scare was astronomical. The tractor needs a new part. The fence line needs repairs again. Your profit margin is thinner than a horse's summer coat in July, and you're mostly just moving money around to keep the place from falling apart. By the time you account for all of the costs of running a farm such as bedding, insurance, workers, feed, hay, electricity, manure removal, pasture seeding, mowing, etc, the question is, is it really worth the little money you make ?! (If any at all!)

🐴 "Horses are easy to care for"
REALITY: They are delicate creatures designed to injure themselves in the most creative and expensive ways possible. One minute they're peacefully grazing; the next, they have a mysterious abscess, a swollen leg from a kick nobody saw, or have somehow lost a shoe in a perfectly padded stall. And that's not even counting the endless cycle of feeding, mucking, blanketing, and checking for new cuts and scrapes.

👥 "Boarders will follow the rules"
REALITY: You have a meticulously crafted 10-page rulebook, but it’s treated more like a suggestion list. Gates are left open. Lights are left on. People park in front of the hay delivery truck's path. They use the "owner's only" equipment and don't clean up after themselves. You spend more time being a friendly-but-firm enforcer than you do enjoying your own horses.

☀️ "Enjoy the peaceful country lifestyle"
REALITY: That peaceful country lifestyle is a fantasy you occasionally glimpse between 16-hour workdays. Your alarm goes off before the sun, and you don't stop until long after it's set. Your weekends are filled with chores, not leisure. That tranquil silence is often broken by the sound of a horse kicking its stall door, a frantic phone call about a loose horse, or the low hum of a broken water pump.

🤝 "Everyone will get along"
REALITY: The barn is a microcosm of society, complete with cliques, gossip, and petty rivalries. One boarder is convinced another is overfeeding their horse. Someone is always complaining about a stall being mucked improperly or a blanket being put on wrong. You're not just a barn owner; you're a therapist, a mediator, and a conflict resolution specialist, all while trying to remember which horse gets a scoop of what grain and a handful of which supplement.

BUT HERE'S THE TRUTH:
When you watch a rescue horse bloom, see a kid find confidence, or catch that perfect sunset over your pastures... you remember why you chose this financially questionable but soul-filling life.

08/14/2025

What is Rescue? — We all see posts of skinny, beat up horses at a killpen with fundraising pleas to donate, so the horse doesn’t ship to slaughter. Or, we see fundraising pleas to buy the entire truckload of 30 horses that will ship to slaughter unless $50,000 are fundraised. As a result the definition of rescue has become these “life or death” kinds of operations. People give frantically because they don’t want to be the reason these poor horses end up being slaughtered.

But is that “rescue”? Of course these horses are in a desperate situation, they are treated roughly and are beat up. They deserve better. No question. However, the actual slaughter shippers are shipping their contracted quota no matter how many truckloads of horses are fundraised for. If he has a contract calling for 100 horses, he will ship 100 horses. The truckload of horses that were saved are replaced with another truckload of horses. That load of horses the donating public doesn’t see. Even though the total number of horses shipped to slaughter in Mexico or Canada have declined over the past few years, data shows that the specific shippers where most of these horses are bought from, have actually increased their slaughter shipments. One Texas operation doubled its shipping numbers two years ago and are continuing to ship in mass numbers.

So what is Rescue? In the minds of many of the donating public only rescuing from slaughter or buying horses at auctions to prevent them from shipping to slaughter constitutes Rescue. We disagree with that, as do 80-90% of all nonprofit horse rescues.

Last week, we learned of a weanling c**t that a breeder was giving away for free because he wasn’t breeding stallion material. While discussing the situation with a supporter, she stated, “this is not rescue”.

When a breeder who is sick and knows that he will die wants us to take his 15 remaining horses, that were unhandled, but were always fed well and look great, we were told by donors, “this is not rescue, they aren’t skinny”.

Many times, horse owners find themselves in a situation where they lost their job or are going through a divorce or are overhorsed, contact us to take their horses via owner relinquishment. Often we try to provide horse owners with temporary financial support to keep their horses at home, especially in a temporary crisis. “That’s not rescue. Those owners ought to be ashamed of themselves, I would never give my horse away.”

Often we are contacted by law enforcement agencies where they had to seize Arabian horses and we take those horses in. When this happens we are not allowed to post photos of the horse for fundraising purposes or to keep followers in the loop. We have even been told that law enforcement seizures are not rescue because surely we get government funds for this. No, we don’t, there isn’t a magic fund that pays for the feeding and rehabilitation of those horses.

Like us, 80-90% of all nonprofit horse rescues take horses in via owner relinquishment and law enforcement seizures. Because we are a breed specific horse rescue, at times when we see an Arabian horse at a low end auction or a loose horse auction, we try to intercept that horse, but that’s less 10% of our intake. We have even purchased a horse before from a killpen, but we don’t engage in dramatic life or slaughter fundraising tactics. When we have done this, it’s to help a specific horse that we have seen at a prior auction or when we know the history of that horse.

So can we agree on Rescue Definition? 80-90% of all American nonprofit horse rescues agree that rescue entails horse owner support and law enforcement support. This kind of rescue work is worth supporting. It is way less dramatic than the “will ship to slaughter” fundraisers, but this kind of work, especially owner support, prevents horses from ending up at auctions and killpens in the first place.

06/22/2025

Let’s Talk About the Ugly Side of the Horse Industry.

I don’t care who gets uncomfortable reading this, it needs to be said.

The horse industry is broken in so many ways, and it’s not because of the horses. It’s because of the people.

Everywhere you look, it’s the same story:
• Sh*t-talking behind each other’s backs
• Lying straight to someone’s face
• Smiling at you in the arena while hoping you fail
• Gossiping more than helping
• Spreading rumors instead of facts
• Jealousy disguised as “just being honest”
• People waiting for you to slip up so they can feel better about their own insecurities

This industry should be built on passion, hard work, and a shared love for horses. Not on stepping on each other to climb higher.

The truth is, a lot of folks don’t want to see you succeed. They want to see you struggle, fall, lose clients, and fail. They pray for your burnout. They’d rather see you crash than clap when you do something great. And the most messed up part? Some of them are people you once helped or trusted.

We talk about the horses like they’re everything— and they ARE— but the way we treat each other? That’s where this whole thing gets rotten.

People out here will lie to sell a horse, trash talk a trainer to steal a client, or twist a story to make themselves look better. And let’s not even get into the ones who smile at you at the show, then run their mouth the moment you turn around.

Why? What’s the point?

This job is hard enough. Long hours. Physical work. Emotional stress. Financial risk. And on top of all that, you have to constantly watch your back. Not because of the horses, but because of the damn people.

Instead of supporting each other, we’re too busy judging and comparing. Instead of learning from each other, we’re tearing each other down. Instead of shutting up and doing the work, too many people are worried about who’s doing what and who’s getting what.

Enough already.

We should be lifting each other up, not dragging each other down. We should be rooting for others’ success, not secretly hoping they fail. We should be keeping our mouths shut about things that aren’t our business and focusing on what matters, the horses and doing right by them.

This isn’t high school. It’s not a reality show. It’s supposed to be a community.

So here’s a little advice:
• If you don’t like someone, be mature enough to move on quietly.
• If you have a problem, go directly to the source.
• If someone succeeds, give credit instead of criticism.
• And if you’re constantly watching and waiting for someone to mess up, maybe it’s time to ask yourself why you’re so damn bitter.

To the ones out here trying to stay honest, work hard, do right by horses and clients, and support others— keep going. You’re the rare ones, and we need more of you.

To the rest? Fix your s**t. You’re what’s wrong with this industry.

Sincerely, a small trainer

06/13/2025

National Mall, Washington DC

When fellow trail enthusiast and full time traveler, Elaine Sherer reached out to me about visiting, I immediately saw the opportunity to check off a bucket list item. You know…. You need someone just as enthusiastic, motivated and experienced and maybe just a touch feral to want to go to a place like this and deal with all the things it would entail. I found my match.

I am an absolute planner. I not only plan trips around the country to places I’ve never been but I also plan non horse international trips. I love the challenge and watching pieces fall into place. So I got started right away.

Normally, the Park Service has an info page of stock regulations. This is a great starting point and backbone. I remember seeing it years back, but it’s gone, and the only info now talks about police horses in the park.

Will I need a permit? Went to that page. Doesn’t look like it. You can use the Mall for many things, but for the most part, only need a permit for commercial use or groups over 25. I called just in case. And called. And called some more. 30 times? Possibly more over several days. No one picked up.

Ok. I’ll just go to the Mall. I set off on Thursday and stopped by a ranger station. I told them what we were planning to do, as well as when. I was told I don’t need a permit, instructed where to park and given an enthusiastic “have a great time”
Even a map! Super. Too easy. Called the permit office a few more times just for good measure. No answer.

So very early morning on our designated day, Elaine, Chuck, Reggie and I set off for our Capitol adventure. Parking? No problem. We offloaded the horses and made our way onto the Mall, frequently hopping off to collect road apples left by our horses (thankfully there’s no lack of trash cans or benches to remount nearby and we came armed with bags and gloves)

Our ranger friend told us all about riding around the Capitol building so we set off towards it, stopping along the way to get photos of any and all worthy monuments we passed.

We passed Park staff, met many people who enjoyed loving on our horses and casually made our way through the long mall.

And then we reached the Capitol building. We looked at it and I believe commented something about expecting to be booted out. But we went for it, being the crazy chaos feral goblins we are. Sure enough, it took security minutes to come visit us.

Now here’s where experience goes a long way: we were kind, non combative and apologized noting we received inaccurate information. The officers were incredibly kind and enjoyed talking with us, petting the horses and were happy to have their picture taken. No hurt feelings. We left, and continued down the Mall.

At this point it was getting busier, louder and more chaotic. What’s challenging in a place like this is you are guaranteed people won’t know how to behave around horses so you’ll have bike pairs up behind you and splitting side to side, strollers pushed right behind or in front of you etc. Reggie and Chuck, thankfully, aren’t even slightly bothered by this.

We were heading back, and finally ran into a mounted officer at the park. He asked if we had a permit. I told him no, and named dropped the ranger I spoke with. I also mentioned my attempt to contact the permit office and he told me he had also tried to go but it was boarded up (cool; especially since you need to mail a hard copy ��). He asked us to make our way back… no problem, that’s where we are aiming. And then he did something cool; he invited us back! He said he’d help us with the permit (maybe? I think we actually may just need an email from the office saying we don’t need one) and he told us he’d give us a private tour on his horse. How COOL!!!!

We made our way back, absolutely overwhelmed by the now teeming sea of people.
Ran into another mounted ranger on his way to work who pulled over just to tell us how awesome it was we were there and he too would like to join us for a ride next time.

By the last ranger station another ranger came out to pet and was surprised we were leaving.

So long winded story later… can you ride here? yes. How? I have no idea. Call the park police, ranger station and try to find the permit office. Show up early. Off season. And ideally on a rainy day. Horse needs to be absolutely unflappable with zero tendency to bite, kick or bolt. Bring p**p bags, you’ll need them. Respect the monuments. In no way is it okay to ride through a place like the Vietnam memorial.

Most importantly? Be kind. You’re out of your territory and no one seems to either know or agree on the regulations.
People won’t know how to act around you.
Best you can do is make a good impression so you’re both welcome and invited back.

Was it cool? Absolutely. Do we regret riding there? Absolutely not. We were there close to 5 hours! We were glowing all the way back home, hearts bursting with the cool experience

Enjoy the photos! Thank you to Elaine for some of the photos, her delightful company, and use of her rig.

Word of caution; I DO NOT tolerate any and all political comments on this page. I have no time and desire to moderate. Please use your own page as your soapbox �

06/06/2025

Always a good reminder this time of year!
Don’t wear flip flops around horses
It’s never worth the risk 😉

05/28/2025

🔥 FOR SALE: De Luca IMA 🔥
2019 Purebred Arabian Stallion
(Ali Ra IMA x Midnight Valentine, by Midnight Bahim)

This exceptional young stallion checks every box — charismatic, correct, and competitive.

Name: De Luca IMA
Foaled: January 2019
Breed: Straight Egyptian Arabian
Color: Grey
Height: 15.2 hh

💥 SCID/CA/LFS Clear
💥EE/a/Gg (Homozygous Black!)

De Luca IMA is a magnificent Straight Egyptian Arabian stallion, renowned for his exceptional pedigree and impressive show record. This tall and elegant stallion boasts excellent conformation with great legs, a long neck, and beautiful athletic movement.

⭐️Show Highlights⭐️
• 2023 SHIH National Top Ten Stallion
• Region XIV Champion in SHIH ATH
• Region XIV Reserve Champion Stallions ATH
• Multiple Top 5 placements in open halter and SHIH

Pedigree:
De Luca IMA is the progeny of Ali Ra IMA and Midnight Valentine. His bloodline includes several distinguished horses:
• Linebred to U.S. Reserve National Champion Stallion Ruminaja Ali
• Multiple World Champion sire Ansata Imperial
• U.S. National Champion Futurity C**t and Top Ten English Pleasure Ibn Morafic++

His sire, Ali Ra IMA, is a multiple national halter winner, while his grandsire, Ali Nadal B, is the 2015 U.S. Egyptian Event Reserve Champion Amateur C**t/Stallion. De Luca IMA’s dam, Midnight Valentine, adds further distinction to his lineage with connections to many top champions.

With a pedigree rooted in versatility and excellence, De Luca IMA is the sport horse stallion of the future. Don’t miss the chance to add this rising star to your barn.

Breeding Potential:
De Luca IMA is an excellent outcross for Straight Egyptian and non-Straight Egyptian mares.
✨Bred to a black purebred Arabian mare for a 💯 2026 black foal
✨Bred to a black Dutch Harness mare for a 💯 2026 black foal
✨Bred to a Hanoverian mare for a 75% 2026 Black foal

Contact Information:
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: DynamiteArabians.com

This is a rare opportunity to own or breed to a top-tier Straight Egyptian Arabian stallion with a proven track record and illustrious pedigree. Don’t miss the chance to add this extraordinary stallion to your program!

De Luca is under saddle, and ready to go in any direction; however we think he will excel in classical or western Dressage!

Videos under saddle available upon request. PPEs welcome at buyer’s expense.

📩 DM for video, pricing, and more information

05/26/2025

🇺🇸❤️🤍💙🫶🏼

05/26/2025

🇺🇸❤️🤍💙🫶🏼

05/24/2025

05/21/2025

It’s not about the price tag on your horse or the label on your breeches.

It’s about the dirt under your nails, the smell of sweat and hay, the horse hair on your clothes, and the mud on your boots. It’s the early mornings, the late nights, and the quiet moments when it’s just you and your horse breathing in sync.

It doesn’t matter if your horse cost $10 or $100,000.
It doesn’t matter if you ride in jeans or in custom-tailored show coats.

What matters is the bond—built on trust, time, and love.
That silent language. That unspoken connection.
That’s what makes you a horseman.

You belong in this world just as much as anyone else.

05/18/2025

🫶🏼💕
But also, don’t be stuck up and snobby when someone gives you a compliment; it’s tacky