Optimum Equine Services

10/31/2025

09/28/2025

07/24/2025

07/04/2025

Happy Independence Day!

07/02/2025

⚠️ Signs Your Horse May Be Dealing With Heavy Metal Toxicity
Heavy metals like lead, aluminum, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic can accumulate in a horse’s body over time — especially through contaminated water, feed, soil, or even vaccines. The effects can be subtle or severe, often mimicking other conditions like Lyme, EPM, or metabolic issues.

🧠 Neurological or Behavioral Signs
Headshaking

Irritability or anxiety

Sudden spookiness or hypersensitivity

Difficulty focusing or training resistance

Head tilt, twitching, or ataxia (unsteady gait)

Neurologic symptoms with no clear cause (often confused with EPM)

💪 Muscular and Physical Signs
Muscle tremors or twitching

Weakness, fatigue, or reluctance to move

Poor topline or uneven muscle development

Sore back or stiffness with no clear lameness

🩺 Digestive and Systemic Signs
Poor appetite or picky eating

Weight loss or hard keeper tendencies

Recurrent mild colic or gut sensitivity

Skin sensitivities or hair coat changes

Overreaction to supplements or vaccines

Detox “flare-ups” when given minerals, or parasite treatments

🔬 Common Heavy Metals That Harm Horses

Lead
Found in old barn paint, batteries, or contaminated soil
Accumulates in bones and brain
Causes neurologic symptoms, fatigue, and poor coordination

Aluminum
Present in some soils, feeds, water, and certain supplements
Interferes with calcium and magnesium absorption
Affects muscles, nerves, and digestion

Mercury
Found in industrial pollution, fish-based products, or some vaccines
Neurotoxic and immune-disruptive
Can damage the gut lining and nervous system
Cadmium
Comes from commercial fertilizers, contaminated pastures, and air pollution
Damages liver and kidneys
Blocks absorption of zinc and iron

Arsenic
Found in groundwater, herbicides, and some untested natural supplements
Especially concerning in untested bentonite clays used in horses
⚠️ Important Caution: Always ensure any bentonite clay or detox product used on or in a horse has been independently tested for heavy metals. When using something like DMSO with products that may contain heavy metals, or chemicals it will carry everything — good and bad — straight into the bloodstream. If the clay contains arsenic, lead, or other contaminants, it can go from “detox” to “toxic exposure” very quickly.

Arsenic can bioaccumulate in the liver, skin, and nervous system
Can cause chronic fatigue, skin changes, neurologic issues, gut upset, and long-term organ damage

🧲 Why Heavy Metals Are So Problematic
Heavy metals don’t just cause isolated symptoms — they:

Disrupt the nervous system, leading to neurologic or behavioral issues

Interfere with mineral absorption, causing imbalances in calcium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc

Stress the liver and kidneys, which are essential for detox and hormone regulation

Trigger immune dysregulation, making horses more vulnerable to chronic infections (like EPM or Lyme)

Can hide in tissues for years, slowly accumulating without obvious signs — until the horse is stressed or treated for something else, and symptoms flare up

Heavy metals can quietly affect the nervous system, and when your horse starts acting odd, it’s worth looking deeper.

04/25/2025

Gallop For Glory
FBH – Ranch Pleasure & Trail Competition

The foundation of Faith Based Horsemanship is designed to help you build a stronger relationship with your horse while growing closer to Christ. By applying biblical virtues in our horsemanship, we find ourselves viewing life from a different perspective.

The FBH Horsemanship Trail Competition evaluate a rider’s communication with their horse while showcasing their ability to perform a variety of tasks such as transitioning through the walk, trot, lope and trail obstacles.

Horsemanship involves learning to listening to your horse through their language of response paired with developing your knowledge, skills, and understanding. It is about seeking and discovering ways to grow a closer partnership with our horses, just as Christians share a similar journey to draw closer to Christ.

Good horsemanship techniques reject abusive training methods and emphasize
a partnership between humans and horse. “Brutality begins where knowledge ends”

Rules & Information

We encourage each of you to ride at the level you and your horse are most connected and confident as a partnership.

The horse/rider partnership is judged on the correctness, efficiency, and pattern accuracy with which the elements / obstacles are navigated. In addition, the attitude and behaviors exhibited by the horse and rider indicating their level of communication are considered in scoring. In the event the horse becomes anxious or stressed, it’s important to remember the rider is judged on how they connect/communicate as the supporting leader.

Do Not Rush – Stay calm and have fun

You have 3 attempts or 1.5 min to begin each obstacle. (This is not 1.5 min to complete obstacle).
You have time to take a breath between attempts. Judge does have the authority to ask you to move on to next obstacle.

Scoring - Riders be awarded a score of 0 – 10 Points per element.
All refusals / Broken Pattern are OP (Off Pattern). An OP (Off Pattern) is a 0 score for that element but not a disqualifier from the class.

Tie breakers: Decided by judge’s selection of obstacles / elements of the pattern.

FBH Encourages/Teaches Good HORSEMANSHIP which Involves:

• Communication - Connection/ Timing/Pressure/Release/ Body Language/ Intention
Communicate with your horse using a connection through your voice, seat, legs, and hands. When you achieve clear communication, the horse not only understands what you are asking but has a willingness to do what you are asking.

• Consistency – Rider communication is consistent throughout the pattern with their timing and pressure and use of signals

• Confidence / Leadership – Horses will develop a trust and calmness with a trustworthy rider / leader.

• Presentation - The rider's balance, posture, and coordination are evaluated, as well as how well they demonstrate a PARTNERSHIP with their horse as they follow a pattern of obstacles and technical elements.

Good Sportsmanship and Learning Opportunity

We encourage you to speak to the judge to better understand and learn from the scoring decisions.

• Seek clarification on scoring, understand the judge's perspective and ask for feedback on performance.

• Consider the judge’s reasoning for a particular score, as a learning opportunity.

• You can learn about what is valued in a performance and what aspects are considered most important.

• Judges can offer constructive feedback on your performance, highlighting areas of strength
and weakness.
• It's important to approach this with a willingness to learn and be open to constructive criticism.

FBH Strongly advocates to apply this feedback to help build the foundation and further
improve your equine partnership.

03/23/2025

When girthing up a horse, it’s important not to over-tighten the girth. An over-tightened girth may pinch or bruise the muscles, especially those in the chest (pectorals), the neck (trapezius), the side of the ribcage (serratus ventralis), and the lower back (latissimus dorsi), which are shown in red on the diagram bel. Similar to how a tight belt can cause discomfort or bruising in a human, an overly tight girth can cause soreness in these areas. It may also lead to bruising of the ribs and the intercostal muscles (the muscles between the ribs), restricting movement and causing pain. Additionally, the tightness will cause the saddle to put more pressure on the horse’s back muscles, leading to further discomfort.

Think of it like wearing a belt that’s too tight around your waist: it presses into your skin and muscles, causing discomfort, restricting movement, and potentially causing bruising. Just as you wouldn’t wear a belt so tight that it hurts, it’s crucial not to over-tighten the girth to avoid these issues for the horse. Always ensure the girth is snug, but not excessively tight, to keep the horse comfortable and prevent injury.

02/24/2025

What a fun rewarding day! Thank you ladies! Looking forward to the next one.