Equus Optimus

07/15/2024

See what decades of experience and continuing education can do for you and your horse.

05/07/2024

What are you REALLY paying for feed? Supplements? Have you factored in costs such as poor hoof quality, inflammation and its effects, the effects of excess sugar in the diet? Do you have to have a huge smartpak just to meet your horses needs? Is your horse showing signs of metabolic issues? Hyper?Seemingly lazy? Overweight in spite of being nearly starved? Dull coated? Dull eyes? Skinny?

Give me a day and I will show you how expensive that cheap feed actually is.
Message me with your horse’s complete feeding regimen, and I will do a complete analysis, find if there are imbalances, and show you how to balance your current diet, and also do a cost comparison with Optimus Equine or our new product, Primo Equine feed to meet all your horses needs and save you money!

Big shoutout to Montclair Stables! They took me up on this challenge and now the horses are incredibly shiny, hooves are getting better, and overall fewer health issues.

02/20/2024

To everyone with Sanderson’s offspring :
He was diagnosed by muscle biopsy as PSSM 2, which until recently there was no genetic test for. Testing for PSSM 1 would come back as negative. This article describes his symptoms perfectly, and my seeking the best diet to help him is what inspired Optimus Equine Feed. If they don’t get enough fat in their diet, they will turn carbs into fat but it gets stored as an abnormal form of glycogen. So they might look fat, but they are in a state of muscle stress.

Just cutting carbs or limiting forage results in muscle wasting. These horses need fat in their diets. More when they’re working, less when they’re on maintenance. But good quality fats with omega 3:6 at 2:1 is necessary.

Consistent exercise is also important. But with proper diet and exercise they are symptom free.

Seemingly lazy countered with explosive, tight backed until warmed up, suddenly stopping and parking out, high muscle and liver enzymes in blood work…
Proper management had it under control.

https://www.st-hippolyt.de/wissen/wissenswertes/equine-myopathies-pssm1-and-mim-pssm2?fbclid=IwAR1wSBttg9GPsn2TfMA2FPKS5t1H9FNrJuM_95VzRDDwqj_IaCvedRV4cqY_aem_AUqSaQm7Mv28_Uf2CznpNNS1Ww0PeM3trNKT6M-B6hv_U-Od1xripku1M_1HrunBDh8

Equine myopathies - PSSM 1 and MIM (“PSSM2“) Equine myopathy is a generic term for various forms of genetically caused exertional myopathies, i.e.…

02/17/2024

Signals are better, technology is better. I gave a lesson remotely on zoom last Sunday and it worked really well. If you have a good signal and a pivo or a friend to hold the phone and a Bluetooth earpiece schedule a lesson! It really was awesome.

02/17/2024

I can help you make your Unicorn.

02/16/2024

Posting for a friend who is not on Facebook. Custom saddlery Wolfgang Gemini R. 17.5” seat. 16” flaps Looks like medium tree. Well taken care of, only 3 years old. Asking $4000. email [email protected]

01/19/2024

ARIA certified instructor. Looking to add to my instruction/ training roster. Will travel or home base at Montclair Stables with covered arena. Lots of references. Can help with problems, help you and your horse connect through proper biomechanics and classical methods, saddle fitting, certified in equine sports massage therapy…
Happy to help in a beginner lesson program. Dressage, hunters, eventers, pony club, western.
I love to train and teach!
Real SCHOOLMASTERS (3rd level and FEI as well as well schooled horses for beginners) available for lessons.
847-337-2373

11/13/2023

The basis of good riding can be said to be the absence of bad riding---

The Roots Of Bad Riding---Here’s a list, not necessarily in order of magnitude, because it will vary rider to rider.

1.Poor balance. Horses move. If the rider moves in harmony with the movements of the horse, that is the start of good riding. But if the rider is unbalanced and moves counter to the way the horse moves, it will be bad until or unless the rider can fix that.

2. Tension. Where? Hands, arms, fingers, hips, pelvis, torso, neck, jaw, legs, knees, toes, ankles, feet.

3.Fear/apprehension. Fear creates tension/rigidity, and tension leads to lack of balance.

4. Anger, need for dominance. An angry rider is a bad rider.

5. A rider lack of fitness and overall general athleticism. Lithe supple riders who are strong and fit can more easily be harmonious riders.

6. A disregard/disdain for the precepts of correct equitation. The rider just doesn't care.

SO---To avoid bad riding, be calm and friendly to horses, be fit and agile, ride horses that don’t scare you, learn how to find balance by lots of practice, learn how to give basic rein and leg and body aids.

This process might take as little as a year, or it might take a lifetime. It depends on so many variables.

08/26/2023

Someone hacked my instagram. I never really go on instagram. So don’t open any messages from me

08/11/2023

08/06/2023

I just read this---“Working hard for something you don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something you love is called passion.”

But how does that relate to the human-horse interaction?

So some human LOVES dressage/eventing/reining/jumping/whatever. And then passionately pursues that activity with a horse.

But the horse does NOT “love” dressage/eventing/reining/jumping/whatever.” If you think that you are thinking like a little eight year old. Watch horses living free in a natural setting. See what they do. What they DON’T do is dressage/eventing/reining/jumping/whatever.

So now the heart of the matter----Hard work by a horse for something that the horse doesn’t care about is called stress. How can the passionate human cool it down sufficiently so that the stress that the horse feels is at a tolerable level?

So many riders and trainers do not find that delicate balance, to the point that human passion translates into a stressed out horse. Think about that, maybe, the next time you feel the need to drill on your horse.