Infinite Horsemanship LLC By Sarah Stum

09/05/2025

Develop your expertise! Pre-ride grooming can be a valuable strategy to optimize your grooming time by warming up their muscles in preparation of the upcoming work. Additionally, it can facilitate relaxation of tense areas following training to initiate the recovery process.

09/04/2025

08/17/2025

I had someone ask me this week why attendance is one of the factors that affects scheduling.

I thought it was an odd question, because it has a pretty simple answer...open lesson times don't pay bills. So scheduling someone who isn't going to show up regularly isn't a good business decision.

But it really goes deeper than that.

One of the most profound lessons that horses teach us is commitment. Commitment to caring for them, commitment to bettering ourselves, and commitment to setting goals and achieving them.

If you aren't attending the lessons you scheduled (horseback riding or any other sport) regularly, you're missing this point. Your progress will be minimal and you'll end up frustrated.

Holding space for someone who isn't committed to that space will suck the life right out of you. (Read that twice, because it applies every single day of your life). It isn't just a financial drain. It's tough to get excited to teach someone who isn't committed to learning.

So yes, I'm going to schedule riders who are committed to learning and who attend regularly first. Their enthusiasm keeps me going when the day is kicking my butt. They remind me that this purpose is far bigger than just what is happening in the arena.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 🤣

08/14/2025

08/07/2025

Welcome to the horse world, where there are 4,237 ways to do everything… and somehow, everyone’s right.

You use hoof oil? She uses coconut oil. Someone else swears by moon water blessed under a full eclipse. And guess what? Their horses all still run, spin, and p**p just fine. 💁‍

And the same goes for the truck pulling them there—Ford, Dodge, Chevy, prayers, duct tape… if it rolls into the rodeo grounds or horse show and back out again, it worked.

Moral of the story: What works for one may not work for another—and that’s okay. So before you drop advice or ask for it, remember:
📌 Be helpful.
📌 Be kind.
📌 And maybe don’t die on the “you’re doing it wrong” hill.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all world. It’s more like a choose-your-own-adventure with a lot of opinions, some hay, and possibly a check engine light.

08/05/2025

07/29/2025

07/28/2025

07/18/2025

Trainers. Grooms. Farriers. Veterinarians. Riders. Writers. Barn managers. Therapists. Many of us live in the space where passion meets pressure, and the result is often burnout that looks like devotion from the outside. The very people who are keeping this industry going are often barely surviving....

07/09/2025

Yes!!

So many times when I speak with people about feeding equine, especially when they are having trouble getting them to gain weight, they tell me they are feeding 'a scoop' of feed. Sometimes once a day, sometimes twice a day. It is hard to know how much is actually being fed because scoops come in different sizes (not to mention how many sizes coffee cans are too). Feed bags recommend measuring feed in pounds, not quarts (as many scoops are marked) and not cups.

The BEST way to feed an equine is to follow the amount recommened on the bag, weigh the scoop, then fill it heaping full...subtract the weight of the scoop...now you know how much feed/pellets/grains your scoop holds. From that you can determine how many scoops you need to feed to dispense the number of pounds of feed recommended. Usually they say to split it between two meals a day.

A**l as it sounds, we have done that with the various scoops we use daily. The green scoop which is labled by the mfg 3 quarts, if filled heaping- holds 3.5 lbs of hay pellets, feed or grain. I mark it on white duct tape on the side of the scoop. Our older horses who quid hay get 2 scoops in the morning and 2 scoops at night. With heaping scoops that is a total of 14 pounds a day. We have found between 1.5 - 2 scoops twice a day (that would be 12-14 pounds) is enough to sustain the weight of an elderly horse.

So for those thinking you can give one cup or one scoop a day and it be enough for an elderly horse who is hard to keep weight on, you are not feeding enough. Whether it's hay pellets (measure weight dry not soaked) or a complete feed you need to feed them enough to compensate for the nurtition they can't get from hay they quid and spit out...that quid hay has little to no nutritional value.

A few years ago we had 9 emaciation cases come in, one so bad she died within 24 hours all the rest survived and thrive because we are feeding them enough in POUNDS and the correct feed and/or roughage to sustain their weight.

Lesson for today - all scoops are not the same!!! Figure out how many pounds of feed your scoop holds and feed according to the instructions on the feed bag.

04/15/2025

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."