Infinite Horsemanship LLC By Sarah Stum

03/16/2026

Happy Birthday Syrus! He is 6 today, officially matured 🙂 Looking forward to seeing what this year brings for this wicked smart & handsome character ❤️

03/01/2026

02/04/2026

01/28/2026

👏👏

01/25/2026

Stay safe & stay warm! Thank you to a few die hards for spending some time in the cold yesterday with the horses 😍🥰

01/11/2026

Proud of this duo! Sam went from jobless quarter horse to making his first trip down center line in 6 months 😍 Student had profoundly improved his skills and helped his horse through warm up nerves like a well seasoned professional 🤩

01/11/2026

So proud of Brycen 😍🤩

01/01/2026

Thank you to all of my clients for many wonderful learning and goal achieving moments in 2025. I look forward to seeing 2025 in the rear view mirror. Bring on 2026, the year of the horse! May your new year be filled with energy, positive changes, prosperity, and passion!

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas☃️❄️⛄️

12/20/2025

Mark your calendars for 2026 Show Season! Looking forward to a fantastic year. Share and spread the word. 🐎🤩

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from Infinite Horsemanship LLC 🦃

11/19/2025

⭐ Your Horse’s Memory: Not What You Think

Alright… if my last post got you thinking about how horses THINK, this one is about how they REMEMBER — and this part is HUGE.

Most of what we call misbehavior is actually memory.
Most of what we call emotion is actually memory.
Most of what we take personally has nothing to do with us at all....it's memory

Let me break it down…
Horses have several powerful memory pathways, and when you understand them, everything starts to click.

🧠 1. Associative Memory

The strongest system in the horse’s brain.
The “this goes with that” memory.

• This person = safety
• This place = scary
• This routine = work
• This sound = something’s coming

It’s not planning.
It’s pattern-linking.

🧠 2. Emotional Memory

This is the one that leaves the deepest marks.

The amygdala stamps memories with emotion.
Horses have a massive one.

So fear sticks.
Relief sticks.
Safety sticks.
Hurt sticks.
Comfort sticks.

A horse may stay wary in the same place they were once scared —
unless we help them build a new emotional memory.

🧠 3. Contextual Memory (Temple Grandin’s “detail thinking”)

This one is HUGE, and most people don’t talk about it.

Horses notice tiny details humans miss:

Shadows.
Jacket colors.
A cone moved a few feet.
Different footing.
The wind direction.
A smell that wasn’t there yesterday.
The energy in your body.

Animals think in pictures, and pictures change with details.

A horse doesn’t think:
“A tarp is a tarp.”

They think:
“This tarp… in THIS wind… on THIS ground… in THIS lighting… with THIS person…
is NOT the same one.”

Context matters.
Always.

🧠 4. Procedural Memory

The “how-to” memory stored deep in the cerebellum.

Once learned, it sticks:

• trailer loading
• obstacle navigation
• patterns
• cues
• body movements

This is why horses don’t forget how to do something you taught well....or not so well.

🧠 5. Spatial Memory

Horses carry a map in their brain.

They remember:
• where the gate is
• where they last felt afraid
• where they last felt safe
• where the food is
• where home is

Their internal GPS is incredible.

😬 “My Horse Is Getting Back At Me.” (Nope.)

If your last interaction involved:
• fear
• pain
• pressure
• confusion

their memory says:

“Last time this happened, I felt unsafe.”

That’s not revenge…
That’s survival.

🐴 A quick example from Slick

Slick has never been hit by me ...ever.
But if I touch his side too fast, he still flinches.

That reaction isn’t about me.
It’s about a memory his nervous system carries from long before I got him.

That’s memory in action.

💛 Why This Matters

When we understand associative, emotional, contextual, procedural, and spatial memory…
we stop taking things personally.

We stop writing human stories onto a horse brain.

And instead, we start asking:

“What does this horse remember?”
“What experience is driving this reaction?”
“What story lives in his nervous system?”

And then we can start building new memories that say…

“You are safe with me now.”

That’s where trust lives. 🧠🐴💛