Stride Performance Equine Therapy

11/21/2025

The more we know the more we know! Just because something has always been done, doesn’t mean it should be

11/19/2025

From a distance, this work looks almost uneventful.
But up close, every micro-movement is part of the conversation.

Slower, softer work creates the conditions for the horse’s body to unwind without activating the protective reflexes they rely on to stay safe. When the nervous system feels supported—not pushed—the fascia can shift, the tissue can reorganize, and the horse can let go in a way that actually lasts.

Nothing is forced.
Nothing is rushed.

We follow the horse’s lead, and the body does exactly what it’s been waiting to do.

When we honour the nervous system, the body always gives us more than we could ever take by force.

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👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@gmail.com
📱 613.921.0299

11/18/2025

Something I’ve been talking to clients about a lot this week is perception

The way we perceive information—or communication—can either limit our understanding or expand it.

We often get stuck in limiting perception. For example, “My horse is just spooky in the winter” comes from a narrow view of what the horse is communicating.

But when we reframe it to “Why is my horse spooky in the winter?”, we open ourselves up to a deeper layer of information. We challenge ourselves to perceive the behaviour differently.

One major reason horses tend to spook more in the winter is that their baseline energy is higher.
We all learned at a young age that horses need extra energy to stay warm—but what we weren’t taught is that an increase in baseline energy can also show up as heightened anxiety or stress behaviours.

When we don’t perceive all the information available to us, we can accidentally end up fighting the very thing that’s causing the problem.

With deeper perception, we can say, “Okay, if my horse’s baseline energy increases in the winter, I need to slow things down a little and give their nervous system—and their body—space to adjust.”

For many horses who become more reactive or “behavioural” in the winter, this simple shift resolves a large portion of the issues.

The way we perceive a horse’s communication can either limit our knowledge or expand it.

Where might your perception be limiting your horse?

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👩🏻‍💻 Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@.com
📱 613.921.0299

11/16/2025

It is not about what we do, it’s how we do it

We don’t all need to be doing the same thing. And we never will be. And that’s okay because because it’s not what we do, it is how we do it

Regardless of what we do the body will communicate what is and isn’t working

When we do anything with a horse with that in consideration then it doesn’t really matter what we do, it matters how we do it

Any of the situations I speak about have the ability to be minimal stress environments or tasks — and this would create a healthier horse physically and emotionally — that is why I speak about them

I’ve seen horses change inside of performance programs, inside lesson programs and horses who don’t even work

Because it’s not what we do, it is how we do it

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👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@gmail.com
📱 613.921.0299

11/14/2025

11/14/2025

Everything we need is in the details we miss 🙏

11/13/2025

These were always my favourite sessions and I started to prefer booking later into the evening rather than starting early or working through the day

Sessions at this time are powerful for two main reasons:
1. The horses days are done so they are able to more easily drop into parasympathetic— this more typical during show environments because the days are high stress so the horses are in a prolonged state of sympathetic activation
2. The environmental energy shifts in the dusk through the evening — energy is happening all around us and when the hustle of the day starts to slow the energy of an entire environment will shift

It’s these moments that I miss the most, and who knows, maybe one day there will be more of these moments again for now enjoy these stunning moment with this handsome boy who always had the deepest releases when he really dropped into his body 🙏😌

Here we are watching him process emotions and memories in real time — the ears going back is something that happens when a painful memory rises out of a muscle during release. The soft, slow and deep blinks happen when horses are really internalizing and moving energy — allowing softening, the movement and twitching we see is a reaction of fascia and tissue contraction/expansion — this happens are the area I am working on transfers energy through the network

The body is such a beautiful beautiful thing to connect with and understand and it will forever have its hold on me

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👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@gmail.com
📱 613.921.0299

11/12/2025

Meditation is something every equestrian I work with struggles to do and it also becomes the best thing they do for themselves, lets talk about it!

We have this notion that meditating = sitting still with no thoughts

So when you sit down in meditation with this in mind and you have one million thoughts racing through, all you can think is “wow I really suck at this” and because most of us carry a personality of perfection, this triggers all self doubt

But, meditation is not about sitting still with no thoughts — stillness, yes. No thoughts, no

Meditation is simply time to sit with your body and your mind so that you can observe both of their tendencies

The fact that we start thinking about being bad at meditation and then want to get up and move on is actually showing a few things:
1. How quickly the body wants to get up and fix things - if I can get up and do something that I know I’m capable of then I am no longer an incapable human
2. I lack the ability to sit in discomfort
3. I tend to always shut myself down

The thoughts, the wanting to leave, the getting up and cutting it short means that you are actually “doing meditation”

It is not about getting something right, it is about learning your mind and your body

And over time, if we stick with it, we grow our capacity to sit in stillness and allow the discomfort of our mind to not cause us to disrupt the energetic flow — as we think thoughts our body experiences feelings and sensations. When we get up and move, or simply move around while staying in our seated or lying position, we stop the energy from processing — this is what breaks the recurring cycles we experience

It’s not that you’re doing meditation wrong, it’s just that no one ever taught you how to understand what is happening
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👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@gmail.com
📱 613.921.0299

11/11/2025

How do we solve body imbalances?

We stop meeting resistance with tension

Unpopular to what we are taught, I know

We are taught that when a horse resists we must apply more pressure so that they do not learn that they can get away with things

But what is actually happening in those moments is we are encouraging the body to brace and compensate.

Even when the horse goes forth with what we’ve asked after their resistance, the body is still holding itself in tension

If it weren’t, we would not have compensation patterns present

Rather than apply more pressure when we meet resistance we need to attune ourselves to find the point before the resistance started and ride that as the new ask

When we do this we are allowing the body to find true softness and avoiding the recruitment of compensatory patterns

If you want to learn how to feel tension before it starts, if you want to understand when, why and how compensation patterns work or if you want to better learn your horse then Rider Attunement sessions are for you

In these virtual sessions we will review your under saddle training and pint point where, when and why tension happens and how to correct it

This transformation is from one bodywork session, yes we can reset the body, but what if we could stop chasing it

DM or comment “attunement” and we’ll get started

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👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛 | 𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩
📧 strideperformanceequine@gmail.com
📱 613.921.0299