Stride Performance Equine Therapy

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Melissa Cochrane | Equine Bodywork & Nervous System Practioner
Helping horses feel safe enough to move well
Nervous system–led equine bodywork
Rehab • performance • education
In-person | virtual | clinics
Ontario & beyond

The one where he turns 15 🥹We’ve spent 13.5 birthdays together and each year I grow more and more grateful for the day I...
04/26/2026

The one where he turns 15 🥹

We’ve spent 13.5 birthdays together and each year I grow more and more grateful for the day I saw him on Kijiji and immediately knew we were meant to be together

My best friend, a piece of my soul, the one who has been through the crazy years with me and held me together, the reason I do the work that I do and the light that leads my way

Grateful to spend this lifetime with him and for all of the lifetimes that have come before and will come after

Happy birthday to my bug boy 🫶🏻🫶🏻

04/25/2026

Quality over Quantity ALWAYS!!

It is not about how much you can get done, it is about how well your horse can do the things you’re asking

The mindset of doing more is what creates the cycles of tension we are constantly trying to unwind

You don’t need a whole new set of exercises, a new training routine, different bit or to try another bodyworker, you need to slow things down and pay attention to where your horses capacity actually is. And then work within it

04/24/2026

For horses that are:
Resistant to touch
Anxious
Behavioural
And who have recurrent tension patterns

Manual bodywork can be too overstimulating to the body

This is why we can have horses who are behavioural during their bodywork, horses who don’t see as much progress as another may, horses who can’t seem to get out of a specific pattern or horses who peak in their performance and struggle to progress

Most of these horses don’t need more, they need less

By doing less to the body we end up doing more with it

This is where energy work comes into play, not to replace manual therapy but to access the tissues without overstimulating the body

This process is how we have taken this sweet girl from anxious, stressed, braced and protective (kicking, biting, ear pinning) during bodywork, to a melty little puddle

And have made GREAT gains in her body!

In just three weeks using this process paired with simple somatic exercises she is:
Standing more comfortably
Less protective of her space
Doesn’t bite when asked to move her body
Less pushy on the lead line (hello spring grass so this is a HUGE win)
Holding her head and neck centred while trotting 👏🏻👏🏻 (chronically had a head tilt and neck bend)
And can process quick environmental changes without exploding 💃🏼

If your horse is resistant to bodywork, is reluctant to touch or stuck in the same pattern — nervous system lead energy work may be the answer you’re looking for

04/24/2026

If your horse resists bodywork…
it’s easy to assume something isn’t working.

So you try a different practitioner.
A different method.
More pressure. Less pressure.

And still… nothing really changes.

—

It’s not that the work is wrong.

It’s that your horse’s system may not have the capacity to receive it.

A body that feels overwhelmed will protect itself —
by bracing, shutting down, or checking out.

And from the outside, it looks like resistance.

—

So we keep trying to “work through” the tension…
without realizing the tension is there for a reason.

—

When you start with the nervous system instead, everything shifts.

By working in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the body,
you give it space to stop protecting itself.

And only then can those deeper patterns actually begin to release.

—

This is why some horses cycle through bodywork
without real, lasting change.

Not because they’re difficult.
Not because the work isn’t good.

But because no one addressed the system underneath it.

—

When the body finally feels safe enough to let go,
progress stops being something you chase.

It starts happening on its own

We can love and not be kind Kindness comes in all formsKindness is not just affection Kindness is not conditional Kindne...
04/13/2026

We can love and not be kind

Kindness comes in all forms

Kindness is not just affection

Kindness is not conditional

Kindness is not rushed

Kindness sits above love

We can love and not be kind

Kindness creates safety

Love without kindness can create ownership

Love can be selfish

Kindness is a state of being

Kindness takes work

Kindness is selfless — it is to put something else above yourself — taking the extra 60 seconds your horse needs to reset, removing the pressure, ending a session early, regulating yourself before reacting, hearing the hard truths and making better from them

Loving your horse doesn’t equal being kind to them

When we think of kindness what situations and circumstances do we see that within?

Kindness isn’t just for the easy moments, it is for the moments when frustration and anger are wanting to take top priority

When the pressures are on, when training isn’t going well, when things aren’t happening as we’d like them to

Nothing has transformed my relationship with horses quite like placing kindness above love

04/11/2026

pressure creates tension, validation and autonomy unwind it

Is treatment effective if the horse isn’t present in their body? When I think back to my earlier days and watch videos o...
04/07/2026

Is treatment effective if the horse isn’t present in their body?

When I think back to my earlier days and watch videos of how I worked the biggest thing I always notice is how I was working on the body but the horses would be looking outside, moving, chewing the crossties or even teeth grinding

Along with those behaviours their gaze would not just be externally focused but would be completely disconnected from their internal environment

And this is something that I see fairly commonly among the many facets of things we do with and to horses

But how effective can treatment be if the horse is checked out of the body?

Is this why we can routinely massage, adjust and PEMF a horse only to see little resolve?

We can spend so much time brainstorming what to do next, what the possible ailment might be or what modality is best

But most horses don’t need more, they don’t need new, they don’t need better

They need to be present in their bodies during the work

While this can be a complex problem to solve it also can be quite simple

If a horse is:
Biting the cross ties
Moving around
Moving away
Focusing on outside
Hyper focusing on sounds
Or even “dead still”

Pause.
Take a step back
Remove the pressure
And let them come back to their body

Muscling through is not conducive to releasing long seated tension and is often what leaves us chasing symptoms

If you have a horse who you’ve been continually doing bodywork and not seeing progress, a horse who despises touch in certain areas or a horse who despises the entire experience of bodywork altogether this switch can make all the difference — and is exactly how I do things

04/07/2026

One of the most damaging mindsets that we can have in the equine industry is this one

Just because we can’t find the cause does not mean we need to wait for things to get worse

Or ride them until it gets worse

Not only is this physically damaging, risking greater injury and increasing compensatory damage, but it is also extremely psychologically damaging

Pushing horses through resistance will never be the answer

Rather than pushing through, keep searching for someone who can lend some sort of help or solution

I know that it’s not an easy process and I know that local resources can be limited but I promise there is someone out there who can give you guidance that doesn’t involve waiting for things to get worse 🙏

Reduce the threat → change the bodyThis horse has been receiving regular bodywork.Still struggling with intermittent lam...
04/03/2026

Reduce the threat → change the body

This horse has been receiving regular bodywork.
Still struggling with intermittent lameness, limb loading issues, and ongoing tension through the shoulder.

Full veterinary work up — nothing “found.”

This is something I see all the time.

Not because nothing is wrong…
but because we’re often missing how the system is responding, not just what the tissue feels like.

Chronic tension isn’t always something you need to keep working into.

In many cases, it’s the result of a system that doesn’t feel safe enough to let go —
and repeated manual input can start to irritate that, not resolve it.

So instead of going straight into the body,
I start by changing the conditions that are creating the guarding in the first place.

This session was done with zero manual work.

And you can see the difference:
• Less scapular restriction
• Softer, fuller tissue through the tricep
• More ease through the base of the neck
• Overall change in how the shoulder is organizing

When the system stops protecting,
the body doesn’t need to be forced to change — it just does.

This is the piece that often gets missed.

04/03/2026

How many times do we see horses with recurrent tension and immediately think “that area needs more work!!”?

But tension doesn’t need more work, it needs threat reduction

I’m not working on her head here.

I’m working in the thoracic region — and I haven’t even made direct contact yet.

This is where my sessions usually start.
Not with fixing, not with pressure — but with understanding where the body begins to guard.

Because if the system is already bracing,
it won’t receive what I’m trying to do anyway.

So instead of going straight to the area that looks like the issue,
I start by working with the nervous system first.

You can see that shift here through the masseter.
Not because I’m treating the jaw —
but because the body is beginning to let go where it has access.

This is why my work doesn’t always look like traditional bodywork.
I’m not chasing symptoms — I’m changing what the body is available for.

And from there, everything else becomes easier to access.

03/29/2026

One of my favourite things to watch is how a horse handles themselves after they spook or are caught off by something new in an environment

We are taught that a confident and secure horse should be bombproof, non-reactive and safe

But many times these horses are not confident and secure, they are compliant and shutdown

A truly confident horse feels the emotion of “WOAH WHATS THAT” but then that quickly turns into “woah, what is that…”

This is regulation
This is confidence
This is security

A truly confident horse does not come from pressure, flooding and compliance

They come from choice, autonomy and clear leadership

03/25/2026

We’re told that our horses resisting is something to push through but I want you to look at your horse for a second

Not what you’ve been told.
Not what you think should be happening.

Just… what’s actually there.

A lot of the time, what we’re feeling isn’t a horse pushing against us

It’s a horse protecting something.

And if we don’t recognize that, we’ll keep trying to work through it…
and it’ll either stay the same or keep coming back.

I’ve been seeing this a lot lately, especially in horses where nothing really sticks long term.

It’s not that the work is wrong.
It’s that the body doesn’t feel safe enough to let it change.

So it holds.

I know how easy it is to label it as resistance.
Stiffness. Not listening. Not trying.

If this feels familiar, you’re not missing something obvious.
You’re just looking at it from the wrong layer.

I’m putting together a small 6-week mentorship around this — how to actually see what’s going on in the body and nervous system so you’re not constantly guessing or chasing symptoms.

If you’ve been dealing with this, message me or keep an eye out. I’ll be sharing more soon.

Address

Brighton, ON

Telephone

+16139210299

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