Stride Performance Equine Therapy

10/05/2026

Many horses complete exercises, but not many think of their bodies while they are doing it

We have all experienced ‘going through the motions’

Maybe you’ve driven home without one conscious thought about how you’re getting there until suddenly you’re in your drive way saying “what the heck, how did we get here?!”

Maybe you’ve spent years training in the gym thinking you’re doing everything right only to stumble upon a personal trainer who begins pointing out the way you displace weight off of your big toes because your pelvic floor is weak — only to then realize you’ve spent years training without thinking about how you were doing it

And the reality is that of many horses

Horses are really great at a getting a job done, and we are really great at checking things off a list

Leg stretch ✔️
Carrot stretch ✔️
Tail pulls ✔️
6 sets of trot poles both directions ✔️
Long and low work ✔️
Collected corners ✔️
In-hand work ✔️

So we get our list complete and our horses go through the exercises but months later we’re left struggling with the same problems and frustrated as to why nothing is helping

Sometimes the issue isn’t the exercises themselves, but how the horse is actually doing them

Is your horse connected to their body while they are doing an exercise or are they checking it off the list and then ready to move on?

09/24/2026

This is why I pay attention to the whole picture

Two days ago, girl took a tumble on some logs (if you own or love a bully breed you know they love to explore and don’t have the best agility)

The following morning, she was visibly uncomfortable — roached through her lumbar spine, carrying her tail differently, moving cautiously and struggling to find a comfortable position to lie down

All things that are out of the norm for her

So I spent some time with her using very gentle hands-on fascia work and then implemented heat and rest for the remainder of the morning

By that evening, her posture and movement were back to normal and her tissue was more pliable than it normally is!

Bodywork isn’t about fixing

It’s about observing the animal in front of us, recognizing protective patterns, working within what they’re comfortable with, and then paying attention to what changes

Sometimes the most valuable information isn’t what we think happened

It’s what the body showed us before, during, and after

When we can learn to recognize the changes in posture, gait and habits we can intervene sooner and decrease the time the body spends in bracing and compensation

❤️❤️

09/22/2026

What happens when we stop looking at the symptom and start looking at the body?

Yesterday I had the privilege of working with a very tiny human.

She is only a couple of months old and has been having a difficult start. Fussiness, significant reflux, digestive difficulties, and now a diagnosis of colitis.

Her mother is doing exactly what a good mother does.

She is looking for answers.

When I first met this little one a couple of weeks ago, I remember thinking:

“There is a lot of tension in this body.”

But I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to really listen to it.

Yesterday I did.

And the first thing I noticed was asymmetry.

Her body seemed to have a very strong organizational pull toward one side.

So rather than trying to “fix” the digestive system, I started with the body in front of me.

The head.

The spine.

The midline.

The fascial system.

The way the tissues responded to my hands.

The way the body softened—or didn’t.

This is where I find fascia so fascinating.

It doesn’t exist as isolated pieces.

It is a continuous connective tissue system, intimately involved with the muscles, joints, nerves, organs and sensory receptors throughout the body.

And the nervous system is constantly receiving information from all of it.

Pressure.
Stretch.
Position.
Movement.
Touch.

For a tiny developing nervous system, these inputs matter.

So my job wasn’t to force anything.

It was to listen.

Very gentle fascial work.

Very gentle craniosacral work.

Following the body’s responses rather than imposing a correction.

And gradually, I could feel a change.

The tissues softened.

The body became less guarded.

There was more ease.

And, her mom noticed something too.

She said her baby felt softer in her hands.

—

And perhaps this is one of the most important things we can remember when working with bodies:

We don’t always need to make the body do something.

Sometimes we need to give it the right information and allow it to respond.

I am not suggesting that fascial tension caused this baby’s reflux or colitis.

Those are medical conditions that deserve appropriate medical care.

But I also don’t believe we have to choose between looking at the medical diagnosis and looking at the whole body.

We can do both.

We can ask:

What is the body telling us?

Where is it holding?

Where is it compensating?

Where is movement easy?

Where is movement difficult?

What changes when we slow down enough to actually listen?

Because the body is constantly communicating.

Sometimes we just need to become quiet enough to hear it.

🤍

This was gentle, parent-consented bodywork and is not intended to diagnose or treat reflux, colitis, or any other medical condition. Her medical care remains with her healthcare providers.

09/18/2026

This!

⚠️ This post may ruffle a few feathers, but it needs to be said.

I was talking with one of my students this morning about something that I think frustrates a lot of equine bodyworkers.

We can work with a horse multiple times. The owner sees the changes, praises the results, and tells us how much better the horse is moving or behaving.

Then suddenly, the horse presents with something new.

And instead of calling the bodyworker who already knows that horse’s body, movement patterns, restrictions, compensation patterns, and history, sometimes the bodyworker is completely left out of the conversation.

Why?

Let me make something VERY clear: I am not saying don't call your veterinarian.

⭐️ Veterinarians are absolutely necessary. They diagnose, treat disease and injury, prescribe medications, perform procedures, and handle things that are completely outside a bodyworker's scope of practice.⭐️

⭐️There are also veterinarians who have pursued extensive additional education in sports medicine, rehabilitation, and lameness, and I have tremendous respect for professionals who continue expanding their knowledge.⭐️

But different professionals bring different pieces to the puzzle.

You call your farrier for the feet.

You call your veterinarian for medical diagnosis and treatment.

You call your chiropractor for chiropractic care.

So why wouldn't you also call your qualified bodyworker when something changes in the horse's movement or body?

‼️A knowledgeable bodyworker isn't there to replace your veterinarian or diagnose a medical condition.‼️

‼️We ARE there to recognize changes in movement, muscle tension, asymmetry, compensation patterns, and how the horse's body feels compared with previous visits‼️

Sometimes what we see tells us, "I can work with this."

Sometimes it tells us, "This horse needs a veterinarian."

Sometimes it tells us, "We need the vet, farrier, trainer, and bodyworker communicating with each other."

THAT is how it should work.

The conversation this morning came from a situation involving one of my student's clients. The horse received an SI injection. Later, I was sent a video, and there were still movement concerns that appeared to involve the stifle area. Yet the owner didn't want the bodyworker involved because they had been told the horse was fine.

And that's what bothers me.

Not because I believe a bodyworker's opinion should override a veterinarian's diagnosis—it shouldn't.

It's because "the horse has been medically evaluated" and "the horse is moving normally" aren't necessarily the same conversation.

Bodywork is not just fluffy relaxation and making a horse feel good for an afternoon.

When properly trained and working within our scope, bodyworkers can be an important part of the horse's team.

We watch movement.

We feel changes.

We recognize compensation.

We follow patterns over time.

And because we may see the same horse repeatedly, sometimes we notice when something simply isn't moving or feeling the way it normally does.

I've spent years teaching my students to ask WHY.

🐎 Why is the horse compensating?

🐎 Why did this muscle change?

🐎 Why did the movement change?

🐎 What changed somewhere else in the body?

And most importantly—when is this something we can appropriately address, and when does this horse need to be referred to another professional?

So my question isn't, "Why call the vet?"
My question is:

Why do we call the vet for every little concern? When you can call the farrier for feet, chiropractic for adjustments and Massage Therapist/bodyworker for body compensation?

Why aren't we using the entire team?
Your veterinarian, farrier, bodyworker, chiropractor, trainer, saddle fitter, and other qualified professionals shouldn't have to compete with one another.

We should be communicating and putting the HORSE first.

FYI, most of my clients even they tell me that they rather do or communicate with me firat, because I safe them money from the vet coming out all the time ( when it pretains to biomechanics) . If I don't think I can help , guess what I tell them to contact the vet.

Hopefully, this makes sense. It's hard to put into words .

And yes... we'll talk about SI injections another day. 😉🐴

09/12/2026

This! There are many nuances when it comes to consent based horsemanship and the details are important BUT just because they say no does not mean stop everything and never proceed forward

Exposure is necessary and informed exposure is ever more important

When we use consent based communication it is less about never pushing past the no and more about learning why the no is there and working within it to create a new relationship to the triggering stimulus or body part

The devil is in the details, always 🙏

Can we consent our way out of training?

I believe horses should be allowed to say no. I also believe it is our responsibility to become skilful enough to understand what that a No from a horse is, what it looks like and the complexities that come with a horse expressing anything other than an easy and immediate response to our requests.

A horse might refuse because they are frightened, confused, tired, in pain or physically unable to do what we have asked. They might also be meeting ordinary difficulty, preferring the familiar, or discovering that hesitation reliably makes our question waver. These are not the same situation, and responding to all of them by simply stopping is not necessarily progress.

Sometimes stopping is exactly right. Sometimes we need to investigate pain, change the environment, improve our preparation or admit that we have asked for something the horse just doesn't want to do with us right now. At other times, good training means helping a horse remain with a manageable difficulty long enough to discover that they can do it.

Agency cannot only mean the ability to opt out. It must also include the ability to participate, attempt, recover, influence the conversation and become more capable.

This is uncomfortable territory because horse people have used words like leadership and responsibility to justify a great deal of force. But refusing to lead at all does not create an ethical space. We can dominate a horse by overriding every answer, and we can abandon a horse by offering no clarity, structure or preparation at all.

This week on the podcast, I am talking about the limits of borrowing human consent language for horse training, the difference between discomfort and harm, and the responsibility of preparing horses for a life we cannot fully anticipate.

The question is not simply whether the horse said yes or no. The deeper question is whether the horse was heard, whether the human remained fluent in their perception of the horse, and whether the conversation left the horse with more capacity than they had before.

The episode of the podcast is out now (Horse, First with Lockie Phillips) and you can find it anywhere.

09/10/2026

Sticky Fascia, Half Pads and Chronic Tension

You’ve been told that half pads help distribute weight and pressure. You think the cushioning of a half pad is a nice treat for your horse, or maybe your saddle fitter told you to add a half pad to help with saddle fit

But you’re still fighting chronic back tension, your coach is still getting after you to get your horse supple, your bodyworker is continually telling you their back is tight, and you are feeling consistently defeated by not understanding what else you could be doing because you’re doing everything you’re told but nothing is getting better

Sometimes the things we do that we think serve our horses best can actually create another problem.

Have you ever taken your horse’s saddle off and noticed that all of the hair and skin underneath seems flat and dehydrated?

While half pads can be a great addition for some horses, many horses can experience an increase in back tension with the use of half pads due to tissue restriction

The horse’s back is highly sensitive to both pressure and load

When we add a half pad, very often we are decreasing the amount of space that tissue and fluid have to freely move

And when there is a lack of tissue and fluid movement, fascia becomes dehydrated

Fascia is a living, fluid-rich connective tissue

It is not simply a layer of tissue sitting over the muscles. It surrounds, connects and communicates throughout the body, and its ability to glide, slide and deform depends in part on adequate fluid movement within the tissues

When tissue is well hydrated, the layers of fascia can move more freely against one another

When tissue is compressed for prolonged periods, fluid can be displaced and movement between those layers can become restricted. This is what we mean when we talk about fascia becoming dehydrated

Think about a sponge

A hydrated sponge is soft, pliable and easy to move

Take the water out of it and it becomes stiffer, less compliant and more resistant to deformation

Fascia is far more complex than a sponge, but the concept is similar: fluid availability and movement influence how easily connective tissue can deform, glide and tolerate load

In the short term, this can create that familiar feeling of a back that is stiff, tight or resistant

The horse may brace through the topline, change how they carry themselves, or recruit surrounding muscles to create stability where normal tissue movement has been compromised

Now we have a cycle:
Compression → reduced tissue movement → altered fluid dynamics → increased tissue stiffness → protective muscular tension.

If the same areas are consistently compressed, restricted or loaded without enough opportunity for normal movement and recovery, the body can begin adapting to that environment

What started as a temporary response to pressure can become a chronic pattern of tension and altered movement

This is why sometimes adding more cushioning isn’t necessarily the answer

The question isn’t simply:

“How much padding can I add?”

It’s:
“What is happening to the tissue underneath it?”

Because sometimes the thing we added to create more comfort is actually creating another layer of restriction

A simple and effective way to check if your horse’s back fascia is being impacted by saddle fit or half pad compression is:

1. Feel your horse’s back fascia before you ride vs. after you ride with the half pad
2. Feel your horse’s back fascia before you ride vs. after you ride without the half pad

Compare what you feel

Does the tissue feel the same?
Does it feel more restricted, firm, sticky or resistant after riding with the half pad?
Does that response change when you remove the half pad?

These simple observations can give you a better idea of what the tissue underneath your saddle is experiencing and may just be the missing piece in understanding chronic tension

Always remember, a well-fitting saddle should not NEED a half pad
_______________________________________
👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛
📧 [email protected]
📱 613.921.0299

09/09/2026

The best messages 🥰✨

From having time off and not working due to reluctance to having consistent good rides just three months later — happy horses and happy riders are what it’s all about!

We’ve spend the last three months intentionally focused on releasing chronic patterns through bodywork, nervous system safety, non-invasive stretches and simple routine adjustments

Not only is she happy, sound and mentally stable, she also reduced her cribbing habit by 90% !

I absolutely love working with the systems together in this way

If you’ve tried different modalities for your horse and haven’t seen the results you’d like I’d love to chat 💬

Bodywork with One on One support Appointments open!

One Bodywork session + One Support session
$200
*bodywork sessions only available in select radius please dm to see if services are available in your area

__________________________________________
👩🏻‍💻Melissa Cochrane 𝘊𝘌𝘔𝘍𝘛
📧 [email protected]
📱 613.921.0299

08/31/2026

Can you stop or decrease cribbing without a cribbing collar or training out the behaviour?

Short answer, absolutely yes

I have watched multiple horses, my own horse included, who have cribbed and wind-sucked stop the behaviour without cribbing collars, wood sprays or “training out” the behaviour

A current clients horse could be seen wind sucking in the paddock, at almost any time of day, every day

That same horse would also crib/wind suck when her owner would come out to gather her from the field and then again when she would return to the field

Fast forward to two months of working together and the horse hasn’t been seen cribbing through the day in two months, stopped cribbing upon catching starting the first month and stopped cribbing 98% of the time going back into the paddock at the end of the first month

We did not introduce any tools or external equipment to stop this behaviour and we didn’t do anything to train this behaviour out of her system

But how?

Instead of focusing on the cribbing we changed the way we interacted with her, worked on releasing tension in her body, started rewiring her nervous system and gave her autonomy

When we look at the root of a symptom we are able to see the many reasons why that symptom exists in the first place, and then, we can work backwards from the symptom, to the root

This not only relieves the symptom (the problem we are trying to manage) but also reduces other ailments in the body (which add up to create the symptom we try to manage)

If you’ve been managing your horses cribbing with cribbing collars, stinky sprays or trying to train the behaviour out of them without a change in outcome, it’s because you’re treating the symptom, not the reason the symptom exists in the first place

07/14/2026

I promise I know k have RBF but I’m actually really nice 😅🥲

When my hands are on the body or I’m working with a horse my attention is inward focused and sometimes it looks like I’m ignoring what’s going on around me but I’m actually tuning into the body!

If you ever see me and think I look like I don’t wanna chat, I promise you I do! And you won’t interrupt to if you say hi 😌👋🏻

07/07/2026

Less will always be more

It’s so full circle to see how the small steps I continually took lead to the work I do now and the changes I get to see in horses, not by doing more, but by listening more intentionally and doing less 🙏

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞

While my posts are typically for your horses (and this one will be at the end), this post goes for a type of pressure felt by myself, and many, many others in the industry

As equestrians we find ourselves under an insane amount of pressure, working in the industry as a woman adds another tier to that pressure. Pressure to be better, work harder, work more, dress better, look better, know more and the list goes on!

Maybe some of this pressure is pressure we put on ourselves, and a healthy dose of pressure if good! It keeps us striving for more, but when is enough, enough?! I have lately felt pressure to do MORE in my sessions, to perform more modalities and be physically “showing” that I am in fact changing tissue. So much so that I will often joke and say “just know that it may look like I’m not doing anything, but trust me I am”. But that’s not where my heart always lies and not always what the horse wants or needs

So, I’m no longer giving into this pressure (mostly from myself) to be doing more! If I feel the need to do very light myofascial work and look like I’m “doing nothing” for an entire session, then so be it, that’s what I’m doing and that’s what the horse will react best to in the given circumstance

Doing “less” is actually much more taxing mentally, emotionally and physically but I LOVE IT!

I challenge you to allow yourself to be guided by your heart and your horse, to do what feels best and not what you feel pressured to do! Give yourself and your horse some grace, they don’t always feel like doing more either 🙏✨🤍
____________________________________ ____________
👩🏼‍💼Melissa Cochrane 𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙵𝚃
📧 [email protected]
☎️ 613-921-0299
👩‍💻 strideperformanceequinetherapy.ca