Stride Performance Equine Therapy

01/30/2026

There’s nothing I love more than being in my little bubble with the ponies

Also when I say intentional walking this is what I mean 🫶🏻

In this video we are working on correcting his straightness through proprioception and training stability by slowing his legs so that his ribcage isn’t being pulled forward and so his limbs are pushing properly off the floor — most horses who are hyper-mobile over extend their limbs and become unstable in their bodies (this usually feels like a horse that really moves you forward in the saddle during the walk and whose pelvis/low back show great movement during walk and trot)

01/29/2026

If working through tension was the answer then shouldn’t your horse have less tension?

State is going to supersede structure every time

Anything we do with and to the body when there is tension, resistance or avoidance is registered to the body as a threat — regardless of how soft and well intentioned we are

When we focus on state first then structure follows as the body finds safety — then we can achieve true softness, flexion and suppleness

Otherwise we are fighting a loosing battle

If working through resistance was the answer then shouldn’t we have less body tension?

01/28/2026

If it feels like you’re always chasing a new symptom —
a new area of tension,
a new form of resistance —
it’s likely because the root cause is being missed

Horses’ bodies adapt around instability and limited capacity

When symptoms keep shifting from area to area,
the issue isn’t isolated —
it’s systemic

01/28/2026

Same horse. Same season.
Different internal organization.

We’ve all heard the phrase “a team is only as strong as its weakest link.”
For horses, that weakest link is almost never the musculoskeletal system — it’s the nervous system.

A nervous system organized around survival creates a body that operates below its true potential.

Before
👉🏻 high stress activation and nervous system flooding
👉🏻 contact creating tension
👉🏻 sucking back, then launching forward
👉🏻 lack of stability through the lines
👉🏻 decreased power in turns
👉🏻 limited range of motion over fences

During
👉🏻 stress activation without flooding
👉🏻 contact creating connection
👉🏻 consistent pacing
👉🏻 straightness and follow-through through the lines
👉🏻 maintained momentum
👉🏻 jumping through his entire body

Stability, strength, rideability, and suppleness aren’t trained in moments —
they’re built internally, over time.

01/27/2026

We are traditionally taught that pressure should be applied and then released once we achieve the desired outcome

pressure doesn’t begin at the moment of the “ask.”
It begins in the approach — the shift in energy, the preparation, the expectation.

The body feels that long before we apply an aid.

When pressure is consistently followed by release only after we get what we want, the nervous system learns to stay prepared.
Not relaxed.
Prepared.

This is how bracing becomes the baseline.

Release is most effective when it comes after acknowledgment (watch how my ask ends after he blinks and acknowledges the pressure — this also shows us how much pressure a horse is listening to) — not just compliance.

When the body says “I heard you”, not just when the behaviour changes.

That’s where true relaxation starts.
And that’s where movement begins to change.

We can achieve all that we desire and more without creating tension and instead, release it

01/26/2026

I get asked a lot about what helping the nervous system looks like and this is it

Helping the nervous system means honouring the body’s cues of discomfort and adjusting what we do so that neural pathways can change — when we interrupt the loop by not approaching during discomfort we stop that circuit from closing and strengthening. Over time, this forms new neural pathways and allows the body to be at a baseline of safety rather than protection

Things to watch in this video:
While I’m explaining things I am still paying attention to his cues
As I approach he turns and looks to the outside, this is not coincidence, it is communication. So rather than approach closer, I stop and then I step back a couple of steps to give him more space
And this doesn’t mean we can’t enter their space, it just means we are diligent in how we do it and what we do
He then tries to grab the lead rope as he came down out of sympathetic activation for a moment and then stares off at the end of the arena — this is typical dissociative or avoidance behaviour
Not seen in this video is me slowly working through lead rope contact to bring his attention back to us and his body — this is done by gradually increasing lead rope contact from the weight of a feather to the weight of a few grams (this is also a great way to see where a horses relationship to contact truly is)

Horses who bite are usually not doing so because they are inherently mean, they are doing so to create a boundary and protect their autonomy

Working at this level is what allows the body to systemically soften

This is the secret sauce

01/26/2026

My favourite pastime is using my scrolling to study the body 😆

This photo and pair are lovely!

But let’s nerd out on the body 🤓

In this photo we are seeing:
Medial rotation of the knee
and
External torsion through the distal limb

This is usually cause of:
Increased pectoral tone which is pulling the humerus medially — we can actually see in the photo that there is a deviation at the point of the shoulder which confirms this

That is typically due to:
Tension through the thoracic inlet
Reduced lift and suspension in the thoracic sling — we can see in the photo that the shoulder is being blocked at the base of the neck which is classic TS dysfunction

This pattern typically causes:
Early forehand loading on approach
Reduced virtual push through forelimbs on take-off
Harder landings with the forehand ‘dropping’ faster than the rest of the body

Horses at the high levels are some of my favourite to analyze

At the highest level, jumping isn’t about whether the horse can clear the fence — it’s about how efficiently the body can manage load over time

Performance longevity is built in the details — once we can see these patterns we can see where the body needs support

01/26/2026

A new year means a new introduction 👋🏻

It’s crazy to think that I have been dedicated to this work for the last 7 years 🤯

When I started my journey as a bodyworker I never imagined where it would lead me

This work is my obsession — constantly looking for the why, analyzing movement patterns and never being okay with “it’s the way it’s always been”

And even though my work is what lights up my soul, so do:
Sunsets
Iced vanilla lattes
Beaches
The smell of rain in the summer
DOLPHINS
Time outdoors
Driving with the sunroof open and music blaring
Moving my body
Intentional stillness
Laughing over nothing with my friends
The perfect soft spot on Chips nose that feels like velvet and is perfect for kissing, booping and squishing

Grateful for a life filled with all the things I love 🙏❤️

01/25/2026

01/25/2026

The poll (C1/C2) is the body’s primary orientation centre — this area integrates information from the jaw, eyes, vestibular system, breath and the rest of the spine to answer one core question:

“Am I safe enough to balance, orient, and move?”

When the body doesn’t feel safe or stable this is one of the first places stability will start

Recurrent poll tension tells us that the body is spending more time in brace and protection (sympathetic activation) than it is in softening and openness (parasympathetic regulation) — this is why treating the poll without addressing the nervous system leads to tension that comes back

Poll tension can show up as:
Head tilt
Anxiety or hypervigilance
Difficulty settling or adjusting
Inconsistent contact

When the nervous system is addressed and the body can return to baseline level of safety then poll no longer needs to be the primary place of stability — and softness becomes available without force

If you’re dealing with recurrent poll tension, step back and address the system that tells the body how to orient itself

01/25/2026

Can’t stand the sound of people chewing. Calmed by this sound - all horse people 😆

warm winter mash calls for extra lip smackin’ 😍

01/24/2026

It’s the moments we deem most mundane that compound over time to a horses nervous system

Horses who are in fawn, freeze or dorsal vagal shutdown tend to lean into compliance which can make it very hard to recognize that they are not actively choosing to participate in the task at hand — in this case, haltering

And it is not that haltering a horse is a physically harmful activity but when the nervous system is upregulated, this simple task flags the body by saying: yes I need this protection because my communication is unheard and then will associate this state and need for protection every time they are presented with the stimulus (in this case, the halter)

The reason this is one of the first things I work on is because the nervous system state determines what the body can and cannot do

And if we want horses who perform well, have supple body’s and require less pharmaceutical maintenance, then we need a nervous system that can allocate resources properly

Communication is all around us, we just need to fine tune our listening