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Stride Performance Equine Therapy, Brighton, ON (2025)

07/10/2025

You’re given the tools but no one actually teaches you the impact they have and how to use them efficiently with your horses nervous system as the priority

And that’s why you need more tools, another professionals opinion, a different supplement and more intervention

The problem isn’t you and it isn’t your horse

It’s the lack of focus on how what we do impacts the being we’re using them on and doing things to

A tool only works as good as it feels to the nervous system

They’ll tell you that you’re doing great with ex*****on yet your horse is in complete sympathetic activation because no one has bothered to look at them for the truth of how the tool is working

And that’s your problem

Not that you need another tool, another gadget, more work or another supplement

07/07/2025

My observations as to why we end up with many problems as our horses get older

What I’ve seen time and time again, because of how our industry has been structured for its revenue, it is because we don’t give horses the time to mature and the space to physically and energetically grow

Giving them the extra time before being on their backs doesn’t just mean they sit in a field or are lunged endlessly

It means allowing them to explore their senses

Learn their bodies

Move with guidance but not force

Come into themselves and their bodies

Doing things with them such as obstacle courses (without force through things that the body is saying it’s not ready for), brain games and exploration in hand, time with herd mates who have healthy relationships with themselves and lunging done in ways where they are taught to carry their body in space -with their own body (they are guided into where softness lies, not conversed by rigs and tools)

Through this they learn how to manage states of sympathetic activation and we, as humans, learn how to understand them and to communicate in ways that release the bodies desire to shut down and stop growing

When we don’t actively give time for these types of development there is an energetic imbalance that occurs and imbalanced energy will always manifest itself physiologically

We take horses out of their natural developmental and communicative cycles and then we spend the rest of their lives trying to remedy it

Understanding their natural nature and communication is not a special tool, it should be a staple, a foundation

Interested in learning more about this process with a mature horse, want to chat about how to start a youngster with this as the foreground or want to dive deep into some repeating patterns, private message me or reach out via contact information below

Repetitive anything is a sign worthy of investigating as it’s linked to the underlying thing that’s holding you back and harming your horses state of being

07/04/2025

Making a rare trip to CEP next week

Spots available for bodywork or performance assessments

DM or comment below to book!

07/04/2025

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞?

A horse who is in a state of personal protection (sympathetic activation) will be operating at half capacity - using its energy in preparation for survival vs being able to operate at a fuller capacity (in parasympathetic with moments of sympathetic used properly) and use it’s energy to evolve, therefore developing and improving

A body in survival (sympathetic) is not using its nutrients and training to build muscle and reduce tension

A body in survival (sympathetic) is coming out of training sessions more tense, anxious or tired - spiking cortisol levels and causing the body’s other systems to respond in ways that have negative impact

This is why things like ulcers almost always accompany back pain and neck pain - which are linked to how the horse carry’s themselves when they are in a protective state - that state being sympathetic

So if you’re training a horse who is constantly in a sympathetic state, not only are you creating more of a need for the body to protect itself, you’re also running yourself ramped in an attempt to develop them

Sympathetic activation is fight, flight, freeze and fawn and look different in EVERY horse but, when we look at what is being presented to us as patterns we are consistently trying to remedy, we can gauge that the horse is in some form of survival state

A horse in a state of survival is dysfunctional and training them in that state is training and strengthening dysfunction

So for performance horses this means daily strengthening of dysfunctional tissue and dysfunctional patterns/habits

Examples of what this looks like under saddle:

- bringing their head up when contact is initiated or during certain exercises
- pelvic swing in one direction more than the other (highly noticeable in trot)
- raising of the low back and lack of engagement in the pectorals
- overuse of the neck for jumping
- bracing on the bit
- difficulty bending one way vs the other

Bring your horse into balance and correct the strengthen dysfunctional patterns by catching them at their root, not at the symptom

07/03/2025

When we know better, we can do better

And that is something our inner world is meant to guide us to and through

Becoming more connected to that inner world, yours and your horses, is what activates that journey and allows for the things that have been a constant (struggle) to be highlighted and brought to the surface

Things like constantly feeling burnt out, feeling internally abandoned even though your external world seems “full”, lack of ambition, having a horse who is difficult to catch, holds its breath or is avoidant in the contact

Understanding the lunar cycles isn’t necessary to go on the journey of uncovering and healing these things but it most definitely helps and heightens that inner world

Our bodies work in cycles, just like the external world - and the weeks or days that feel heavier than normal are nudges from our inner world to seek out what is imbalanced and then find the root cause, the things lying BEHIND what is showing up on the surface

For example, a horse who holds its breath is anxious - and that’s where modern symptom relief would bring us to and find give us a supplement for - but that anxiety is ROOTED in something deep in the psyche

The actual root cause really doesn’t need to be “determined”, digging for a specific point in time or event, what it needs is to be acknowledged every time it pops its head up so that the body can learn that is no longer needs to hold onto that protection mechanism

When we don’t acknowledge the anxiety properly then we reinforce to the body “hey, you need to keep protecting yourself” and so the cycle continues

And as we know, holding the breath doesn’t just mean their breathing is restricted it also causes a vast variety of other symptoms and problems that occur simultaneously and show up in their behaviour, performance and overall health

No supplement, training aid, training program, stuffed animal, special grain or fancy treats are going to help your anxious horse without addressing the rooted cause of their breath holding

And what goes for our horses, also goes for us

07/02/2025

One of the biggest tools I’ve come to connect with on my journey with energy work and healing is the Lunar Cycles 🌙

Have you ever noticed how some weeks you feel emotionally heavier, restless, more tender, or reactive - and can’t quite explain why?

This isn’t something in your head or something unexplainable

We are cyclical beings, living in a cyclical world

What you’re feeling is the ever changing lunar cycle

The moon moves through its own natural cycle every 28-30 days (very similar to our menstrual cycles 😏), and because it governs water - and we’re made up to 70% of that - it’s shifts physically and emotionally affect us as well

Our emotions, energy and nervous system are in constant communication with the cyclical world

And for our horses, who are much more attuned to the subtleties of energetic shifts, the lunar phases often bring in mirrored changes in behaviour, mood and tension in the body

Each phase of the moon reflects a different stage of healing, growth and shadows - offering us an opportunity to work with the natural rhythms to create anew and transform our current experience, environment and reality

This weeks new moon in Cancer has been especially potent - stirring up relationship patterns, emotional boundaries and avoided promises for myself and has been mirrored in Chip with avoidance, greater awareness to his environment and intrigue in the unknown (cue him deciding to escape and explore the forest at 6am this morning)

With this connection being such a huge part of the personal work that I do privately and in 1-1 sessions, it’s time to bring this knowledge to my community

The journey of life and horses is far from surface level simplicity - and I’m here to help us walk through it

So if you’ve been feeling these shifts recently or for some time, you’re not alone and they have so much to offer you!

06/26/2025

It’s not your horses personality, it’s their nervous system

Your horse isn’t trying to be rude

They aren’t pinning their ears and threatening to bite because it’s who they are

And they aren’t grouchy just because

This is not personality

This is trauma

And it should be treated as such

Unsolved trauma manifests in the body in many ways and left unresolved, treated as personality traits and brushed off as just because, will cause it to manifest in other physical ways

These are things that effect the body physically, emotionally and mentally

Your horse with the grouchy personality and chronic lumbar tension that you can’t seem to sustainably manage is asking for the focus to be switched to their nervous system and not just their physical vessel

Have a horse with chronic pain and tension or a “rude” personality? DM me or comment “body” to chat about it 💬

05/04/2025

Sunday morning pony videos turn into conversations about the body 🥰

The more time I spent sitting with and watching horses, in herds and not, the more I understand and appreciate all that they are

We are taught to look at them with such surface level eyes

We do that and we take away the depth and detail behind their actions

Observing their behaviours from a different lens has awarded me connection and understanding beyond my wildest imagination

These beings are so much more than meets the eye

When we view them in such a surface level way we end up capping their potential and putting a lid on their expansion

Seeing them beneath the surface is not just transformative for us as humans, but also for them

Spend some time with your horses, with no precursor thoughts, no assumptions, just a curious observation

Happy Sunday 🙏✨❤️

05/03/2025

You can imagine me face watching this from .01 seconds in 🙃

04/20/2025

These moments that seem like you’re not making progress with this work, is actually where you’re making the most progress 🙏

Stride Performance Equine Therapy

07/10/2025

07/07/2025

07/04/2025

07/04/2025

07/03/2025

07/02/2025

06/26/2025

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04/20/2025

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