Bio

I have always had a passion for horses since a very young age, despite not being brought up in a 'horsey' family.  My interest in horsemanship developed from riding and general horse care to the study of equine anatomy and kinesiology, particularly in relation to performance.  I believe my passion in equine sports massage began as a result of an injury I suffered personally as a teenager; the resulting pain and restriction of movement and general all-round impact it had on my life caused me to think about the strains and injuries that horses suffer and endure as a result of being ridden and in many cases pushed to their performance limits.  I have personally had the benefit of Osteopathy and Sports Massage, as well as Surgery to help me return to full fitness, but there were periods when I had no treatment and even pain relief could not alleviate the symptoms, which seriously affected my quality of life growing up. 

Similarly, many of the horses that I have owned and worked with over the years have displayed extreme soreness and discomfort, often as a result of compensation through past injury, badly fitting tack or general muscle fatigue.  Through handling and riding these horses I found a trail of compensation had developed, where different muscle areas seemed to be affected, further increasing the discomfort and therefore the ability to work effectively.  But what we notice is that even despite this discomfort, and often it is a discomfort that we are unaware of initially, the horse will still endeavour to do what we ask of it.  It is this fact which inspires me as a massage therapist to work to alleviating muscle pain and spasm by looking holistically at the horse to improve its quality of life and way of going.  We ask a lot of our horses, and often we do not think about the stresses and strains that we cause in the pursuit of our own enjoyment.  There needs to be a balance and I believe that good quality sports tissue massage in combination with a holisitic approach to horse care can help create and improve that balance so that horse and rider can enjoy their partnership to the full.

Since qualifying as an ESMT, I have had the good fortune to work with Philippa Unwin of Pipp's Way Natural Horsemanship and some of her wonderful horses, all of which have had vastly different pasts and are at her centre for rehabilitation.  All of the horses are finding themselves and looking forward to good futures, and being involved in this from a soft tissue massage perspective is both challenging yet very rewarding.

Thank you for taking the time to read a bit about me and why I am so passionate about equine massage - please feel free to contact me for any further information or to book a consutation.