About Me
After a long career in the family catering equipment supply business, various life events meant that business was sold & I had to decide what was next. I dipped my toe into a few projects but none lit my fire so to speak. Then one, day mid-Covid, it occurred to me that I might be able to retrain to work in a professional capacity with horses. I’ve had horses in my life since I was 4 but never in a work capacity. Could I combine my passion with work?
Having seen for myself the amazing effect a Bowen treatment had on a horse, I decided to dive into the training. Problem was that I had to qualify as a human practitioner first. Once into the training though, I found I love being able to free people from pain. I’ve always been fascinated in anatomy, both human & equine so that was another pointer that I was heading in the right direction. I love that humans are able to tell me how much better they are feeling!
Anyone that knows me (& will listen for long enough!) knows that natural horsemanship is another big passion. This led to me keeping my horses as naturally as is possible & I am constantly researching best practices. I hope that by keeping up to date on the latest nutrition, healthy biomechanics, healthy bodies, healthy feet and saddle fit research will keep my horses happy for the longest time. Keeping them stress free with a holistic approach is imperative to me & helps me advise my clients who want to follow the same path with their horses.
Qualifications
Bowen Therapeutic Technique Diploma Of Proficiency
(The Bowen Therapy Academy Of Australia)
Level 3 Diploma in human anatomy, physiology & pathology
(VTCT)
Diploma in Equine Bowen Therapy
(The College Of Equine Bowen – Liz Bridger)
Certificate of completion of First Aid Plus Training
(Protrainings Europe)
City & Guilds Foundation In Natural Horsemanship
(Parelli Natural Horsemanship)
Compulsory Professional Development (CPD)
The Bowen Technique Module 6
(College of Bowen Studies)
Every day is a school day as they say. I don’t stop at the minimum requirements for my professional association membership. I am constantly viewing or listening to webinars & podcasts published by my peers in the equine health profession. My book collection on equine anatomy, physiology, pathology, behaviour & biomechanics is quite extensive too!
Equine Bowen Therapy Assistant Tutor
I am also now very proud to be assisting in teaching students Equine Bowen Therapy with The College Of Equine Bowen (Liz Bridger).
Professional Association & National Standards
I am a member of the Bowen Professional Therapist Association (BPTA). bowentherapy.org.uk
Bowen Therapy is a modality that is regulated by National Occupational standards (NOS) Provide Bowen Therapy to clients ukstandards.org.uk
As a full member of the BPTA this proves that my training provider met the criteria necessary to run Bowen Therapy Courses.
I am also registered with the government agency which governs professional standards for complementary healthcare the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)
Insurance
I have professional & public liability insurance cover with Holistic Insurance Services to the value of £5 million. www.holisticinsurance.co.uk
Horses In My Life & In Memoriam
Barney
My first horse & totally unsuitable as a first time owner but he turned my head the moment I saw him when I was supposed to be viewing another horse. Fortunately, I was a lot braver back then as he had a habit of wanting to ping about & gallop on any soft ground you came across when out hacking. He was pre my natural horsemanship days so I just rode the wildness!
Skid
I have loved American Quarter Horses since meeting a couple on a farm I stayed at in Australia many years ago. When I lost Barney in 2003, I decided to change from traditional English to Western & buy a Quarter Horse. A sorrel gelding. I think this was the start of me subconsciously wanting to have a different way with horses. A lack of anyone freelance to teach me Western meant I spent a couple of years trying to teach myself, then several successive years of family bereavement & illness meant he was a bit of a pasture ornament for a while. He didn’t mind! It was in 2008 that I had got through the ‘horrible years’ & I needed to decide what to do with my now 14 year old Skid. A couple of girls at my livery yard had been to a couple of natural horsemanship demos & were dabbling in it, so I decided to immerse myself in this natural thing & we learnt some amazing stuff together. I lost him to allergy related breathing difficulties in 2017.
Cody
Another Quarter Horse. This time a 6 year old grullo gelding. Younger than I wanted but there wasn’t many on the market at that time. Well, what can I say? A challenge? Lucky he’s still here? Extreme? This boy has challenged my horsemanship experience. In actual fact, as it turned out, I believe his gut health was not good when he came to me and I had everything from extreme shut down & no connection whatsoever, to throwing himself backwards on the floor (no joke, it wasn’t a rear, it was a throw himself over type thing that I think even Tom Dorrance would never have seen!!). Happily, I have now got him healthy & our connection is growing every time we play.
Actually my daughter’s horse but I’m his daily care-giver and secretly he’s my favourite and a darling boy with a great personality and he doesn’t mind extensive cuddles! Sadly, he’s a head shaker and the horse that led me to Bowen. In my never ending search for the answer to his head shaking issues I had tried every treatment going, including him being part of a research trial for electro-acupuncture. You name it, we’d tried it, from standard physio to a lady that had me rubbing Voltarol in various parts of his body in a clockwise direction for a certain number of minutes (seriously). Of all the modalities that he’d had, it was after a Bowen treatment that I could actually see a difference in the way he was moving. I hadn’t realised he was stiff but after Bowen he moved with so much more freedom. It was amazing. It didn’t cure his head shaking but he was moving in his body so much better.