Having taught and ridden competitively for many years, I was constantly saddened to see so many horses and riders go through heartbreaking lameness, that over the years, despite excellent veterinary care got worse and worse. At best, retirement would be recommended and at worst the utterly gut-wrenching decision of having to put the horse to sleep.

What started as mild lameness, could over the years, develop into a chronic lameness with devastating outcomes. Even more confusing, were the horses who had a growing list of seemingly unrelated problems and lamenesses. Most of the horses were loved and well cared for and no expense was spared - any treatments that the vets advised would be given until the vet could no longer keep the horse working pain free.

Some owners were not willing to give up - they tried more alternative routes - myself included, from Reiki to hair testing and many other options in between. Some found excellent results, but apart from the odd miracle, no lasting outcomes. From my work and interest in human body work, I knew that we have an amazing capacity to heal ourselves. Surely, this should be the same for the horse? So, finding solutions became my passion. I looked at the clinical signs of the lameness, the structures and damage involved, and a cause. Looking at the structure and damage was the easy part, but it quickly occurred to me that I could  not find a treatment until I'd found the real cause. I gathered a large portfolio of lame horses. I heard incredible stories of how 'Fluffy' was on death's door, but after certain treatments, became a Grand Prix Dressage star! There were many of these anecdotal stories, but I needed hard evidence and more importantly, could this be replicated. I drove myself mad researching feed, vitamins and minerals, with so much conflicting evidence - and don't get me started on all the expensive supplements you can waste your money on. With all this research, surely by now I'd have answers to some of my long standing questions... Like, why did horses of similar height, breed and work load develop diseases and lamenesses, when others remained sound? So, instead of looking at the lameness, I started to look at the horse as a whole. What was that particular horse doing now and previously, compared to the sound horse?

Now of course, there are a mind boggling list of variants, so it was impossible for me to draw any useful conclusions. I nearly gave up my research, but I stumbled across an article by Jean Luc Cornille. It was about correcting the way the horse moves, so it can move soundly. Wow, finally something made sense!! Over the next month, I absorbed his articles and tried to find fault or some reason why it couldn't help the horse. Having found nothing to pick at, I joined his course in biomechanics and have been a student of his ever since!

I can now help horses and riders find, and hopefully keep soundness. My greed for knowledge and my need to help find solutions will be a life long journey. Long may it continue!!