Orthobionomy
Orthobionomy is a gentle, non-invasive way to communicate with the horse's body, instead of working on their body, full of respect for the horse as an individual. Carefully selected positions and gentle touches release tension and stress, thus relieving pain and allowing the horse to rediscover comfort and find its own natural inner balance.
I am a physical therapist and equine bodyworker, and whilst I have become an expert in the field of pain and stress relief for people, I now concentrate on the treatment of horses, which after many years of study, research and treatments remains my passion. I work with the gentle bodywork method, orthobionomy, that helps ease dis-ease, releasing stress, pain and tension within the body. I am the only fully qualified orthobionomy practitioner in the UK and have run a successful practice since 2012, first in Germany and since 2017 in Ellesmere, North Shropshire. I pride myself in providing individual solutions for my clients in a loving, caring and professional manner.
How do the horses react?
Horses really enjoy orthobionomy and relax quickly into the treatment. Indeed, horses who had already experienced orthobionomy would not let me work with standard structural osteopathy techniques. Orthobionomy is a very gentle therapy with no painful positions or manipulations. Gentle touches and carefully selected positions encourage the body to find its own position of comfort and natural balance. Nothing will be “corrected”, but the body will be animated to find its own solutions. And because the body continues to heal itself there is usually no need for a lot of continuous ongoing treatment.
What happens?
By realigning the body, orthobionomy helps to ease physical pain in muscles, tendons and joints whilst also releasing stress and emotional tensions. Realigning the body in this gentle way allows the structure, the musculoskeletal system, to rebalance, thus also releasing restrictions within the nervous and circulatory systems and enabling energy to flow freely and the body to function again as it should. The body, the mind and the soul will respond.
How many treatments?
From experience, 2 or 3 treatments on a once-a-week basis are usually important to consolidate the initial work and this will often suffice for issues involving acute pain. However, problems that have been around for a longer period will need more regular treatment and a longer time to heal. After the full initial treatment sessions many clients rebook every 6-8 weeks just to make sure that their horses' body remains in balance. It is important to remember that healing, in a holistic sense, is a process, a life-long process. Orthobionomy can accompany the body to find its own position of ease in its own time, during this process.
Workshops
Orthobionomy techniques can be learnt by anybody, and utilising years of teaching experience, I provide workshops where riders can learn simple techniques to treat their own horses and therapists can learn more effective detailed techniques to treat common symptoms of pain.
If you should be interested in finding out more about the workshops or how orthobionomy may be able to help your horse, please don’t hesitate to contact me using the form below.