03/11/2025
It is jolly hard when you start out but as time goes on you get used to it and don’t let it dim your light 🐴😜🥰
As a professional try not to be a gollum😄 your clients never want you to utter the words "my precious".
Let's face it when we step out into the world of therapy we think we are the best thing since sliced bread, and there is nothing wrong with that we have to be confident in what we do because we dont work in an enviroment where a boss will give us a pay rise or a gold star if we do good we work in a world of we have to believe we are doing our best because we often are.
Coming into a world of what therapy should look like and offering something different taught me to be less offended if I was the second choice, heck I didnt even mind being last choice I was after all that wierd therapist who just placed hands on the horse 😃
I got used to the ooh the horse likes what you do so its a treat, and we will still get the "proper" therapist in for the crank and crack 😅
In the beginning I would stand back admire my work and think jeez that horse looks amazing, the report back would be the horse has gone the best it ever went and then my smile would fade as I was put on the shelf for the next visit as the regular therapist would make a return, I would take it personal "didnt they like me", worse thoughts would happen "did i hurt the horse", and my enthusiasm dimmed a little as I became the other therapist, I kid you not i used to work on a horse and watch the thanks post and I was always omitted because I was the unknown therapist like humph!!
But then I came back down to earth and realised it doesn't matter😃
I am not gollum and my clients are not something that i have the exclusive right to, in fact nothing makes you do a good job then someone coming in after you and checking your work.
Who cares as long as a good therapist is seeing the horse if they have me then another therapist every 3 months then that is good as the traditional timeline was 6 months which is way to long as things can occur and be dealt with alot easier if caught earlier.
Each therapist is aiming for the same goal we just do things differently, if your training has been to focus on an area of dysfunction then having someone else who looks for the aftermath of dysfunction means you are covering every weakness that may arise, if someone only exclusively uses machines then its good to have someone who only uses their hands
We may find different things, it doesn't mean the other didnt find it (unless its an old issue), it simply means it may have arisen between the visits from your therapist.
I work alongside many other different types of therapists there is a world of choice out there for the owner and being part of the horses care team should be enough we dont need to dominate we need to co exist and even if we dont believe in one way it doesn't mean we have to be offensive to the owner who is trying their hardest to make their horses life a little bit more easier.
I have been the outsider peering through the therapy window, tapping (with a soft touch 😀) to be let in and faced loads of backlash from others who were afraid of change, i dont want to be that therapist who slams the window shut on other new ways of doing things
So dont feel disheartened if the phone doesn't ring off the hook because the world doesn't know how amazing you are 😉, you have to get out there and show the world and even if that means you dont have exclusivity it doesn't mean the horse loses out for regular therapy is still in its infancy, and owners have a huge choice and that can only be a good thing.
Ps dont badmouth other therapists its not the way to get business,.promote yourself by the standard of your work just because a therpist didnt do a good job it doesn't mean all in that modality are bad it just means like in every walk of life some are better than others, our job is to work on the horse not to police the whole therapy industry.
