Equine Manual Therapy

Equine Manual Therapy Equine osteopathic, craniosacral, sports massage and fascial release therapy for the sports and leisure horse. UK, Europe and UAE

Genevieve Joyce is an equine manual therapist trained in equine osteopathy, remedial sports massage therapy, craniosacral therapy, myofascial release and kinesiotaping. Therapy targets areas of pain and discomfort in both the sports and leisure horse. The horse has many ways of showing it's discomfort:
Bucking
Rearing
Napping
Head shaking
Resistance when being tacked up
Difficult with the farrier/

have feet picked up
Refusing to jump
One sidedness
Stiffness/refusal to work in an outline
Flinching when groomed
Reluctance to load
etc...

Over 15 years experience in practice, UK based, holding regular treatment clinics in Bahrain and Vienna

31/05/2026

Not every issue in a young horse is a training issue.

If something doesn’t feel quite right, trust your instincts and investigate it early. It can make a huge difference later on. 🐴

27/05/2026

Not a thought I imagine you’ve spent much time on I’m sure but bear with me

The head is innervated by 12 cranial nerves, one of them being the vagus nerve. This nerve does a bunch of clever stuff, including innervate the back of your horses ears, AND the gut. If you’ve done much research in to how powerful the vagus nerve is you’ll know how important it is to gut function.

When we hear ‘trust your gut’ thats because 80% of the vagus nerve fibres are efferent - meaning they go TO the bran rather than away from it.

Now nerves are a bit pesky because they follow their own rules and can display all sorts of peculiar presentations, and one of those can be neurological irritation/excitation in areas that aren’t the source of the dysfunction/discomfort

The point I’m making here is that when your horses gut is inflamed, irritated or generally dysfunctional you may notice hypersensitivity of the ears, and this is where workiung with an osteopath can be a bit of a secret weapon when it comes to keeping your horse comfortable

22/05/2026

If your horse strikes off on the wrong lead (only on one rein, every single time) please stop calling him lazy.

He isn’t lazy. He’s telling you something.

Horses don’t pick a “favourite rein” in canter randomly. Asymmetry shows up exactly here, the hindquarters, the SI joint, the lumbar, sometimes the hocks. Whatever isn’t working quite right on one side is asking him to find a workaround. The wrong lead IS the workaround.

You haven’t been able to train it out of him because there’s nothing to train. He’s not being naughty. He’s compensating. And he’s compensation for some discomfort SOMEWHERE

Save this for the next time the trainer / yard owner / well-meaning bystander tells you he’s “just having you on” 📌

14/05/2026

Your horse is always to find a way to use it's body that doesn't feel BAD. so when you notice things like drifting to one side over a jump, favouring a landing leg, not snapping up evenly or any of the other things here - these are all pretty clear clues that your horse is COMPENSATING. and there will always be a reason for this

My job is to help you to help them. After all, it's their body they are using to try and do what you're asking them to do.

The better they feel in the body

The better they'll use it for you

If you'd like some help supporting your horse to perform better drop me a DM or a message on

08/05/2026

Yes, I’m there to assess and treat the horse, but a lot of the time I’m also piecing together a full picture from everything I’m being told, everything I’m seeing, and everything the horse is quietly showing.

There’s usually a lot more going on than just what’s booked in.

07/05/2026

1 - GROOM THEM - not just wave a brush in their general direction, but actually groom them. Apply pressure with the brush and notice how they respond. Both before AND after work

2 - notice how they react to seeing the saddle/tack. How they react to having the saddle pad put on - do they fidget/put their ears back, or possibly tooth grind, head tilt, paw the ground. All of these things tell you how their stress levels are

3 - Monitor their coat - how is the hair over their back. what colour is it. how long is it. Does it sweat evenly after work. Hair wear patches can indicate both saddle fit and ALSO how the back is moving. Restricted areas of the spine dont move the same as unrestricted areas. So even the best fitted saddle and pad can end up rubbing if your horse has spinal restrictions

Send this to someone who is worried about back pain in their horse, and pop me a DM if you’d like to get your horse booked in

30/04/2026

I hear this a lot… and I understand why people say it.

From the outside, it can look like a horse is being stubborn, resistant, or just not wanting to do the job. But when you spend enough time working hands-on with horses, you start to see the same patterns over and over again.

Horses don’t think in terms of being “difficult” or “stubborn”. They respond to what they’re feeling. If something becomes harder, more uncomfortable, or more difficult for their body to manage, that’s usually when the behaviour starts to change.

It might show up as resistance, tension, lack of performance, inconsistency… but more often than not, there’s a reason underneath it.

That doesn’t mean every situation is physical, but it does mean it’s always worth stepping back and asking what the horse might be trying to communicate, rather than just labelling it.

Once you start looking at it that way, a lot of things begin to make a lot more sense.

28/04/2026

Come me with me for a day at work 🙌

Address

Stafford

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+447817652408

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