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

16/06/2026

They need it when they need it. And usually the fact that something has changed can be the signal that they may need some help getting to the root of the discomfort

Horses don’t change their behaviour for no reason. I’ll often ask you a barage of questions at your appt to try and help me understand when a problem first started and this can be linked to a tiny change in behaviour.

Some of my clients are now so well trained they make notes on their phone to bring to their appt as they know i’ll be quizzing them on ‘when that started to happen’

If you’re picking up on tiny clues with your horse, you’re not neurotic, you’re conscientious, and that makes my job even easier

12/06/2026

Every horse responds slightly differently, but you’ll notice some of these as the body encorporates the changes made during in the appt.

All to help your horse feel and function better in their body. Helping them to perform better for you

11/06/2026

Hard, uneven ground can create subtle changes in the way a horse moves long before obvious lameness appears.

Reluctance to turn, drifting over fences, favouring a landing leg, or increased sensitivity on uneven ground can all be clues worth paying attention to.

The earlier we recognise these small changes, the better chance we have of preventing them from becoming bigger problems.

Have you noticed any changes in your horse since the ground has hardened up? 👇

I love my job so I smile a lot.But these moments made me smile even more. Drop in the comments some GOLD you’ve heard la...
05/06/2026

I love my job so I smile a lot.

But these moments made me smile even more.

Drop in the comments some GOLD you’ve heard lately

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.

Address

Stafford

Opening Hours

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

Telephone

+447817652408

Website

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