There are so many "buzz" words around today regarding the holistic approach to horses and their management and it is a mine field of money spent for those who love their horses - so what makes the diminutive, softly spoken girl from Scotland different to the many who offer services ranging from massage through to chiropractics and everything in between?

The twenty- seven year old from Aberdeenshire in Scotland has a swag full of credentials including State registered Occupational Therapist, Acupressure Massage THerapist, Equine Sports massage and Equine Body Worker but added to this list of impressive credentials, Katy is a horsewoman first and foremost.

We spent time with Katy Davidson and learned what it was that possessed her to painstakingly paint every muscle onto a horse and learned what it is she does and can do for horses.

Let's start at the very beginning - Katy began riding before she could walk and went through the pony club movement and was a member of the Interbranch teams on many occasions with her faithful and talented pony Danny.

As happens to so many horsemad teenagers, the horses had to take a back seat while she gained a University degree, which for Katy meant moving to Edinburgh while she gained her Bsc(Hons) in Occupational Therapy.

The step away from the world of horses did not last long as Katy quickly realised that her qualifications, skills and knowledge could be transferred to working with horses, which is what she always wanted to do. So after researching the area of Equine massage and its benefits, Katy decided that New Zealand was the place to go and study and gain qualifications relevant to horses.

It was the Equinology™ course that taught Katy the indepth knowledge and understanding of the anatomy of the horse and the relationship between bones, joints and muscles - which are "the basis of the proven physical and mental therapy that is the art of massage".

After 200 hours of practical work plus intensive study, Katy became qualified in Equine Body Massage and also achieved her Advanced Massage qualification as well as her Certificate in Progressive Intensive Equine Anatomy.

So what does all that mean to the average horse owner? It means that Katy has dedicated her study to making sure that she understands the workings of a horse - and this means that Katy actually knows when there is something which needs a Vet and she is not afraid to say so! This is a very comforting thought for those who have perhaps, in the past used an alternative treatment only to find that they were paying a lot of money for something which did nothing more than delay necessary veterinary treatment.

Why bother getting someone in to massage your horse?

This is a good question which is easily answered - every runner, football player, swimmer etc. knows the benefit of proper sports massage to keep them at the top of their sport - some riders even regularly visit a good masseur but for some reason people still don't seem to realise that horses are athletes and have the same needs for warmed, toned and healthy muscles.

Katy took the task of painting all the muscles on the horse to show the correlation between each one and to be able to explain how each muscle impacts on other muscles - when you look at the complexity of the muscles you suddenly realise that for optimum performance the athletic horse needs to be looked after.

This painstaking labour of love certainly shows how the horses body dictates what happens when things are going well and it becomes very obvious why things can go wrong so easily.

Each dsicipline requires the use of different muscles, just as in humans different sports use different muscles.

The one thing which is common amongst dressage, showjumping and cross country is that the horse needs to be supple, balanced and

active. In Dressage, as the movements become more demanding and more flexion and extension is required, engagement is necessary, resulting in the horse taking more of its body weight on its hind quarters. Lateral work is not performed naturally in a horse and so massage and stretching help to make certain movements more fluid.

With the Dressage horse, Katy focusses on the shoulders, withers, back and neck to make their job easy and more exacting and flambouyant, as required by the judges.

For Jumping horses the focus turns to relieving the strain associated with ligaments and tendons that are extended to the maximum on landing after the fence. The sport of showjumping automatically puts strain in the horses joints, with the shoulders carrying about 60% of the weight of the horse.

Massage can relieve any locking which may occur after training and competition.

Katy uses graphic illustrations with the horse as her canvas to explain how things work and her demonstrations are in high demand in both Scotland and Ireland.

For those who have serious competition horses in any of the disciplines a team developes to keep the horses competiting at their optimum and Katy is well used to working closely with vets and especially farriers.

The old saying of "no foot no horse" can be extended to include the

importance of muscles, tendons, etc. on the movement of the legs in direct relation to the farrier and this is where discussion between Katy and the farrier can be very beneficial.

Having watched Katy work there is no doubt that the horses enjoy the work she does with them - they are relaxed and happy to stretch as asked and the owners are happy as they are involved in the process being given exercises to do between visits to increase the effectiveness.

Katy works on rehabilitation horses as well as performance horses with equal effectiveness. The performance horses are generally seen every two to four weeks while rehabilitation horses visits depend on the injury.

There is no crunching or cracking involved in the work Katy does as she is all about supple, flexible and healthy muscles - so the work is all about deep tissue massage and stretching with some interesting "gym work" for those who need it.

The human Gym Step pictured left works perfectly to stretch the forelimbs for flexibility and was found by a client of Katy's after she suggested making a raised board for the exercise!

The soothing ways of this softly spoken girl from Scotland gives confidence to even the most wary of horses, from the ones in great pain to those who have not had the best experiences with human handling.

Through Katy's extensive training with humans and horses, she is the first one to suggest a vet be called in, or a farrier, or an equine chiropractor if she believes the horse has a problem which is not within her field of care, making her a valuable asset to any horse owner/riders team.

Katy works between Scotland and Ireland with a rapidly filling appointment book as the word spreads in both countries about the work she is doing and the results she is gaining.

Katy Davidson can be contacted in the UK by phone on +44 (0) 7765 375 468 or by phone in
Ireland on +353 (0)87 978 7331