Equine Sports Therapy IRVAP (MT) & LANTRA Qualified Bit & Bridle Fit Consultant
A Little About Me
The Story So Far .. .. ..
My name is Cheryl Reed and I have had a passion for horses and horse welfare since I can remember. I live in Romsley, Worcestershire with my husband and our two dogs, Florence and Frederick.
I have a homebred Dutch Warmblood Mare, Hermione (she is my cover girl!) who I have trained and competed up to Medium level British Dressage. I enjoy watching most equine related Sports but Dressage is my passion.
I have recently added to the family ‘Marley’ who is a 4 year old Irish Sports Horse. He is very different from Hermione and I look forwards to completing lots of fun events with him when he is a little older - for now we are doing lots of hacking. I am excited for our future together.
After relentlessly nagging my parents, I ended up with my first pony and through my formative teenage years enjoyed Pony Club, Riding Club and even competed at BSJA JC level.
Upon leaving school I was despatched to secretarial college but lived for weekends when I worked on a professional event yard either looking after the remaining horses at home, or grooming at large events.
Despite being desperate to work with horses full-time, other pressures resulted in me needing to pursue other careers, however, this did at least mean I could afford to buy my own horse again. Not being in the position to buy a ’schoolmaster’, I was lucky enough to buy a 18 month old Dutch Warmblood mare. I backed her myself and we went on to compete successfully in Riding Club events including one-day events, cross-county, show-jumping and team chasing. It was during this time I realised a life-time ambition to breed a foal of my own, which resulted in my current mare, Hermione with home I compete British Dressage.
There have been a couple of instances where Hermione has suffered with a few musculoskeletal conditions and it has been whilst she has been on box rest I explored how I could aid her recovery. With the help of a basic book I began learning the art of massage and discovered a real love for learning more about the horse’s systems and the benefits of equine massage therapy.
There are a host of Equine Sports Massage Courses out there but I wanted to ensure that the one I chose was the best available. For this reason I choose I.C.A.T. (The Institute of Complementary Animal Therapies) level 5 course accredited by OCN London. This is the highest level of qualification available in this field and entailed 5 x —day residential courses in Devon and the necessity to complete 60 assessed case study treatments. This was in addition to six very in-depth assignments, as well as a written exam, followed by a final practical examination. Phew!
At the end of all of this I passed with DISTINCTION
My Bit and Bridle Fit Consultation qualification was a natural progression. Initially I studied and passed my bridle fit exam with LANTRA via HorseBitFit with distinction. I then continued my studies and went on to the Bit and Bridle Fit Consultants exam which I passed with a ‘higher’ distinction, gaining 100%.
Please navigate to the Bit and Bridle Fit page for more information.
A very relaxed and sleepy boy at conclusion of his treatment 💖