Sarah Gill, from Tockwith, offers physical therapy for horses and dogs with musculoskeletal injuries (From York Press)

Sarah Gill, from Tockwith, offers physical therapy for horses and dogs with musculoskeletal injuries

3:40pm Tuesday 3rd November 2009

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YOU’VE heard of the Horse Whisperer? Meet the Horse Massager.

Farmer’s daughter Sarah Gill, 23, from Tockwith, near York, has launched a new business for animals, using principles of human chiropractic therapy.

Sarah offers “bare hands physical therapy for horses and dogs with musculoskeletal injuries.”

A fully qualified animal physical therapist, she has devised treatments to help restore nerve function, relieve muscle tension and improve movement and performance.

From racehorses to dressage horses and from Alsatians to poodles, Sarah has begun “de-twingeing” some of Yorkshire’s finest animals.

She said: “Animals in training – especially horses - are like athletes.

“Although they are performing at high levels of physical exertion, they often get no physical therapy afterwards.

“Stiff joints and muscles, as in humans, can lead to pain and sometimes loss of performance.

“Although I knew there was more need for this service across Yorkshire and the North East, I’ve been amazed at the response – from individual dog owners to top racing yards”.

She practises the McTimoney-Corley method, which was originally derived from human chiropractors – a method she studied at the Oxford College of Equine Physical Therapy after gaining her Bachelor of Science degree in animal science at Newcastle University.

She always obtains veterinary consent before treating any of her patients.

For horses, she charges owners £40 per treatment and dogs are £25, with discounts available for four or more horses per visit.

Sarah still lives with her parents, Lorraine and Jeremy Gill, on their farm at Eastfield Grange. They have four horses which each derive the benefit of her healing hands, including her own ex-racehorse, Gerty which was trained by James Hoverton of Malton and now takes part in eventing.

The Gills run an outdoor breeding farm for pigs. “But I don’t see much call for my services from pig farmers. Besides, their skin is very rough and hairy. Not good for the hands,” she quips.

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