Profile Karin
Born and educated in Northants, I was horse-mad from a very young age. In 1974 my parents bought me my 'first pony', she was a horse really, named Tia Maria (she was 3 then and lived with me to 2003, age 32). We were founder members of the Northampton Branch of The Pony Club. I qualified as a British Horse Society Assistant Instructor (BHSAI) in 1979. Tia and I competed quite successfully, showing, show jumping and eventing / horse trials until the mid 1980's when a combination of lameness of Tia and my work commitments forced our retirement from competition. I have continued to teach and owned, started and schooled many horses since. My current mount is Munch (Tudor Gateway) who is on a lifetime loan from the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre in Preston. I also have an interest in the work of Monty Roberts and Kelly Marks and have attended a number of Kelly's Join Up and associated courses. I am a member of the Intelligent Horsemanship Group.
I experienced back pain from the time I was 11, when I spent two weeks in hospital in traction, having lost the feeling in my left leg. There was never any clear diagnosis, and I spent the following school years attending a variety of physiotherapy classes and medical examinations. Until then I was very active, swimming, dancing and riding, but from then on pain, or fear of pain, seemed to dominate any sporting activities. The back pain continued to feature in my life and when I started working for a living, in a series of offices, it became progressively worse. There were whole weeks when I was virtually unable to move, and I was seeing a chiropractor almost every month, to be 'straightened-out'.
Fortunately in 2000 I met Mary Wanless (author of Ride With Your Mind) and then Shelagh O'Neill (Feldenkrais Practitioner from Bristol and Penzance), and went on to take lessons with both whenever I could. I soon realised that the more work I did with Shelagh the more I understood my body, the more my riding improved, the less pain I experienced. I was also gradually able to reduce the amount of chiropractic treatment I needed. It is now virtually none. In 2003 I became an Approved Ride With Your Mind Coach and also started training in Italy as a Feldenkrais practitioner, which I completed and qualified in August 2006.
I am now dedicated full time to my Move To Improve business, helping people to improve the quality of their lives (and for riders the quality of their horses lives), and their sporting performances. I continue to work with Mary Wanless to develop my riding and Ride With Your Mind Coaching skills.