Andrea Drake - Emmett Practitioner - Horses & Humans

Today we're putting the spotlight on Julie Scanlon, an EMMETT Technique Practitioner based in Western Australia who operates Bodywork on Bushby. For the past two years Julie has been sharing her passion for bodywork, helping clients and students experience the rapid resets of this unique modality.

Originally from North Yorkshire, Julie’s path to bodywork was paved by a global teaching career as an ESL teacher and trainer across Africa and South East Asia. Settling in Australia sparked a deep interest in holistic, traditional, and complementary health - leading her to study Qigong and Reiki before discovering the EMMETT Technique. Reaching practitioner level inspired her to establish her business, where she now seamlessly integrates EMMETT with Reiki and McLoughlin Scar Tissue Release (MSTR) ✨

In her clinic, the outcomes speak for themselves:
🔵 Subtle, progressive shifts - changes that unfold quietly over a few days, leading clients to note unexpected improvements in their overall physical comfort.
🟡 Immediate breakthroughs - profound moments of structural release, including a client's husband instantly raising his arm above shoulder height for the first time in eight years.
🔵 Holistic impact - shifts that go beyond the physical, helping to clear emotional and cognitive blocks to restore true balance.

Bodywork on Bushby

My inspirational horse EMMETT Instructor, Rebecca Cooper ❤️

It's easy to label horses as lazy or naughty. But behaviour is communication, and sometimes that communication begins with the body's nervous system.

One nerve that deserves more attention is the accessory nerve.

What is the Accessory Nerve?

The accessory nerve (cranial nerve XI) supplies two important muscles: the trapezius and the brachiocephalicus.

These muscles help the horse move and stabilise the neck, shoulders and forehand. They also play an important role in posture and balance, particularly when carrying a rider.

If the muscles supplied by the accessory nerve become uncomfortable or restricted, a horse may find it difficult to lift through the withers, reach freely through the shoulder, or maintain a soft, elastic connection with the rider.

In some horses, even the anticipation of movement may be enough to create protective tension.

Perhaps this shouldn't surprise us. The withers are more than just a point beneath the saddle. In the wild, they are a region of great significance. A stallion grips the mare at the withers to help stabilise and keep her still during mating. Predators instinctively target the same area, using it to gain control over their prey.

Is it possible that the horse's nervous system still regards this region as one deserving special protection? If discomfort is present in the muscles influenced by the accessory nerve, could the horse respond by guarding the area, limiting movement, or expressing behaviours that are often interpreted as resistance? While research is still evolving, these questions invite us to look beyond the obvious and consider the horse's responses through a different lens.

Before we ask, "Why won't they?" perhaps we should ask, "What are they protecting?"

EMMETT - The Chameleon approach to bodywork! I like this PInterest meme shared by the UK and Ireland mob. Sums up the Chameleon approach nicely!

Found this on Pinterest - from Travis Bowman in the USA - and could not resist sharing - this is a perfect match for the reason why we use the Chameleon as the EMMETT Technique logo.

Leanne is in Camberwell.

You don't need a medical degree to improve your dog's quality of life 🐾

The EMMETT 4 Animals Dog Workshop is designed for everyday owners who want to support their pet’s wellbeing. In just a short course, you can learn simple, safe releases to help your dog stay active and comfortable.

It is a practical way to:
🐾 Strengthen the bond with your pet
🐾 Ease their daily aches
🐾 Support their recovery after exercise

Give your dog the gift of better movement.

🌐 https://www.emmett-technique-hq.com/courses/5-emmett-for-animals-courses

Royal Meadows in Macclesfield are ready for the next bone clinic. Great learning can be had from these bones!

Another bone workshop has been scheduled!

For the last 10 years or so I have been collecting equine bones. As a therapist it was an interest of mine, to see what was below the surface. I am grateful for each and every one of the donated bones I have received. They have been given for the purposes of education and I would now like to open up my collection to small groups of interested people.

It's a hands-on experience and we can explore such questions as, what does the SI joint look like, how do the first two cervical vertebrae differ from the others, what actual bone is that, what does kissing spine (ODSP) look like?

The workshop is designed for all equine enthusiasts, no prior knowledge needed.

July 26th at 2 pm. Details in the flyer.

I am also happy to run workshops at your venue, if you have a group of interested people

During winter❄️, many people notice they feel stiffer, less active, and sometimes a little puffy or sluggish. One reason may be that colder weather often means less movement—and movement is one of the key ways the lymphatic system functions effectively.

When muscles become tight or movement becomes restricted, normal fluid dynamics may be less efficient. This is where the EMMETT Technique can play a supportive role.

Through gentle, targeted muscle releases, the EMMETT Technique may help the body move more freely and comfortably. When movement improves, people often find it easier to stay active, supporting the body's natural circulation and lymphatic flow.

Combined with regular movement, hydration, and self-care, an EMMETT session can be a simple way to help you feel lighter, more mobile, and ready to embrace the winter season.

Great opportunity to get a taste of of EMMETT for Horses through this hands on workshop in Moorooduc.

Emmett Technique 4 Horses Workshop 8 August 2026. Learn about this gentle and simple to apply technique to support your equine partners. Contact Jo Martin for more information.
Would you like a workshop in your area? Send me a message.

EMMETT for Horses Instructor, Rebecca Cooper, has this to say about expectations of lasting change from bodywork alone.

🚩⚠️‼️My horse had some manual therapy, but it didn’t work! 🚩⚠️‼️

Before we dive into this, lets look at the following statement.

"The body always chooses the pattern it believes is safest, not necessarily the pattern we would prefer."

This applies to all living things, not just horses. I also treat people, and we are just as prone to choosing familiar, safe patterns. Are we not?

When a horse receives manual therapy, owners often hope that the issue will be fixed immediately and permanently. Sometimes this happens, but more often the picture is more complex.

This expectation is understandable. We naturally think of the body as something mechanical: find the problem, correct it, and move on. Yet horses are not machines. They are living, adaptive systems that are constantly responding to their environment.

Manual therapy (The EMMETT Technique particularly) is not simply a physical adjustment. It is often a conversation with the horse's nervous system. Through touch and movement, we encourage the body to release tension, improve movement patterns, and explore more comfortable ways of functioning.

The treatment may create change, but whether that change remains depends on what happens next.

If the horse returns to the same sources of stress, discomfort, imbalance, or compensation that existed before treatment, the body may simply return to the patterns it knows best. In many cases, recurring problems are not a sign that the treatment failed. Rather, they indicate that the factors driving those patterns are still present.

To understand why manual therapy may not hold after a single session, we need to look beyond the treatment itself and consider the whole horse and its total care.

Lasting change occurs when the horse's body is given both the opportunity and the reason to choose a new pattern, and appropriate care is given.

To be continued…..

As always, consult your primary healthcare provider or veterinarian to determine the most appropriate care for you or your animal.