ABOUT | lilyclarkequine

About Lily

Lily has been riding since a very young age, starting with her own ponies, attending pony club and shows and during her mid-teens, if not before, she developed a keen interest for equine care and pursued a diploma in equine management at Writtle College. Lily was able to apply previous the hands-on experience from working at a livery yard to the subjects from my management course to gain insight into equine performance, anatomy, and welfare. She followed this with time working at a variety of professional yards, including dressage, racing and eventing, allowing me to gain experience with care across numerous disciplines, breeds, and styles of treatment, coaching and care. During her time working for a private dressage yard, she was working with large dressage horses and understanding the training behind different manoeuvres and how targeting muscle groups was achieved.

Education and Qualifications

2015-2018

Equine sports therapy and rehabilitation BSc(Hons)

Lily's passion grew further from this exposure, and she then pursued a degree in equine sports therapy and rehabilitation at Anglia Ruskin University.

2017-2018

Dissertation

Her dissertation investigated how the horse’s natural gait, and two different training aids varied in rein tension, and their association with stride length. Data collection took two months to complete and involved using 20 horses. Using a device called the Telerein, and a biomechanics software, she collected and analysed data, allowing me to then draw my conclusions. The dissertation was awarded a 2:1 due to its ‘robust methodology’ . The process of creating a study, carrying out the main data collection, and presenting her findings gave her a strong understanding of academic research and how to use it for horse welfare and ethics.

2017-2019

Equinology

In addition to her degree, Lily completed an Equinology® Equine Bodyworker certification. The combination of both a degree-level award and a professional massage qualification ensured that she could practice as an Equine Sports Therapist following graduation.

Lily graduated from my degree in 2018, following which she setup and ran my her business and generated a wide following across Suffolk, Essex , Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Whilst keeping a client base, she returned to working in a rehabilitation yard as a therapist during 2023 and later moved into hospital settings with roles at the Newmarket Equine Hospital and then The Royal Veterinary College which gave a deeper understanding of diagnostics, surgery and aftercare which greatly influences her knowledge and experience with rehabilitation post surgery.

"My passion for learning remains and I have taken the decision to pursue my masters degree in Veterinary Physiotherapy (to start in September this year as a distance learning course).
I have been fortunate to have been able to see many ways of treating issues that cause discomfort for equines and cause difficulties for riders; Because of my background working with horses, I can identify issues before they become a long-term issue and I have the experience with how to deal with these problems if they have already set in". Lily.