Equine In-hand Clinic for Physiotherapists with Diane Thurman-Baker (March 2027)

Course Details: 

This 1 day Course will be run on Saturday 20th March 2027 at Berkshire Agriculture College, Maidenhead. The course will start in the indoor arena between 9am till 1pm. After a lunch break, we will spend the 2nd half of the day discussing cases and possible ways that In-hand ground work could be applied in Physiotherapy practice and rehabilitation. So Make sure you bring a case to discuss within your group!

Due to the practical component of the course. This course is limited to 20 spaces, and booking on-line will be on a first come, first serve, bases. 

The first half of the day will be a practical interactive demonstration by Diane Thurman-Baker, where she will be demonstrating in-hand priciples/techniques, working with 2-3 different horses at different levels/needs. She is keen for the course to be interactive, where we are able to ask her for ways to specifically target activation of different muscle groups/ movements. She is also happy for people to have hands-on practice at these exercises with the horses as we go. 

The Presenter: Diane Thurman-Baker 

Diane has a wealth of knowledge of Classical Training with over 40 years of working and training in this way. Especially where it comes to training horses in-hand, from the ground; from youngsters all the way to GP Dressage as well as assisting with rehabilitation cases.

Her journey started with many trips to Portugal with her late mother, Nan Thurman, learning from the Masters, including Louis Valença and Nuno Oliveira and bringing back some of the first Lusitano horses to the UK.

In her early years with her beloved Lusitano stallion Diabo, she was performance champion many times both at home and abroad. Then with Lucca, a homebred son of Diabo, she went to the Golega Horse Fair in Portugal where they won the Piaffe/Passage class, beating the Portuguese! The pair were also in the first British Working Equitation Team and competed to Grandprix in BD dressage.

She has since helped her daughters to get selected and compete on GBR Junior and Young Rider Teams and both her daughters still compete at Grand Prix Dressage. They work with her same training principles together at their base; Turville Valley Stud, Oxfordshire