Gavin Scofield D.O.

Gavin Scofield D.O. is a registered Osteopath who graduated from the prestigious and long established European School of Osteopathy, in England.

Gavin has been involved with Osteopathy for over 20 years and has run a full time international equine practice for 19 years. He sees over one hundred horses each week, making it one of the busiest practices of its type in the World.

Equine athletes from all disciplines are catered for including many international competition horses and Olympic contenders...but not excluding the family pony.

Gavin has lectured extensively internationally, including working for the European School of Osteopathy as a lecturer and examiner on their BSc degree for over 15 years (at present a senior examiner in the final year viva practical examinations).He has also been a guest lecturer for the University of London (animal science degree) and Imperial College (equine science degree, bio-mechanics and locomotion)

Consulting to the equine industry on Bio-mechanical matters as a whole has also been a regular part of his work: including to the veterinary world, farriers, saddlers, dentists other therapists and especially trainers and riders, where his years of gathered knowledge can be invaluable in helping improve the mechanical welfare of the equine athlete.

Gavin works throughout Britain but also has run clinics all over the World including extensively throughout Europe, the USA, the Middle East, and Russia; as well as consulting and advising clients regularly from as far a field as South America, Australia, South Africa etc.

For the last 6 years Gavin has been the official Osteopath for the British Endurance team, supporting the horses at all international competitions including the World Equestrian Games, World and European championships, as well as advising the team members on treatment and training and helping in the selection process .

Over many years of practice and after well over 120,000 equine treatments Gavin has refined and developed Osteopathic technique to develop a unique way of working he has developed a method of treatment that has pushed the boundaries of what is possible therapeutically allowing the patient’s body to achieve maximum benefit from manual medicine.

This subtle approach is specifically tailored to work with the innate homeostatic /self correcting reflexes within the body, including the postural centres of the brain. By appropriately stimulating these areas, on many levels, it is possible to help the equine FUNDAMENTALLY change patterns of tension within their muscular-skeletal system. This allows not just a release of tensions, but a PERMANENT change in postural balance, improving biomechanical function, especially movement. This improved postural balance can not only optimise the equines movement potential but has also been seen to help improve physiological function and psychological issues.

These techniques have been applied to a huge range of complaints from the profoundly lame to, at the other end of the spectrum, the subtle imbalances seen in a grand prix dressage horses piaffe. Over the years cases have included a lot of complicated biomechanical / orthopaedic referrals. Significant changes are usually seen within 1-3 sessions and tend to be maintained for the long term.

Although the vast majority of his work is in the equine field, Gavin has applied his techniques to a huge variety of animals over the years. This has included many canine patients, feline, bovine and other farmed animals, zoo animals, birds of prey and even the odd bipedal creature!

Gavin has never really advertised or actively promoted his work over the years, preferring to let the work speak for its self but I feel the caption below from Horse and Hound magazine recently gives a good taste of what Gavin’s work is about.