Kim grew up in Cheshire taking part in ballet, swimming and horse riding, the latter being a family interest with her Grandfather being a professional racing jockey whom rode in the world famous Aintree Grand National five times! At the age of 6, Kim got the opportunity to compete a pony for a private owner, to which the night before her first competition she was adamant that she would win despite her parents attempts to keep her hopes realistic - Kim came home with 2 first rosettes at lead-rein!

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      At the age of 7 years old, Kim was lucky enough to have her first pony called Flossie whom she won many competitions with in both Pony Club and Riding Club. One of Kim's first memories of Flossie was riding her for the first time around the arena at the stables in Nantwich, she was galloping (probably just canter but at the time it felt like a gallop) around the arena swinging one arm in the air shouting "yeehar" - her Grandad supporting her from the side as if it was a horse race whilst her Nana was worrying she would fall off. Flossie, with the amazing support of her family, gave Kim confidence to aim high, to feel like nothing could stop her and it's the best feeling for any child. Her next pony Pepper helped Kim's confidence in all riding club disciplines and was her first pony who took Kim to the National Riding Club Championship, one competition was Pairs Dressage where Kim and Katie were the youngest pair to ever compete in this section at the Championships and lost 1st place by 0.5points.

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      Loxley was Kim's third pony, he was simply fantastic and they competed against adults in Show Jumping, and together they competed at all Riding Club Championships including Dressage, Show Jumping, Horse Trials and Hunter Trials. He was a Connemara so his best move in Dressage was halt, but through Kim's passion for flat work, they constantly improved and became a force to be reckoned with. 

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      Kim then outgrew ponies and decided to focus on her love for Dressage with her first horse Bally whose sire was the famous Clover Hill. Bally was amazing, with Ivan Stockdale commenting that she had the kindest eyes he had ever seen. By this point they were at Cotton Equestrian Center in Cheshire where she witnessed Stephen Clarke (International Dressage Judge General) teach many a pupil and he often gave her advice. Kim had training from Sarah Rodger (International Dressage Judge and Paralympic Dressage Judge) and Sarah commented that Kim could make an excellent judge due to her level of awareness and professional perspective she had with Dressage - Kim often thinks about this and how she has converted those skills for her work in Soft Tissue Therapy. Therefore, Kim was greatly inspired to have a career in Dressage and began climbing the ranks which took her to competing for North West Bristish Young Riders Dressage Society (BYRDS) and taking part both individually and as part of a team at the National BYRDS competition which also involved Sports Psychology Training.

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      Kim also had work experience at the yard of Ferdi Eilberg who was the Team GB Head Dressage Coach at the time, and got to see how a professional yard was run, and witnessed Maria Eilberg train when she was competing for British Young Riders. It was a fantastic experience albeit hard work, and Kim was nothing but inspired.

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      Then sadly Kim's journey of aiming for a career in Dressage with hopes for GB Dressage came to end due a neck injury at 15 years old, but not by falling off a horse, and actually on a trampoline in school during Physical Education. It was a hard lesson to learn as you still think your invincible at this age, and the realisation that she could never achieve her dream was a hard pill to swallow. Kim had to suddenly address her life ambitions and chose to study Law at University as she also had a keen interest in all things Intellectual Property. Kim kept riding during her studies in Law, and graduated from De Montfort University in 2009, noting that between first and second year, she was diagnosed with gluten and dairy intolerance. She also met her future husband (wedding this year!) at DMU.

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      Upon graduating, Kim chose to study the LPC at Nottingham University but staying in Leicester.  It was this year which saw the gradual fall of Kim's health and well-being, to which she can only describe it as being a passenger in her own body which was trying to slowly switch off. It was a scary time for Kim and she lost an awful lot of weight. By Easter, she was offered to resit all exams, even those she had already passed, which is rare for such a graduate course. Kim moved back home to Cheshire to help regain her health and well-being, which took her to many hospitals in the North West. Whilst re-sitting the exams, Kim also took up work in the family business and worked for a local Solicitor's firm.

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      By 2011, Kim was still getting better and was realising it was going to be a longer process than she initially thought. Despite her health improving, the pain from the neck injury was getting worse, and she began experiencing pain symptoms all over her body. She was losing hope in ever finding an answer to her aches and pains, attending many Chiropractor, Sports Massage and Physiotherapy appointments with various professionals which only ever offered short term release. It was this year (2011) that Kim lost her Grandfather and supported her mum by attending meditation sessions in Chester, to which there is an amazing man called Bruce in Wrexham that Kim owes an awful lot to. It was through these sessions and with thanks to Bruce that Kim decided to have a vast career change due her frustrations in unsuccessfully resolving her aches and pains, and in 2012 decided to take it upon herself to learn about the body and find the answers herself by beginning her studies with NLSSM.

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      In 2013, Kim graduated from NLSSM with a BTEC L.5 Sports and Remedial Soft Tissue Therapy qualification. It was a pretty unsociable year for Kim, with work and studies mid week and trips to London at the weekends for course days. Yet Kim was determined to learn, develop and improve and graduated with inspiration and passion. 

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      Kim adapted her skills and training in horse riding and Law to help advance her level of understanding and awareness, and whilst she sometimes wonders if she would have been better off gaining a BSc degree rather in Law, she does not regret it and feels that her studies in Law gave her many skills which she still uses today. Kim remembers how her Grandad had more broken bones by retirement than unbroken bones (the life of a jump jockey), how her Nana on her Mum's side was forever caring no matter who the person was, and how here Grandad on her Mum's side had had a rough childhood but despite this, he made sure his family had a better life than he did growing up. Kim's parents always told Kim that no matter what she did in life, no matter how she did in competition, that the most important thing was the joy of it and through the tough times and the great times of the family business, she learnt a lot of life lessons along the way. Overall, Kim absorbed it all growing up, she knows she was a lucky child and not everyone is given such opportunities, but does not take any of it for granted and has inspired Kim in more ways than she could ever imagine. So Kim does not regret anything, and rather enjoys the journey her life is taking her on, taking inspiration, skills and lessons every day to help her become a better person the next day, and hopes that through this, she can inspire many others.

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      So since qualifying, Kim has been able to find the answers to her aches and pains through finding specific Manual Therapists, and increasing her knowledge, understanding and awareness. An unexpected finding from Physiotherapist Rachel Burr, was that Kim had paradoxical breathing patterns which involved extensive compensations both mentally and physically.

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      Such a journey highlighted to Kim how important an understanding of performance is at all levels, and has continued to learn, develop and improve her skills, understanding and awareness in all things performance. Kim has never looked back and finds her career extremely satisfying - the best feeling is having a client walk in to clinic in awful pain and feeling helpless, to leave feeling pain free, confident and happy from the inside out. Kim rarely needs to see people more than once due to her communication and treatment skills, with many clients surprised as to how easy it was to resolve the pain and maintain it long term. If people return to see Kim in clinic, it is usually for maintenance or a mini 'top-up' whilst they continually improve by following Kim's advice and guidance. 

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      Kim treats the way she would like to be treated, to which Kim has had much benchmarking experience due to seeing many Manual Therapists since 2002. This perspective on life and work has given Kim various opportunities including working at

- Sports Massage Therapist at the Asian Indoor and Martial Art Games 2017 in Turkmenistan

- Sports Therapist to NLD Men's Senior First Team (selected players within Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire) competing in the Bill Beaumont County Championship

- Sports Therapist to Paviors RFC whom have won the Nottingham Cup every year since 2015 and are now in the RFU National Level 3 League

- Sports Therapist to Nottingham Outlaws RLC who were Conference League South Champions in 2015 and now compete in the more challenging Yorkshire Men's League.

- Performance Soft Tissue Therapist to many national and international athletes

      Often Kim pinches herself and is forever grateful for where she is now, and hopes to continue this journey onwards and upwards. Through her journey of ill health, and finding the answers to her aches and pains, it inspired Kim to write a literature review to help explain what she found that helped her recover - 4 years later it has turned into a book which Kim hopes to have published some day soon - watch this space!

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No matter what you've been through, no matter where you've come from, there is always hope if you look at it in the right perspective and if you have passion, determination and a good heart, you will find a way to make it work for you.