How it all started
Hi there! I’m Jo and I started Animal Therapeutics Online in 2008 but my journey began well before then. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s I had a horse with a number of health and soundness issues which lead me to learn a lot about therapies, different modalities and develop a particular interest in natural and alternative therapies (many of which were not so accessible as they are today.) While studying my bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering I also spent a lot of time learning about maintaining equine soundness, and the varying ways to do this. In 2005 I bought my little ‘pocket rocket’ warmblood mare (pictured) Acacia Ridge Rejoice (Gem) and enjoyed working with her and training her as a young horse to prepare for her competition career. It was not to be and in 2006 she sustained a large muscle tear which was difficult to resolve. It was during her rehabilitation in 2007 that I wanted to buy something to help support her recovery. I was on the verge of purchasing another massage product on the market when I felt that ‘there must be something better out there’. I did a lot of research and I found the Activo Med therapy system with PEMF & Massage (when other products only had one or the other). I also heard that Narelle Stubbs who was the Australian Olympic team vet had recommeded this as the BEST system in the market for Sonja Johnson’s Ringwald Jaguar (Jag) to get him performing at his best at the olympics. These were not available in Australia at the time so I imported one myself and I was so glad I did. While unfortunately it was not enough for my little mare who ended up having some lovely babies for me, it did allow me to manage many of my other dressage horses and deal with issues and preventative maintenance in a way I hadn’t been able to before. It would be a couple of years before I would decide to sell them myself as I was working in a full on job as an engineer, but I felt very strongly that Australians (and later New Zealanders) deserved to have access to the best therapy products in the world! and I was going to help them! So that’s how Animal Therapeutics started :) Now, we have a focus to help everyone achieve their goals and we do that through still providing the best products in the world to help you do that! It’s only one piece of the puzzle, but it is such and important piece and can make all the difference.
