Founding Members
The IEBWA was founded in 2003 by Debranne Pattillo (USA), and Nicole Rombach (United Kingdom).
With the global expansion of the Equinology Equine Body Worker® programme, international divisions were founded in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In addition, IEBWA membership was opened to practitioners and educational institutions whose standards of certification and professional ethics were in line with the ethos of the IEBWA.
Debranne Pattillo — United States
Debranne Pattillo sees equine anatomy with the eyes of both a body worker and an artist. Her teaching is infused with her basic delight in both the anatomical precision that excellent bodywork requires and the dynamic variation that teaching anatomy on (mostly living, nibbling, opinionated) horses often presents.
Her knack for seeing the bones and muscles with an artist’s eye and her unique way of taking the body apart, from the skin down to the bones, and putting it back together again — as a colored drawing, as an “air massage,” or as a painting done in chalk on a live horse — is a perspective that fuels her work as a practitioner of equine body work and sports massage and makes her a much sought-after teacher.
Her “Painted Horse,” which has served as the backbone for presenting equine anatomy since Equinology started, was showcased in United Kingdom’s BBC television program “Country File” in 2001.
Nicole Rombach — United Kingdom
Originally from the Netherlands, Nicole is the president of Equinenergy Ltd. and Caninenergy Ltd. in the United Kingdom. From 2003 to 2009 she was based in São Paulo, Brazil, where she worked in direct liaison with various veterinary clinics, focusing on sports therapy for performance horses from novice to Olympic level. She travelled to national competition centres and private clients throughout Brazil and in other South American countries.
Her main interest lies in the effect of complementary therapies on equine performance, and the subject for her doctoral research was investigation into equine neck pain from the perspectives of pathology, neuromotor control and equine behaviour associated with spinal dysfunction. Her practice focuses mainly on neuromotor control and movement, in other words: the brain-body connection. She is the chief lecturer and examiner for equine and canine NeuroKinetic Therapy worldwide.