I'VE always felt I had an affinity with horses, but I never imagined I would become a surrogate guinea pig for one. There I was on a treatment couch, with a small sample of horse hair on my solar plexus, acting as a stand-in for an animal suffering from emotional problems.

Julie Stephens, aged 31, mother of two young boys, had already talked me through a fairly long session of muscle tests which applied kinesiology (AK) uses to find out where the body is out of balance.

A back problem was highlighted, along with some dehydration, during her assessment.

She pointed out that muscles were related to specific organs or glands because they shared a lymph vessel or acupuncture meridian. When the muscles were balanced and energy restored, the related organs also benefited.

Mrs Stephens said AK is probably the most complete therapy available today because it tackled physical, mental and nutritional health plus energy levels.

When a wheat sample was applied to my cheek it showed up an intolerance by weakening what had been previously stronger muscles.

The idea is that a practitioner can detect and cure allergies and also give a programme of nutritional advice.

Fine so far, but some horse owners may need to take a huge leap in faith when they are told Mrs Stephens doesn't need to be with the animal to make a diagnosis. She can also carry out absent healing.

"I can balance the horse simply by using a sample of its hair and testing a human's muscle reaction to aromatherapy oils or Bach flower remedies or even massage techniques."

But as she points out, it is the results that count and she is already thrilled at the success of her newly-learned skills on people and horses.

"My first good success was an event horse whose owner said he was very talented but too much like a coiled-up spring. I gave him oils and next time out he settled to the job and he came in the first 15."

When she has both horse and rider together, she can explore the problem areas through the body of the human client, who just puts a hand on his or her animal to act as a channel.

"If I ever get a smallholding I would like to have a stall for therapy with a bed for the human next to the horse."

She has been verifying her alternative diagnoses against that of local vets on the same horses and stresses that owners must get veterinary permission before any treatment is carried out.

"I would love to work in conjunction with a sympathetic practice," she confessed.

Mrs Stephens is no newcomer to the equestrian scene and has encountered problems of her own as a rider and a breeder of Welsh ponies. Her father, Mr Alan Moore, of the Darlington fruit and nut company, has a number of racehorses, as did her grandfather.

It means she has a pool of horses on which to test out the validity of her own treatments plus a few good friends willing to act as surrogates when the need arises.

She is convinced that a horse intuitively knows which of the remedies will do it most good from day to day simply by sniffing them.

"From the feedback I get it seems they will either accept or reject one. I think it is the same instinct which helps it to find the herbs it needs to survive in the wild.

"When I was 13 I fractured my lower spine while out hunting. But I didn't know about it until years later when my back pain became much worse after the birth of one of my sons.

"It was being balanced through AK that helped free me of pain. I also suffered from post-natal depression which lasted for years until I discovered homeopathy."

When she badly fractured an ankle while down the fields with her horses last year, it made her think about her future and put her on track to study alternative therapies.

Now she specialises in drug-free solutions including AK, aromatherapy and massage, which can be combined to alleviate pain, stiffness and tension or just to have a calming influence. She is also a reiki practitioner - a form of energy healing which can be used for a range of complaints, from fatigue and headaches through to wounds and strained tendons.

"I would love to get into the racing yards, somewhere like Middleham, because that fraternity is becoming quite sympathetic to other therapies.

"I could live virtually anywhere in the country and do this work because all I need is a sample of the horse's hair. I keep that on file and update the treatment as necessary.

"Eventually I intend to see whether I can help a horse owned by my sister-in-law's sister in Australia."

l Anyone who would like to find out more about the treatments should telephone Mrs Stephens on her mobile telephone 07974 110098