About Cindy & La Paw Spa

When Experience Matters …..

Cindy Horsfall
• LMP, SAMP, AMT, CWP
• Registered Counselor
• Certified SOMA Practitioner
• Certified Structural Integrator

Cindy began her work over 40 years ago and worked in the area of equine rehabilitation, gait analysis and retraining. At this time she was introduced to water therapy as a tool to aid in physical rehabilitation. She is a certified WATSU therapist (warm water massage and shiatsu) and an aquatic massage therapist and is a member of the Worldwide Aquatic Bodywork Association (WABA) and the Aquatic Rehabilitation and Therapy Network. This training is the foundation of her work in the areas of emotional healing in warm water. She has completed Advanced training in animal communication and has studied extensively in the areas of death, dying and hospice care. Cindy has completed advanced training in intuitive guidance with Dr. Christine Page. This is a certification program recognized and sponsored by the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine. She is also a registered counselor in the State of Washington.

Cindy is a member of The Canine Hydrotherapy Association and is the founding member and president of the Association of Canine Water Therapy.

Cindy is a Nationally licensed massage therapist as well as a Washington State LMP. She has her small animal massage license and is also certified in structural integration and is certified in neuromuscular integration (SOMA). She is also an active member of IASI, the International Association of Structural Integrators.

In 2005, she has also started a Training Program for Canine Water Therapists.

Cindy has had the opportunity of having many great teachers and masters in her life. She has studied T-touch, Canine Physical Therapy, Massage, kinesiology, and is a Reiki practitioner. She has been involved with health products, nutritional alternatives, and alternative healing for over 20 years. She has had her own health store for canines for 12 years.

Cindy’s training has not just come from books. Some of her most important training has come from having her own serious, debilitating injuries, which led to personal discovery on the mind/body connection, and the realization that we truly have the power to heal ourselves, within ourselves. We just need to learn the key to unlocking those powers.

Although the hours of coursework and training are important, Cindy’s most significant training has been obtained with the more than 16,000 hours of being in the healing water with canines (and humans) of all breeds, shapes, and sizes, listening to their stories and having her hands on their bodies. She has learned most of what she does in the water directly from these souls. She has modified the way that she works, based on the results that she sees with her own eyes, and feels with her own hands and heart. These hours are irreplaceable in training to do the kind of work that she does.

In all of the training programs that Cindy has accomplished, she continues to be drawn back to the water… for this is where she feels most connected and where the gentle miracles of healing seem to most freely flow.

In Cindy’s “former” working life she was a Certified Public Accountant. She worked for Price Waterhouse for quite some time, and then opened her own successful firm, which she ran for a number of years, before she heard her calling toward healing therapies in warm water. Though being a CPA may not be particularly helpful when working directly in the water with her canine friends, it has helped a great deal when dealing with the everyday financial aspects of running a successful business, and in helping others to set up business plans for their new businesses as well.

Cindy’s love of animals began at an early age.

From as early as I remember, I have been crazy in love with animals. I painted the veterinarian’s oath on my bedroom walls before I was 10 and was a professional horse trainer by the time I was 19. Starting out in Equine Aquatic Rehab, I always wanted a canine pool but it was my beloved dog, Ava, who finally gave me the opportunity.

Ava and I built our first pool and opened La Paw Spa in 1996. Business boomed and soon we had outgrown our original facility. In 2004, I expanded my services and am now operating La Paw Spa out of various pools in the Northwest. Click here to read about availability, locations and how to book an appt.

Committed to the safe practices of Canine Water Therapy, I founded the Association of Canine Water Therapy in 2005. The A.C.W.T. gives web space to members to advertise their services. I can not endorse, warrant, guarantee be responsible or liable for the representations or services provided by the members of the ACWT and I urge all potential customers to be aware and careful when choosing a therapist for their dog. Read my article How to pick a Therapist or Pool to read more about things to consider when choosing a therapist.

I also started an International Training Program for the work. Click here for more information on these exciting new Training Opportunities.