That old back magic

Marjory McGinn meets the man with a gift for curing injured horses ‘Horses will work through pain because of their desire to please us’

RIGOLITO has a bad back. He is an Argentinian polo pony and, tethered in front of his stable, he is looking flaky and big-eyed. His owner wants him back in top form for a tournament in Perth, in just four days. There is only one thing to do: send for “the back man”.

This is John MacManaway’s nickname in stables all over Scotland. It is a tribute to his almost supernatural gift for fixing that most troublesome part of a horse’s anatomy, and usually in record time.

Using a combination of natural therapies and faith healing, he cures about 700 horses a year in Scotland and, increasingly, in the rest of Britain. Many of them have been written off as hopeless cases, ready to be

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