Equine therapy & rehabilitation mctimoney animal practitioner

MCSP | MAA | BHSII
  • T: 07971 460431
about-me-2

My passion for animals began from a very early age. I have been surrounded by animals all of my life having grown up on a farm, and always had family pets, dogs, cats, horses, you name it, as part of my life.

Growing up, I was a keen member of the Dartmoor Hunt Pony Club and represented the pony club in Tetrathlon, Dressage and Horse Trials. I also spent many winters hunting with the Dartmoor Hunt. A lot of my fondest memories of my childhood are either on the back of a pony, or with a dog.

Whilst studying for my ‘A’ levels, I realised that I wanted animals to be a part of my professional as well as my personal life and I decided to gain my BHSAI as a starting point. I then spent time training with Mike and Angela Tucker where I learnt a great deal about eventing and producing young horses as well as competition horses.

In 1996 I went to Hartpury College where I gained a Bsc (Hons) in Equine Science as well as my BHS Intermediate Instructor Certificate. I also spent a year at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College in Edinburgh where I worked for Andrew McDiarmid MRCVS, one of their top Orthopaedic Surgeons in a research and Veterinary assistant role. It was here that I gained a valuable insight into Equine Veterinary Science, and my time spent there culminated by presenting my research project on bone spavin at the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress. This was a fairly scary experience but I did meet and manage to answer questions from Sue Dyson – one of the countries top Equine vets from the Animal Health Trust!

After Hartpury I enrolled on the Animal Manipulation course from the McTimoney College of Chiropractic. Whilst training I worked as a lecturer in Equine Science at Bicton College. In January 2002 I started practicing as a McTimoney Animal Practitioner. I love treating animals, I think helping a horse recover from discomfort is one of the most rewarding things I could ever do. However, I realised there was something missing and in 2004 I returned to University – this time in Plymouth and 3 years later I graduated with a first class Honours degree in Physiotherapy. I continued to run my practice whilst studying – and it’s here I must add a huge thanks to all those clients who put up with me attending yards for treatments before or after lectures – luckily the timings seem to fit well with busy horsey people!

I am currently splitting my time working as a chartered Physiotherapist and as a McTimoney Animal Practitioner. During the small amount of spare time I have left, I love nothing more than competing my own horse in BE and BS and bringing on our own homebred youngsters.