Course summary

The demand for qualified and experienced equine practitioners has grown over recent years, with many more horse owners, trainers and riders recognising the need to promote the health and well-being of their horses in order to maximise welfare and performance and prevent injury. The complex nature of injury development and poor performance, which result from the interaction and influence of a broad range of factors, creates a demand for holistic practitioners who work within the scope of their practice and as part of the multidisciplinary team who manage the equine athlete. This programme will prepare you for further study and access to practitioner level qualifications. You will have the opportunity to gain excellent theoretical knowledge and practical skills within the field of equine therapy and rehabilitation, which underpin decision making and enable development of professional stance. You will study a breadth of highly relevant science to explore in detail anatomy, physiology and biomechanics to ensure appreciation of functional movement. You will develop your knowledge and understanding of behaviour, nutrition and exercise physiology to ensure essential underpinning of concepts and applied approaches to working within equine performance roles. The role of para-practitioners and the multi-disciplinary equine team is an important inclusion. This course will provide you with extensive opportunities to engage with industry professionals to further prepare you for working collaboratively in industry. The inclusion of modules to develop scientific laboratory techniques will allow you to progression into broader aspects of equine performance, such as roles within veterinary laboratories. You will undertake work experience and assessment on our state-of-the-art equine therapy centre, providing you with an insight into all aspects of a commercially operating facility. This first-hand experience will ensure that you are fully equipped with the knowledge and practical skills to operate and assess the role of specialist equipment. Learning and Teaching Approach This programme is delivered with a variety of learning and teaching approaches, utilising excellent onsite resources and extensive industry links for applied aspects. For all modules, there are theory lectures delivered, aimed at providing the core content and underpinning knowledge. Lectures are used to convey the basic concepts, and facilitate further expansion of such concepts by the students, through independent study. To complement the theory lectures, students have group seminars that are used to reinforce those concepts delivered theoretically. Practical sessions will focus on development of husbandry and handling, therapy and research equipment operation, therapeutic techniques and laboratory skills. Contact Time Contact time includes approximately 13 hours a week to include lectures, seminars, practical's and tutorials. Students are also expected to carry out a significant amount of independent study in addition to contact time (approximately 25-30 hours a week). Independent study includes reading around the subject, preparing for tutorials and seminars, preparing for, and completing, module assessments and revision for examinations; forming an essential part of a student’s learning journey. Career Opportunities Students graduating from this programme could follow careers in the wide and diverse equine industry as self-employed equine musculoskeletal therapists (NB: an additional practitioner level qualification must be attained to achieve practitioner status); assistants/operatives within equine rehabilitation, welfare, and racehorse rehabilitation centres; laboratory technicians and managers; FE and HE Lecturers; research assistants; equine performance analysts.