meet paul hodgkinson
Animals have always been my passion
After many years of success competing my own horses through my teenage years, I decided working with animals was my life ambition. I went on to study Equine Science and Technology after my A levels, at Bishop Burton agricultural college.
Equine
Event Training
After gaining my AI qualification from the British Horse Society, I was fortunate to make contact with several of the world’s leading riders in the eventing field. From here I went on to work for two top International three-day event riders, both riding for the British team at the Olympics on more than one occasion. I gained many years of experience in training horses from pre-novice to advance level in dressage, show jumping and cross country.
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Equine TRAINER
& NaTIONAL ASSESSOR
In 2001 I became a freelance instructor and horse trainer before moving on to my position of 16 years with Greater Manchester Police Mounted Unit as an Equine trainer and National assessor. This entailed training young horses in flat work, jumping and desensitisation to noise and visual effects. I also had the opportunity to train them to remain calm and relaxed at large football matches, riots, parades including two home coming parades for Manchester United and Manchester City football teams. In my first couple of years as Equine trainer I went on to achieve my stage 4 British Horse Society (Intermediate Stable Managers) qualification and have taught several officer training courses from standard equine certificate (Stage 2) to Intermediate equine certificate (Stage 3) and Instructor qualification. Furthermore, my position requires me to travel the country assessing riders and teachers Nationally within the Police mounted fraternity.
Qualifying as
a vet physio
After many years of working with animals I found a passion for their care. I took the steps needed to turn this into furthering my career in animal care and attended The University of Nottingham Vet School in order to undertake a Post Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Physiotherapy. Whilst studying I was able to understand further the needs of an animal that can often be overlooked and I found great pleasure in seeing animals that I was treating have a better quality of life. At this point, I knew that this was the career for me.
masters degree
vet physio
Whilst studying a degree in Equine Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Physiotherapy, I found a strong interest in Osteoarthritis and it's treatment. Having worked with Horses in a working environment for many years, I had come across a lot of horses struggling with the condition and wanted to understand further how physiotherapy treatment can help treat the condition. I have undertaken a Masters Degree, with a study into the effects of physiotherapy as treatment for Osteoarthritis in Horses. I hope that my study can be used for reference and continued progression into further development of treatment for the condition.
Registered member of RAMP & IRVAP
Ensure your veterinary physiotherapist is registered, read more in my blog
