S3 E8: An Irish start & another EMS pony - with Dr Dorothy Heffernan
Here we are at our final episode for Season 3 of An Equine Conversation. The months & months of recording & editing have all finally finished & you now have the whole season to listen to & what an epic season it has been too.
Stay tuned at the end of the conversation for some announcements.
I’m delighted to bring you this final episode with the 4th inspirational women in the horse world I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with this season.
This is yet another conversation I’ve been so looking forward to having and to sharing with you. Dr Dorothy Heffernan is based in Scotland, my favourite place in the world besides where I am in Victoria, Australia, but grew up in Ireland. I mention in the conversation, an Irish documentary that was on TV when I was a child about horses in Ireland and so I always wondered what it would have been like growing up horsie in Ireland. You’ll never believe it, but someone’s put that 53 minute and a bit documentary, which must have been made in the 1980’s or even 70’s onto YouTube. I almost fell off my chair when I thought to look and found it.
I digress…
Dorothy first came on my radar a number of years ago with her insightful responses to questions on some of the equine behaviour & positive reinforcement Facebook groups & it seemed Dorothy liked mine too & we connected over a like-minded approach.
Since then I’ve been following Dorothy’s journey with both her training work with humans & horses in Scotland, and with her own little herd of horses. I knew Dorothy grew up in Ireland and I wanted to hear what that was like & I love Scotland so am always happy to speak with anyone there.
I know some of you lovely listeners had really resonated with & appreciated hearing Julia Inglis story with her EMS horse and you wanted more information around EMS – a growing challenge for many horse owners. Dorothy has an EMS pony Rio – whose story I wanted to share with you as well, so we delve into the trials and tribulations of managing an EMS pony in Scotland.
It was such a fun conversation with Dorothy who is a great story-teller. Even listening back to edit the episode, I laughed and I almost shed tears at different points. I hope you enjoy listening as much as Dorothy & I enjoyed recording this for you.
Dorothy Heffernan:
Dorothy Heffernan, PhD was born and raised in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, where she was a horse and pony mad child. She moved to Scotland to study psychology and took her love of all things equid with her.
After graduating with a PhD from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, she chose to specialize in equine behavior and has been working as an equine behavior consultant for 17 years, helping people solve behavior challenges with their horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. In 2021, she joined with three other force-free equid trainers to launch Positive Equine Training Scotland, offering support and training to people in Scotland who want to learn about new gentle and compassionate ways of working with their equid friends. Getting to meet and work with a variety of equids, big, small, long and short eared has been Dorothy’s dream all her life, and now she’s living that dream.
As well as teaching and helping with equid behaviour issues, Dorothy supervises research projects for the University of Edinburgh courses in Equine Science and Animal Behaviour & Welfare. She has her own three lovely equid friends who take up either far too much (or not nearly enough) of her time, all trained using force free positive reinforcement methods.
In this episode we discuss:
1:24 - episode introduction
4:15 - introducing Dr Dorothy Heffernan
4:47 - Scotland: the Scottish summer, loving Scotland & accents/dilects
14:09 - growing up horse-mad in the suburbs of Dublin
16.29 - riding lessons in the middle of Dublin city
18:36 - making the most of horsie extended family
19.55 - eventually Dad bought the horse - perseverance pays off
23:60 - enter Rio
28.11 - enter Mal
30.18 - enter Jackson
35.41 - how studying & teaching in Psychology has informed a change in horse keeping & training
43.56 - Rio’s EMS: the background
52.10 - the laminitis diagnosis, the management & the recovery
54.16 - round 2
56:52 - Rio’s current status: ditching the fat pads & ‘the knife edge’
57.59 - Dorothy’s insights: forage/feed importance, what exercise does
59:28 - a positively trained, EMS pony, the need for exercise & how that was managed
1:00:53 - the positive ripple effects of the exercise training
1:03:16 - Rio’s living set-up & management now - balancing behavioural & health needs
1:05:38 - exercising ‘relatively hard’ - what is hard enough to have a positive impact
1:06:52 - the broader impacts of exercise
1:09:27 - the evolution in the herd dynamics as Rio’s EMS has been managed, his living conditions have been stable & his training has progressed
1:10:37 - Rio & Mal’s earlier relationship & working to train that
1:16:19 - top tips for managing an EMS pony
1:23:57 - episode & season wrap-up
Link from Dorothy:
Find Dorothy via her Facebook profile
Or at Dorothy’s website: Light Touch Equine
Our links mentioned this episode:
Abbey's Run Equestrian website
Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook
Tell us what you thought about Season 3: CLICK HERE to share your thoughts via our short feedback form.
Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: https://www.mbpod.com/