Hello and welcome to the 31st Straight from the Horse’s Mouth Podcast on Horse and Field.
These days, more and more people are aware of their horse’s well-being. Many pick up on lameness issues or even niggles that might have been overlooked in the past. These issues are not always matters for the vet and, sometimes, even those that are may benefit from additional therapies to complement conventional treatment and at other times, horses and owners just need a helping hand with their fitness.
This is where the Irish Equine Rehabilitation and Fitness Centre comes in…
The brainchild of Michelle Kane, after her own struggles with lame horses and her attempts to rehabilitate them, she decided to set up a centre where horse owners could bring their animals for fitness work, perhaps in preparation for competition, and for rehabilitation, recuperation and following injury.
Michelle invested heavily in a purpose-built, state of the art centre, initially housing six stables for rehab horses, an equine water treadmill, wash bay, solarium; — with the facilities opening at Lower Ballinderry seven years ago.
After two years, she added a cold salt water spa, followed by dry salt therapy, hand-held cryogenics and thermal imaging. And there is yet more equipment, as well as new staff on the horizon!
Michelle’s background is quite unexpected — she certainly didn’t come into her current role in a conventional way!
During our chat, she spoke about her former career, her horsey background and recently carrying out the ten-thousandth water treadmill session at the centre!
Michelle clearly has an eye to business and saw a gap in the market seven years ago when opening the first equine water treadmill with an incline available to the public in Ireland!
She has expanded the business and its offerings since then and, with further innovations in the pipeline, the centre’s popularity is sure to continue.
I wish Michelle all the best with her new equipment and new staff — here’s hoping they reach the next ten-thousand treadmill sessions in the very near future!
Stay tuned for the next Straight from the Horse’s Mouth podcast on Horse and Field!
