Top equine specialist Laura Clinton was at Glyndwr’s Northop campus to share skills and tips in eye-catching talk

A top specialist has shared her knowledge with students on Wrexham Glyndwr University’s Equine Science and Welfare Management degree – with a little help from some paint and a lecturer’s horse.

Equine musculoskeletal therapist Laura Clinton, from Rossett-based Equiflexion, was invited to give a guest lecture to students at the university’s Northop campus about the bones and muscles of horses and how she works to treat and prevent issues which can arise in them through her work.

However, rather than simply doing so in the classroom, Laura used a live horse to illustrate her lecture – by painting both the bones and muscles onto the horses’ body.

She spent the morning before her talk working to paint the various bone and muscle groups onto Mr Grey, an Irish draft cross thoroughbred belonging to lecturer Angela Winstanley , before leading students through how the various bones and muscles interacted and what impact each has.

[Laura Clinton, Lorraine Sullivan and Angela Winstanley]

Students were also given the chance to see how the muscles and bones interact as horses move as Mr Grey was exercised during the talk.

Speaking afterwards, Laura said: “It’s always great to be able to share your knowledge and today was great fun. I wanted to come along both to give today’s talk to the students about how the horses’ muscles and bones interact – but I also wanted to show them that this kind of career is open to them.

I used to be a journalist, but had always ridden horses and I eventually decided that I wanted to follow a career working with them instead.

When I was younger, we weren’t told of all the options which there are for working with horses – but as the equine world has developed there are a lot more opportunities out there to build your career and that’s great for students on a degree like this.

I always like coming to Glyndwr and to the Northop campus – there are great facilities here. For this lecture, it also helped having a  wonderful horse like Mr Grey –and of course the students themselves were really good and asked some really interesting questions.”

Programme leader for Equine Science and Welfare Management, Dr Tamsin Young, said: “As a specialist in her field, Laura is in high demand – and having seen this demonstration, it is clear why.

On our Equine Science course, students gain a lot of practical, hands-on experience alongside their classroom-based studies, and her demonstration helped to show the intricacies of horse anatomy in a very memorable fashion.

It is also good to show our students how they can apply their studies upon graduation – and develop a specialist career such as Laura’s.”

Find out more about Wrexham Glyndwr University’s BSc (Hons) Equine Science and Welfare Management Degree here: https://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/EquineScienceandWelfareManagement/