A New Life: Dubliner Kate Plowman is fulfilling her dream by using her experience in medicine to work as a veterinary physiotherapist, writes Danielle Barron
Born and raised in Dublin's city centre, Kate Plowman should be a city slicker through and through. "But the nicest thing that was ever said about me was that I was a country woman at heart," smiles Plowman.
As a physiotherapist, Plowman was used to dealing with difficult patients on hospital wards. In her new line of work, however, her patients tend to be a lot more docile.
As an equine physiotherapist, Plowman is finally fulfilling her lifelong dream. Far from pounding the city streets or the hospital wards, she's now more likely to be found in a country field, doing what she loves best.
Plowman admits she took the "scenic route" to where she is now. When she left school, she initially worked as a residential social worker, helping children with special needs such as behavioural and emotional problems.
But working with horses was always part of Plowman's long-term career plan. "Initially I wanted to do riding for the disabled, so I wasn't thinking of helping horses then; I was thinking how they could be used to help people," she explains.
However, she decided in 1998 to go to England to study for a degree in physiotherapy. It was only as an undergraduate in Southampton University that Plowman realised it was possible to study veterinary physiotherapy. She immediately fell in love with the idea of combining her newly acquired clinical skills with her love for horses.
After three years in Southampton, Plowman returned to Dublin to work as a physiotherapist at the Mater hospital. But in 2004 she decided to bite the bullet and study for a postgraduate diploma in veterinary physiotherapy at the Royal Veterinary College in London.
This involved commuting from Dublin to London one weekend a month for Plowman, who was by then a senior physiotherapist at the Mater.
"That was really tough, trying to get study done and work full time," she recalls. She also had to find time to care for her own horse, an Irish sport horse called Doaghbeg, whom she has had since 2003 and who she says is the "apple of her eye".
From a training point of view, there was a certain amount of overlap, says Plowman. "The anatomy was interesting because some of the same words were used for various parts of the body in horses, dogs and humans.Others though were totally different."
One major change for Plowman occurred in the area of her expertise. "In humans I specialise in the heart and lung system, whereas with horses, it's the muscular and skeletal system. It's like chalk and cheese."
Plowman completed the veterinary course in December last year and resumed her juggling act, working full-time at the Mater while trying to build up her steadily growing private practice. "That was working out at five evenings during the week and two days at weekends. It was mental," she says.
She now works as a freelance veterinary physiotherapist, travelling to stables around the country, and she is also developing her own website.
There is a great deal of work out there, says Plowman, adding that it's a niche market. "There are only nine fully qualified veterinary physiotherapists in Ireland at the moment," she explains.
Plowman says she does a lot of work with sport horses such as show jumpers and dressage horses, but she is hoping to branch out into the racing world. "I think there's a huge amount of potential there to work with these horses that start racing so young," she says.
Horses forced to race at a very young age are bound to develop injuries, says Plowman. "Their immature systems are put under such pressure because they're not really physically able to carry a person until they are four or five," she explains. "When they start early you have to manage them so carefully and physio will play a huge part in that."
Usually, when a horse starts acting differently, people put it down to misbehaviour, Plowman says. Her training allows her to diagnose and treat the underlying problem. "I get to act as their advocate because they can't talk. It's through me that they let their owners know they have pain."
She recently left full-time physiotherapy, taking on the role of clinical educator in respiratory care for undergraduate physiotherapy students at the Mater.
This involves her working just 26 weeks of the year, so for the remainder of the time she can devote herself to her new career. "It's great because I can concentrate on building up my private practice without working two jobs at the same time," she says.
It has also resulted in major lifestyle changes for Plowman. "Now I can ride my horse in the morning, go and see my clients in the afternoon and also have a life in the evening," she says.
Having made the transition from hospital physiotherapist to equine physiotherapist, Plowman says she's never been happier.
"It's my passion - that's the only word for it. And I'm so lucky to be able to say that I was loving my hospital career, but now I've got the best of both worlds."
Plowman admits that while both jobs are extremely fulfilling, they are also very demanding. She doesn't seem to mind, however; as she says: "Who wants to be bored in life?"