Catherine Farrer RVN BHSAI

I’ve been passionate about animals my whole life, I was a pony mad little girl and on leaving school went and studied for my B.H.S.A.I & spent a very happy couple of years working with horses.

I stumbled upon veterinary nursing one day going into the clinical area of my local Cornish veterinary practice & was instantly hooked. I have had a fulfilling and successful career working as a Registered Veterinary Nurse with my love of horses I spent time working in equine practice moving on to be Head Nurse in a large, busy orthopaedic referral hospital, head nurse at a large small animal hospital here in South Devon. Also finding a love of emergency & critical care nursing, working for both Vets Now in Bristol & MiNight SouthDevon in Totnes, more recently I have taken a back seat and have been team leader at a small branch surgery. I will be maintaining my clinical veterinary nursing  by some locum veterinary nursing at local practices.

My main focus now is Canine Behaviour, I have studied with The ISCP and graduated with distinction, Level 6 Advanced Diploma in Canine Behaviour. My wealth of knowledge and experience enables me to help dogs and their owners when faced with undesired behaviours, or training the basics to a high standard. Ultimately help owners and dogs have a happy, fulfilled life together. Using force free, positive reinforcement training which encourages & rewards desired behaviours whilst ignoring or preventing undesired behaviour.

I have 3 much loved dogs, 2 of which are rescue dogs, a slightly disabled cat Mr Monty Bo Jangles. My love of all things equine started at a very young age, I have my own home bred Arab x French Warm Blood ( yes he’s quite a reactive ride ) and my daughters retired Dartmoor pony, I used to compete in local competitions but now I’m a very happy hacker.

Furry Home Team

  • Skye

    Is our wonderful black Labrador, she was 5 years old when she was up for adoption at Animals in Distress & I was very fortunate to be first in the queue for her. Skye is the most happy Labrador, very easy going & absolutely loves everyone & definitely not the brains of the home team. She would be like your ditsy best friend that everyone adores.

  • Lyra

    Lyra is the brains of the pack, she’s a gorgeous small fox red lab. She was born with a highly anxious, nervous disposition finding life & people quite challenging, then Skye came into her life and everything made a lot more sense to her. Still not really a people dog, she has her small group of humans that she 100% trusts and adores, that’s 4 of us!

  • Barney

    He is our latest addition, a very handsome tri colour collie who I fostered, supposedly for a short period but he instantly stole our hearts with his goofy ways. He absolutely adores the girls and his new rural lifestyle, he loves nothing better than to pretend he’s a lap dog so he can get cuddles and give kisses, such a kind loving dog.

  • Mr Monty Bojangles

    Bojangles was found as a tiny feral kitten out in the lanes and brought into the veterinary practice I worked at, he is disabled with only 3 full legs and his 4rth ends just below his stifle definitely a birth defect not an injury as he has a little pad below his stifle. Known as hop along it doesn’t stop him roaming his kingdom of fields, he’s a shy character only loving the few & he loves to spend most of his time outside.

  • Aragorn

    He is my very beloved homebred, out of my super special arab mare. Nicknamed golden balls as I think I was probably a bit precious about him! I bred him to compete in one day events, not realising that as I got a bit older I would want to be a happy hacker. He’s an absolute joy though does keep me on my toes out hacking as he has an Arab’s brain in a large French Warm Bloods body and can be very athletic at times.......

  • Arwen

    The lovely Arwen, she was my daughters first pony ( daughter now 27), a brilliant Dartmoor pony the ultimate pocket rocket who has a great self belief that she is indeed a race horse. She went out on loan for a few years and then returning home when we lost Aragorn’s mum. She carried on in light ridden work until the end of last year when we retired her.

  • Rose, Lilly, Daisy & Snowdrop

    These 4 are the last of my little flock, I stopped lambing in 2018 after a week of full time work and nights in the lambing shed with a couple of difficult lambing’s and serious sleep deprivation ! So now really rather fat, pet sheep but they help the horse fields & give my back a good work out at shearing time.