Susan Mooney

Susan Mooney standing outside between two horses, one grey and dark brown, and the other light brown and white For media enquiries please contact the Press Team
Senior Lecturer
Faculty:
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School:
Writtle School of Agriculture, Animal and Environmental Sciences
Location:
Writtle
Research Supervision:
Yes

Susan Mooney holds an MSc in Equine Science, giving her the knowledge to teach across all aspects of ARU's Equine degree programmes, specialising mainly in exercise physiology, performance science, rider biomechanics, and equine welfare. Her industry experience is predominantly in the welfare sector, where she has vast practical and legislative experience.

As well as being a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Susan is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland which, along with her previous career in the business and finance sector, equips her to lead on business-focused modules across the Writtle School of Agriculture, Animal and Environmental Sciences.

[email protected]

Background

Susan grew up immersed in the equine sports industry, having been involved with horses since childhood. However, she first pursued a career in finance, having gained a BA in Law and Accounting, and went on to complete an ACA qualification (Chartered Accountancy) and train with KPMG before embarking on a career in financial planning in the global media industry in London, where she worked for seven years.

Susan then decided to change career paths, studying for a FdSc in Equine Studies before completing her MSc in Equine Science, after which she began working in the equine welfare sector. She worked as a Training Officer at The Horse Trust (the world’s oldest equine charity) where she was involved in writing and delivering internal qualifications for their equine care team, as well as an external diploma for professionals in the industry.

She also worked in a practical capacity retraining horses with problem behaviours and working on training rescue horses ready for rehoming. Having completed a Level 3 Training and Education qualification while studying, she knew that she wanted to ultimately work in the higher education sector as a lecturer, and started her role as an Equine Lecturer at Writtle University College (now ARU) in 2020.

Susan's areas of interest and passion in the equine industry are still very much focused on behaviour and welfare and improving the lives of horses by educating the future of the industry. However, on a personal and professional level, she is still very involved in equine sports performance, and therefore teaches across a range of modules related to this including exercise physiology, extrinsic factors affecting performance, rider influence, and equitation science.

Her background in business and finance allows her to lead on the Equine Performance and Business Management degree and to teach across all schemes in the Writtle School of Agriculture, Animal and Environmental Science on modules with a business element. She really enjoys being able to combine her two careers, and her aim is to inspire Equine students to embrace the business side of the industry and enhance their transferable business skills, making them highly employable graduates.

Research interests
  • Equine welfare and wellbeing
  • Equitation science
  • Rider performance; biomechanics, rider fitness
  • Effect of tack and equipment on performance and welfare
  • Exercise physiology
  • Marginal gains in performance science
  • Effectiveness of marketing and campaigns in the industry
  • Business start-up
Areas of research supervision

Susan supervises undergraduate major research projects in her areas of interest.

Teaching
Qualifications
  • BA (Hons) Law and Accounting – University of Limerick
  • FCA – Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland
  • Level 3 certificate in Training and Education – City and Guilds
  • FdSc Equine Studies – University of Brighton (Plumpton College)
  • MSc Equine Science – Hartpury University
  • PGCHEP – University of Essex
  • BHS (British Horse Society) – Horse Care Stages 1 – 3
Memberships, editorial boards
  • Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland (FCA)
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Recent presentations and conferences

Henry, L., Taylor, E., Whitelegg, H, Paillot, R. and Mooney, S. (2024) 'Insight into the biosecurity and isolation practices' knowledge related to strangles prevention in the UK equestrian community, Proceedings of the International Infectious Diseases Conference, Deauville, France, 30 September – 4 October. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.14242

Mooney, S. (2021) 'An investigation into factors influencing UK equestrians' understanding of learning theory in ridden horse training', Proceedings of the 17th International Society of Equitation Science Conference, online, 20-22 October.