MVDr. Dominika Švehlová
For health and well-being of horses

About Me

Horses have been my guides since childhood. At first just platonic love and later as real romance or harsh reality of life. Hobby and livelihood.

I started with them in the riding club of secondary angricultural school in Opava (ŠS SZeŠ Opava), where we initially focused on western riding, but after the revolution show jumping and dressage riding prevailed here.

After graduating from the Mendel Gymnasium in Opava, I studied general veterinary medicine at the Veteriny University Brno, where I was initially a member of the equestrian club there, again focused on competitive show jumping and, to a lesser extent, dressage riding. Later, I bought my first horse here: a sick three-year-old Dustin, whom I took care of from his birth and who accompanied me through life for a total of 22.5 years!

After successfully passing the state exams and obtaining the title MVDr. (doctor of veterinary medicine) I worked for several years at the equine disease clinic of Veterinary University  Brno, later I took the position of assistant professor at the Institute of Physiology of the same university. This is where I tried teaching for the first time. In the meantime, I completed several professional internships abroad (Germany, Switzerland) at horse clinics or riding facilities and spent less than a year in England, where I took care of hunting and racing horses in a small family stable as a nurse, rider and veterinarian.

At that time, I also bought another horse, a Ziroza mare - called Quilly, in whose saddle I competed over show jumping obstacles and in the dressage rectangle for the next few years. This lovely, incredibly kind and personable white lady spent an incredible 23 years by my side teaching a lot of people, including my husband and my two daughters. She passed away over the rainbow bridge suddenly at the blessed age of 29.

I "diversified" my maternity leave with a private field veterinary practice, translating books and writing articles for various periodicals. For several years I worked as an editor for Equichannel.cz and in addition organized seminars focused on horse health for the "equestrian" public. At that time, I bought my third horse, the Lipica fillie Apassionata, and moved with my family and horses from Brno to a farm in Rychnov na Moravě.

After several years, I agreed to a new job offer: the position of teacher of veterinary subjects and practice at the Secondary School of Agriculture and Veterinary Lanškroun, where I still work today. A year after Dustin's death, I acquired a charismatic gelding, Quirano, with whom I enjoy all the joys of riding a smart, worthy and comfortable horse.

I mainly deal intensively with prevention in horse breeding, movement problems, hooves and, last but not least, physiotherapy and movement therapy for horses. As a spectator, I completed the entire three-year course of the lightness school of Philippe Karl, which took place under his personal guidance in Austria.

In 2003, I wrote an extensive monograph Lonžování (Longeing), and in 2019 a new and completely revised edition was published under the title Lonžování koně (Longeing of Horse).

I am a graduate of the Dorn therapy course and workshop for horses and dogs, I am continuing my education in this method and I am about to complete an education in animal manual techniques at the Institute of Animal Health. I expanded my skills in caring for animal and human bodies by studying Equine Touch, as well as courses in Osteodynamics, fascial techniques, craniosacral osteopathy, VHT and taping. All these sensitive and effective methods opened my eyes tremendously and answered many old questions about holistic care and therapy that I had searched for in veterinary medicine in vain.

In 2022, I became an authorized person of the professional qualification Worker/worker for the rehabilitation and regeneration of large animals, I started to prepare for the exams to obtain the Equine Touch certificate and took part in the first weekend and in 2023 advanced five-day Materson Method course.

My credo is to help horses - healthy breeding, healthy work and appropriate prevention. This approach is closer to my heart than fixing problems in animals caused by people's carelessness and ignorance, or even masking them so that the horses can "give some more performance".