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Course Information:
Veterinary staff must be able to identify equine specific anatomy both internally and externally including interpreting client or layman terms and translate to veterinary terms and vice versa. An understanding of equine specific external and internal anatomy including medical and layman terms is an important part of a veterinary assistant or technician’s role in practice. Correct use of terminology in the veterinary workplace enhances client education and practice-wide communication. This course will introduce the concept of anatomy features unique to equine species. Veterinary staff increase their value to a practice by understanding equine specific exams. Medical terms and layman’s terms for the body parts will be covered. Veterinary staff should be able to perform basic exams and assist with advanced equine exams. Understanding normal vs abnormal exam findings in the veterinary workplace enhances client education and practice-wide communication. This course will introduce the concept of the basic physical exam as it applies to equines and then will expand to cover more specific aspects of equine exams for a variety of different conditions. Basic physical exams for equine will be covered as well as lameness exams, colic exams, and then it will touch on specialty exams and emergency exams. These exam modules are designed to educate veterinary technicians and assistants and not intended to be utilized for diagnosis by non-veterinarians. This is a basic course and will not branch into the physiology of various diseases and conditions or functions of individual areas.

• Identify all external equine anatomy.
• Recognize terminology specific to medical and layman’s terms.
• Describe conformation variations.
• Identify features unique to equids.
• Identify all basic internal equine anatomy.
• Recognize terminology specific to equine internal anatomy.
• Describe the normal path of the equine gastrointestinal tract.
• Identify the equine dental layout of young and adult animals.
• Identify abnormal behaviors that may indicate abnormal findings.
• Describe the normal and abnormal heart, lung and GI sounds.
• Explain the procedure for a basic equine exam.
• Recognize normal and abnormal conformation.
• Explain steps commonly used in all stages of a lameness exam.
• Describe the steps in the equine lameness scoring.
• Identify different modalities for lameness diagnosing.
• Recognize potential signs of colic.
• Explain how to properly ascult and assess borborygmi in equine patients.
• Identify equipment and procedures related to diagnosing different types of colic.
• Understand different causes of equine colic.
• Recognize specialized procedures for advanced exams.
• Identify different equipment that may be used for advanced exams.
• Describe various reasons for specialty exams.
• Explain various different emergent exams.

Segment 2: Internal Equine Anatomy

Segment 3: Exam Basics

Segment 4: Lameness Exams

Segment 5: Colic Exams

Segment 6: Specialty and Emergency Exams

Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to earn a certificate of completion for the course. To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and Course Completion Certificate.

Tuition: $63
Prices are listed in US dollars.

*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close on December 31, 2021 at 5 pm ET (USA) or when the maximum number of participants is reached.

1. Enrollment qualifications: VIN CE courses are open to VIN member and non-member veterinarians. Veterinarians enrolling in a VSPN CE course must be a VIN member. Veterinary support staff must be a VSPN member to enroll in a VSPN CE or a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
2. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
3. For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext.792 or email VSPNCE. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.