Introduction to Large Animal Acupressure: Foundation Level
This material has been developed as a prerequisite to the five day Large Animal Acupressure practical offered by the Northwest School of Animal Massage (NWSAM). While we use the horse as a model for the large animal studies, most techniques and concepts learned here are applicable to other livestock (llama, goats, cows…).
As a distance learning student, it is important that you first become familiar with the information and concepts included in this program, both in this online format and the supplemental materials that accompany the course. By offering this online portion of the program, we hope to make the course more accessible to people with varying backgrounds and schedules, while still achieving a high level of learning.
Course Layout
There are five chapters of material in this online program. Throughout each chapter there are Learning Activities designed to get you thinking about and applying some of the concepts learned. These activities are not graded but you will receive feedback from your distance learning instructor about your submissions. At the end of each chapter there is a quiz to test your understanding of the information. A passing score is 80%.
The 5 day hands on practical is designed to put the theory into practice and much of the time will be spent assessing horses and formulating acupressure plans. After the practical you will be required to do case studies on 10 different horses and submit them for feedback.
We don’t expect you to memorize the material and Traditional Chinese Medicine is not learned in a linear fashion. Ideally you should read the information again and again, practice what you are learning on the horses and know that the study of TCM is a life-long process.
Course Materials
As part of your tuition cost, NWSAM provides you with a printable pdf of each of the five chapters included in this Equine Acupressure course. These can be found in the Resources section of this class. Some students prefer to study the chapter content offline, and/or off screen in a printed context.
It is your choice and responsibility to access, save, and print these pdfs for use during and after completion of the course. Inclusion of the pdfs in the Resources section fulfills NWSAM’s responsibility to provide you with the material to have after your online access is deactivated, upon completion of the course and practicum.
It is IMPORTANT to note that You must read through ALL online pages regardless of where the material is primarily studied, so that the program sees your student progress as completed. ALL ACTIVITIES AND QUIZZES MUST BE DONE ONLINE so they may be reviewed by your instructor, and be part of your student records and document completion.
No part of the copyrighted course content, in any form, may be printed, copied, or shared for any purpose other than by the individual enrolled student for his/her studies.
In addition to the online materials found in the Resources section you will also receive the following in the mail:
- Equine Meridian Manual – a spiral bound resource illustrating meridian and acupoint locations.
- Card stock paper – for use in making your flash cards to bring to the Practical. (Flash card template can be found in the Resources section.)
- Horse Anatomy, A Coloring Atlas by Robert A. Kainer and Thomas O. McCracken – this is a supplemental anatomy text.
- SOAP charts – please bring these to the Practical to use for case studies.
This is YOUR Course
Now take some time to think about how you can best support yourself in your studies.
Do you need to plan a calendar for yourself? Determine the times and days for your study?
Do you have a comfortable place to study free of distractions and with good lighting?
Is there some form of support you might ask of a friend or family member, such as reminders, time to study, or encouragement?
We hope these guidelines will be useful in making our information and expectations clear and help you organize and optimize your studying, so you can be prepared to take full advantage of your learning.
We are here for YOU
You will be assigned a distance learning instructor, trained to answer your questions and provide you guidance as needed. Please do not hesitate to contact your instructor with questions. You can send messages through this online learning management system by clicking on the envelope icon in the top bar. Messages to you will appear in the same way. It’s easy to stay connected and ask about anything that needs attention or clarification throughout your studies.