Course Overview:
This course is structured upon a traditional instructor based format with two primary components.  The first of these components is the lecture.  The purpose of the lecture is to disseminate information, help simplify and organize complex topics, and to brief the student on problems and the important aspects to explore during dissections.  Topics of lectures and laboratories are synchronized as much as possible.  

The second primary component of the course is the laboratory.  The essential learning opportunities of the course will occur there.  The main laboratory activity will be the dissection of an embalmed pony.  The study of transverse sections, radiographs, special preparations, isolated organs and course handouts will be integrated with and augment the dissection.  

In both lecture and laboratory we will emphasize two approaches to our studies.  These approaches are comparative and topographical.  The word “comparative” in the field of comparative anatomy is not just a convenient adjective, but rather a practical learning tool.   Comparisons between species and structures bring differences and similarities into sharp focus and therefore stimulate questions about the nature and adaptive significance of form and function.  Topographical anatomy emphasizes the spatial relationships between the parts of the animal and promotes visualizing these parts three dimensionally.  Both approaches encourage creative thinking rather than the memorization so characteristic of the systemic approach of classical anatomy.   In the laboratory, exploration and discovery will be essential tools for learning and a spirit of cooperation, curiosity, and professionalism will be strongly encouraged.   

Course Objectives:

1. The primary objective of this course is to provide the opportunity for students to acquire a practical working knowledge of the anatomy of the horse and other domestic herbivores.  This knowledge base will become the framework upon which more advanced procedures, concepts, and exploration in the field of Veterinary Medicine will be anchored.   In pursuing this objective the student will build upon and reinforce the skills and knowledge acquired in Gross and Developmental Anatomy. 

2. Another important objective of this course is to provide the student with an understanding of normal large animal structure, a capacity for visualizing that structure three dimensionally, and the skills to communicate with their colleagues in the specialized language of anatomy.