Empowering Equine Education

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Join the FREE Emergency + First Aid Masterclass with Dr Lizzie now 👉 https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/gwmc

Equine Emergency + First Aid Training
by Dr Lizzie McCready, BVetMed(Hons), CVA ~ helping you give your horse the best care possible. Founded in 2021 by Dr Lizzie McCready BVetMed (Hons), an equine veterinarian who qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in London and currently works in Victoria, Australia. Amongst Dr Lizzie's decade of veterinary training and clinical experience, she has spent time working in ambulatory equine practice as well as at a specialist referral equine hospital. She aims to take the practical knowledge and transferrable skills from her own experiences, and provide resources for owners to use in their personal education development, allowing them to expand their ability to offer excellent care to their beloved competition and companion horses.

2023 Online Courses:

� EQUINE EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAINING �

30/09/2026

**FINAL DAY!**

Every horse owner deserves to feel capable in this skill. That's exactly why I created the Horse Health Assessment. So you can:

✓ Check your horse's 8 vital signs with confidence and accuracy
✓ Know what's normal for your individual horse, not just the textbook ranges
✓ Spot health problems early and help your horse
✓ Make calm, informed decisions instead of guessing
✓ Give your vet the information they actually need to best help you
✓ Monitor your horse more closely during illness or recovery
✓ Feel capable and confident at 5pm on a Friday when the vet is unavailable

Here's what's waiting for you inside:

⭐️ 8 vital signs deep-dive lessons – fascinating anatomy, understanding what's normal, what's not, why it matters and helpful troubleshooting tips

⭐️ Step-by-step technique videos – see exactly how to check each vital sign before you practise with your own horse

⭐️ Assessment summary guide – diagrams, reference ranges and clear reminders you can come back to when you need them

⭐️ Fillable record sheet — record your horse's normal baseline and track changes over time

⭐️ Quick health reference sheets — what out-of-range vital signs may indicate and what to share with your vet

⭐️ Applied assessment scenarios — see how the vital signs work together in real-life situations

⭐️ Emergency kit checklist — know what to keep on hand before you ever need it

⭐️ 5 Day Challenge — guided practice so that by the end of the week, you've completed the full assessment with your own horse

Learn it once. Use it for every horse you'll ever own.

Discover The Horse Health Assessment here: https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/hha-special

29/09/2026

Experience tells you when your horse is off. Vital signs tell you more.

Here are the three things I hear most from horse owners and the truth behind each one:

1️⃣ "I've had horses for years - surely I'd know if something was wrong?"

Often, yes. But heart rate, temperature, gut sounds, mucous membranes and digital pulses can reveal changes that aren't always visible from the outside, especially early on.

If a horse starts flank-watching, it’s easy to think it’s colic. But if that horse also has an elevated temperature, that changes the picture entirely.

2️⃣ "I rarely have emergencies - why do I need to know how to check vital signs?"

This isn't just an emergency skill. Many of my students check their horse's vitals weekly or monthly as part of their routine. They’ve built a clear picture of normal so they quickly notice when something changes.

3️⃣ " But I'm not a vet…”

You don't need to be! Horse owners of all experience levels can learn vital signs, but most have only ever come across it in pieces. The Horse Health Assessment gives you the full picture, step by step.

Here's what Helen said after completing it: "Since learning it, I've already caught early colic signs and nipped them in the bud before it got worse."

Learn more about my Horse Health Assessment training here: https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/hha-special

28/09/2026

Kirsten got a call from her neighbour at 11pm. Her horse was "off" and was panicking.

Kirsten grabbed her Horse Health Assessment sheet, stethoscope and thermometer, and walked over to her neighbour’s property.

She checked the horse's vital signs. Five minutes later, she had:

✓ Heart rate: 38 bpm - normal for this horse
✓ Gut sounds present in all four quadrants
✓ Mucous membranes pink and moist
✓ Temperature: 37.8°C

Then she called the vet, with clear, accurate information to share.

Together, they made a plan to monitor overnight. By morning, the horse was eating normally again. No emergency callout. No unnecessary stress or worry.

Kirsten said: "I felt confident and competent and my neighbour was now reassured of the situation with her horse. The vet was onboard but no late night call out was necessary. Winner!"

That's exactly what the Horse Health Assessment gives you - a clear, repeatable process for the moments that matter.

And until 30th September, you can join for $27 AUD - normally $97!

Learn more via the LINK IN BIO 🔗
https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/hha-special

P.S. Kirsten with Dr Lizzie in Tasmania, where she learnt the Horse Health Assessment during a 1-Day immersive workshop 👆

27/09/2026

Your horse can't tell you in words when something's wrong. But their vital signs can.

The Horse Health Assessment is a step-by-step system that teaches you how to check and interpret your horse's 8 vital signs - so you feel clearer, calmer and more confident when your horse is sick, injured, or simply not quite right.

Developed by an equine vet with 10+ years in practice. Designed for horse owners who want to give their horses the best possible care.

Until Wed 30th Sept you can get it for just $27 AUD - normally $97.

✓ Check all 8 vital signs in a clear, practical way
✓ Know what's normal for your own horse
✓ Spot changes earlier, before they become serious
✓ Know when to monitor and when to call the vet
✓ Communicate clearly when you need veterinary help

Learn it once. Use it for every horse you'll ever own!

Find out more + enrol here: https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/hha-special

26/09/2026

🩺 How to choose the right stethoscope for horse vital signs
Some of my favourite pics:

$ - Prestige Basic (but I highly recommend going for one of the $$ or $$$ options)

$$ - MDF MD One, Prestige Clinical, Spirit Classic, Sprague Rapport

$$$ - All Littmann stethoscopes. The Classic III is a great one for horse owners. The one in my video is the Cardiology IV.

👂Trouble hearing? Look into the Littmann CORE Digital stethoscope - it can amplify sounds x40.

Stay tuned because tomorrow I'm opening the doors for my Horse Health Assessment course, where you can master your horse's heart rate, gut sounds, digital pulses and other vials signs. Putting your new stethoscope to good practice and learning your horses baseline normal ranges to track their health and spot changes early.

25/09/2026

👂Pause for a second and listen…

That two-beat sound - lub-dub - is a healthy equine heartbeat.

The lub (S1) is the closing of the atrioventricular valves as the heart contracts, the dub (S2) is the closing of the semilunar valves as it relaxes.

Together they form one complete cardiac cycle.

Most of the time, that's exactly what you'll hear - two, rhythmic beats.

But horses can also have normal 3 and 4 beat heart rhythms, and if you’ve never heard them before, it can throw you off.

A third beat (S3) is caused by the rapid filling of the ventricles.

A fourth beat (S4) is caused by contraction of the atria pushing blood into the ventricles.

Both can be normal in fit, athletic horses, who have slow resting heart rates - although some pathological heart conditions can increase how loud these sounds are.

That’s why knowing what your horse's heart sounds like when they're well is so important.

So that if something sounds different, you notice it and can tell your vet straight away.

Save this video for later, so when you’re practicing listening to your horse’s heart rate, you know what to listen for 🩺

And share it with your horsey friends - this is the kind of thing not taught often, but every owner deserves to know!

24/09/2026

I was once called to see a horse who had been "off" for 6 days.

Quiet, a bit lethargic, not quite himself. His owner had that gut feeling something was wrong, she just didn’t know what to look for or how to check.

When I listened to his heart, it was immediately clear something was seriously wrong. He was in heart failure.

Horses are prey animals, hardwired to mask pain and illness. By the time signs are obvious, things can already be serious. It’s up to us to read between the lines.

The diagnosis was a shock to his owner. And it left me thinking:

If only she'd had a stethoscope in her emergency kit, knew how to use it, and had a clear picture of what his heart sounded like when he was well - this story might have looked different.

Most horse owners I meet are in exactly that position. No stethoscope. No baseline. No framework for what to check.

That's a gap I'm determined to close.

Because when an owner knows how to measure and interpret their horse's vital signs, it can mean earlier detection, better decisions, and a better outcome for the horse.

That's why I build the Horse Health Assessment. To give horse owners a valuable skill vets use every single day as a starting point for helping horses.

23/09/2026

Your horse can't use words. But they are communicating.

Every single day, your horse is giving you information about how they're feeling.

Through the rhythm of their heart. The sounds moving through their gut. The colour and feel of their gums. The strength of their digital pulse. The way they're standing, breathing, being.

These aren't just clinical data points. They're a language.

Heart rate. Respiratory rate. Temperature. Gut sounds. Digital pulses. Mucous membranes. Capillary refill. Demeanour.

Eight vital signs. Eight ways your horse is already talking to you.

Most of us are taught to watch and feel for the obvious signs that something's wrong.

But horses are prey animals, wired to hide discomfort and illness until they can't anymore.

By the time it's obvious, you've often missed the early conversation.

Learning to take and interpret your horse's vital signs helps you become fluent in your horse's language.

Understanding what's normal for them, so that when something shifts, you hear it.
Your horse is already talking. The question is, do you know how to listen?

22/09/2026

🔍 Step 1 of mastering the digital pulse? Knowing the anatomy.

Before you can feel the pulse, you need to find the right spot.

Run your hand down the outside of your horse's leg, following the groove between the flexor tendons and suspensory ligament - the red dotted line in the image.

Keep following it down until you reach the fetlock.

Then, move your finger/thumb horizontally, side to side to feel for a structure that's like a taut guitar string sitting beneath the skin.

That's the neurovascular bundle, and within it sits the digital artery carrying blood to the hoof.

That's your target. Once you've found it, you're in exactly the right place.

Save this post and have a feel next time you're with your horse. Then come back and tell me in the comments: could you find it?

30/08/2026

🐴🪱 Why do 50-75% of horses only need worming ONCE a year?

Every horse falls into one of three worming categories. Low, medium, or high egg shedder.

➡️ Low shedders make up roughly 50-75% of horses in a herd. They only need worming once a year.

➡️ Medium shedders sit around 10-20%, and need worming two to three times a year.

➡️ High shedders are the remaining 15-30%, and need worming up to four times a year.

These % ranges are from the AAEP Internal Parasite Control Guidelines.

You can't tell which category your horse is in just by looking at them. The only way to know is a f***l egg count.

Do a few counts over time and you can properly categorize your horse. From there, you can decide when to worm, and with what.

This is why a blanket, one-size-fits-all schedule doesn't work anymore. You could be worming a low shedder four times a year and accelerating resistance to the wormers you're using, or under-treating a high shedder because you're worming every now and again out of habit.

I'm thinking of building a Strategic Worming Resource for horse owners, to help you understand your own horse's individual worming needs.

👇 If that sounds useful, let me know in the comments, along with any worming questions you want answered, so I can include them in the resource!

Address

Melbourne, VIC

Website

https://www.empoweringequineeducation.com/

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