This is the site of our UK and European operation of the well-known educational business, Equine-Reproduction.com Here, we will present information and links to items specifically related to equine reproduction in general and for the UK and European locations specifically. We will present articles, news items, and in particular information related to our annual DEFRA-approved artificial insemination and breeding management course.
Created in 1999, Equine-Reproduction.com was a leader in promoting information about horse breeding via the Internet. With personnel performing the processes about which they were writing, it allowed a practical approach to scientific articles. A few years later, the educational Internet presence expanded to incorporate physical presentations in the form of short courses. These became well-known and utilized in North America not only by breeders for their practical and money-saving content, but also by veterinarians for the scientific and more advanced information.
In 2009, we were invited by Equine Reproduction Ltd. (UK) to present a short course at Hartpury College in Gloucester. Conveniently, our lead lecturer, while residing in North America was British by birth, so we were able to easily implement this request. This resulted in a partnership with Hartpury, and short courses were presented on typically an annual basis. As the practice of Artificial Insemination of mares is considered a veterinary procedure in the UK and Europe, the training needed to be performed under the approval of DEFRA to provide the “AI Exemption” (later “Certificate of Competence”) to allow qualified lay persons to legally perform the procedure. We were pleased to be one of only three approved organizations offering this qualification.
In 2012, an expansion was made into the Republic of Ireland, providing courses annually there, along with an arrangement with Roscommon veterinarian Katarzyna (Kate) Engiel-Murray M.R.C.V.S. to provide semen freezing services.
COVID-19 brought a halt to many things, including our ability to offer short courses in the UK. After the end of the pandemic, changes in University policies concerning outside lecturers and courses resulted in us being unable to continue to offer our educational courses. While it is hoped that we may at come point be able to recommence courses in the UK, at the current time, they are on-hold. On this website, we also offer a few articles related to commonly-asked questions about equine reproduction. For a greater variety of articles, we would encourage you to visit our main website Equine-Reproduction.com
For those of you who would like ongoing discussion about equine reproduction, or who have specific questions on the subject, you may be interested in joining the Facebook Group “EquineRepro“, which we run. It is the largest (over 65,000 members as of 2024) group on Facebook dedicated to equine reproduction and is tightly moderated to keep it on-topic, informative, and a pleasant place to frequent. We hope to see you there!