This online course will teach you all about horse breeding and provide you with a strong foundation – curated by industry leading experts. You will learn to:
- Understand why horses are bred and inherited traits.
- About mare and stallion selection and selective breeding.
- Understand each stage of the pregnancy, birth and after care of the foal.
- About caring for a newborn and reducing the health risks.
- About caring for a pregnant mare – nutrition, exercise, and health needs.
- Horses are bred not only to produce more animals; but also to manage the type of animals being produced.
- Selective breeding for specific uses has formed ‘modern’ horses of four general types including Hot bloods, Warm bloods and Cold bloods and Ponies.
E-Learning Structure
The duration of this online course is 100 hours. This consists of 8 in-depth lessons:
Lesson 1 Breeding Horses
- Why breed horses?
- An understanding of heritability is fundamental.
- Meiosis.
- The Work of Gregor Mendel.
- Chromosomes and Genetics in Breeding.
- Selecting the mare and the stallion.
- Quantitative and Qualitative Inheritance.
- Inbreeding and Line Breeding.
- The Genetic Effect of Inbreeding.
- Line Breeding.
- Advantages of Inbreeding.
- Stallion and Mare Complementation.
- The Industry.
Lesson 2 The Broodmare
- Mare Anatomy.
- The Reproductive Cycle of the Mare.
- Hormonal Control.
- Abnormal Oestrus.
- Breeding Fitness.
- General Broodmare Care.
- Nutrition and Feeding.
- Rations.
- Carbohydrates.
- Fat.
- Protein.
- Vitamins.
- Roughage.
- Hay.
- Pre-Season Care.
Lesson 3 The Stallion
- Stallion Anatomy.
- Sperm Production.
- Semen Release.
- Reproductive Cycle of the Stallion.
- Breeding Fitness.
- General Stallion Care.
- Handling.
- Pre-Season Care.
- Stallion Management for Reproduction.
- Training the young stallion.
- Steps in training a novice stallion onto the phantom.
- Common clinical problems with stallions.
- Castration (Gelding).
Lesson 4 Breeding Management
- Managing the Arrival and Departure of the horse at the stud.
- Semen from the Stallion.
- Collection and Processing.
- Evaluating the Quality of Sperm.
- Breeding methods.
- Natural Breeding.
- Live cover – In-hand or Pasture.
- Artificial insemination.
- Handling Frozen Semen.
- Embryo transfer.
- When to breed.
- Detection of Oestrus.
- Teasers.
- Visual Signs.
- A plan for when things go wrong.
- Sexually Transmitted Infections.
Lesson 5 The Pregnant Mare
- Pre-natal growth.
- Conception of twins.
- Gestation and Methods and Detecting Pregnancy.
- Methods of Diagnosis.
- Palpation.
- Pregnancy Tests.
- Ultrasound.
- Post-Natal Growth.
Lesson 6 Parturition and Foaling
- Care of the Pregnant Mare.
- Nutritional Requirements.
- Caslicked Mares.
- Preparation for foaling.
- Exercise Needs.
- Worming.
- A de-worming program for mares.
- Preparation of the foaling environment.
- Preparation for if things go wrong.
- The Physical Environment – Bedding.
- Common Bedding in the Foaling Environment.
- Straw.
- Wood Shavings.
- Wood Pellets.
- Rubber Matting.
- The Parturition Process.
- Stages of Labour.
- Common Foaling Problems.
- Dystokia.
- Abnormal Presentations.
- Health Problems of the post-partum mare.
- Retained placenta.
- Haemorrhage.
- Post-Partum Metritis.
- Rejection of the Foal.
- Prolapsed Uterus.
- Lactation (Udder edema).
- Lactation (reduced milk supply).
- Foal and foaling reports.
- Example Foaling Record.
- Example Foal Report.
Lesson 7 Care of the New-born Foal
- General newborn care.
- Stabling and safe environment for newborn foals.
- Lactation and suckling.
- Premature foals.
- Orphan foals.
- Common health problems in newborn foals.
- Infections, Constipation and Diarrhoea.
- Septicaemia.
- Meconium Impaction.
- Diarrhoea.
- Congenital disorders.
- Neonatal Isoerythrolysis (NI).
- Angular Limb Deformities.
- Flexor and Extensor Tendon Abnormalities.
- Delayed Ossification of the Cuboidal Bones.
- Heart Murmurs.
- Congenital Papilloma (Warts).
- Entropion.
- Neurological disorders.
- Neonatal Maladjustment Syndrome (NMS).
- Head Tilt.
- Structural abnormalities.
- Uroperitoneum.
- Umbilical Hernias.
- Training a foal in the earliest stages.
Lesson 8 Infertility in the Mare and Stallion.
- Introduction to Fertility.
- Understanding Fertility in Mares.
- Understanding Fertility in Stallions.
- Handling and Management in Stallions.
- Age.
- Overuse.
- Nutrition.
- Illness and Injury.
- Other Abnormalities.
- Semen problems.
- Haemospermia.
- Urospermia.
- Oligospermia.
- Structural disorders of the reproductive tract (mares).
- Pneumovagina.
- ‘Maiden Cervix’ or Cervical Incompetence.
- Vesicovaginal Reflux or Urine Pooling.
- Structural disorders of the reproductive tract (stallions).
- Cryptorchidism.
- Testicle Conformation.
- Testicular Torsion.
- Testicular Tumours.
- Scrotal Hernia.
- Venereal diseases (mares).
- Endometritis.
- Bacterial Endometritis.
- Fungal Endometritis.
- Mating Induced Endometritis.
- Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM).
- Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA).
- Pyometra.
- Abnormal Oestrus Cycles.
- Silent Heat and Post-Partum Anoestrus.
- Persistant Oestrus.
- Vernal Transition.
- Ovarian Tumours.
- Persistant Corpus Luteum.
- Haemorrhagic Follicles.
- Abortion.
- Venereal diseases (stallions).
- Bacterial Infections.
- Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA).
- Equine Coital Exanthema.
- Dourine.
- Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM).
- Infectious causes of abortion (mares).
- Viral Abortion.
- Bacterial Abortion.
- Leptospirosis.
- Non-infectious causes of abortion (mares).
- Congenital Defects.
- Twinning.
- Umbilical Cord Torsion.
- Progesterone Deficiency.
How Does A Warnborough Online Course Work?
You can start the course whenever is convenient for you. You will be studying from home and have access to support from our qualified tutors. Practical exercises and research tasks will be set at the end of each lesson – including an assignment. You will submit this assignment to your course tutor, who will mark your work and give you constructive feedback and suggestions.
If you have any questions please contact us.
