Fast track your career potential and knowledge in the field of Horse Breeding and do so, at your own pace.

Interact with and learn from senior professionals in the Horse Breeding industry who have helped develop the course, meaning you’ll have the inside secrets on how to become a pro.

With our training and certification, set yourself apart from other candidates when applying for roles or display within your own business to provide clients confidence in your abilities.

Accredited through the International Approval and Registration Centre (IARC), be certain of learning skills directly relevant to job outcomes within the Horse Breeding field.

• • 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 Linebreeding
  • The Genetic Effect of Inbreeding
  • Line Breeding
  • Advantages of Inbreeding
  • Stallion and Mare Complementation
  • The Industry

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

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)

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

Prenatal growth

• • Conception of twins
  • Gestation and Methods and Detecting Pregnancy
  • Methods of Diagnosis
  • Palpation
  • Pregnancy Tests
  • Ultrasound
  • Postnatal Growth

Care of the Pregnant Mare

• • Nutritional Requirements
  • Caslicked Mares
  • Preparation for foaling
  • Exercise Needs
  • Worming
  • A deworming 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 postpartum mare
  • Retained placenta
  • Haemorrhage
  • Postpartum Metritis
  • Rejection of the Foal
  • Prolapsed Uterus
  • Lactation (Udder edema)
  • Lactation (reduced milk supply)
  • Foal and foaling reports
  • Example Foaling Record
  • Example Foal Report

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

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
  • Persistent Oestrus
  • Vernal Transition
  • Ovarian Tumours
  • Persistent 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

This course is particularly useful for people working in, or aspiring to work in:

• Horse Breeder
• Equine Assistant
• Horse Educator
• Stablehand/Foreperson (Racing, Pacing, Horse Studs, Equestrian Dressage, Eventing, Show jumping & recreation)