Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject: [News] FEI Ponders Horse Cloning

FEI ponders horse cloning

Source: HorseTalk

May 3, 2006

The FEI, the world governing body for horse sports, is looking at the tricky quesion of cloning horses and gene manipulation. The issue was discussed at the 2006 FEI General Assembly recently in Malaysia.

The FEI had received a proposal to ban cloned horses from participation in international competitions.

After a thorough discussion on the submission it was agreed to undertake an in-depth review of the development and science of cloning, to be carried out by the Veterinary Committee.

The ethical and possible welfare implications would be considered by the Welfare sub-Committee, while contact with the World breeding Federation (WBFSH) would be sought on this issue. A full report would be communicated to the 2007 General Assembly.

The Veterinary committee also reported that the FEI's Medication Control Programme had a successful year in 2005. The rate of positive samples fell significantly in Groups I and II to 1.9% and in the other groups to 3.1%. This is the first substantiated drop for some years.

The meeting was also reminded of the 2004 decision to move to mandatory twice yearly booster vaccinations against equine influenza. This came into effect on January 2005, but sanctions for failing to comply to the rules did not come into effect until January 2006. The Veterinary Committee also provided a clarification that horses not competing in FEI events only require an annual booster each 12 months.

A report of the Hyperflexion (Rollkur) Workshop organised by the Dressage and Veterinary Committees in January 2006 was given. The meeting involved an impressive group of riders, trainers, scientists, officials, veterinarians and journalists in the discussions.

The conclusions of the group on the evidence presented were that no apparent abuse of horses was involved with this training technique, provided it was practiced by experienced riders/trainers (see report on the FEI website).

However, the possible effect of hyperflexion in young horses or carried out by inexperienced riders/trainers is as yet unknown; further discussions and research are continuing to improve FEI's understanding of the effects of this training method. Additional meetings are currently being planned between the two involved technical committees.