First IVF horses in Europe

The first horses in Europe to be born, five and six weeks ago, from IVF were announced last week. They were produced using intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at the Equine Fertility Unit in Newmarket. It is hoped that the technique will produce medal-winning quality horses and help to save rare species.

They are not the first horses to be born using IVF, but are the first in Europe. Jan Wade of the Equine Fertility Centre said that the technique used here was more reliable, and that it was used in order to create good quality horses. She said; 'we are slipping further and further down the league table. We've a dearth of good horses.' Apparently, the best time to breed from a champion racehorse is at the peak of their career, but this means taking them out of racing. The best male horses tend to be castrated to make them more manageable and, as such, they do not produce offspring. Jan Wade continued; 'with this technique you take the semen from a male and freeze it for use later. If you have a good mare you can remove an egg and use a surrogate'. Six eggs were taken from a healthy mare and injected with sperm. Four embryos were transplanted into the wombs of surrogates. One of the mares miscarried, two ponies have so far been born, and another is due soon.

The news has been welcomed by the British Equestrian Federation. Chief Executive Andrew Finding said 'we need to breed horses that are tough and sound and will not suffer from lameness easily'. Despite some criticism of the process which claims that horses are being engineered in order to make profits, he reminded critics 'we are not trying to make horses jump higher or faster... there's no jiggery pokery going on'.

However, Professor Twink Allen, the scientific director of the Newmarket centre has said that the technique will eventually make it easy to genetically modify horses in order to improve their strength and performance. He said 'we're waiting for our colleagues in laboratory rodents to teach us what to do. But if and when they do, and can, we will be there to breed horses with the intention to win at Badminton or to jump the jumps at Highstead.' But, a champion IVF horse seems to be in the distant future as current Jockey Club rules do not allow the registration of artificially bred racehorses.