Commercial cloning of horses has been rapidly increasing, but horse owners and advocates have plenty of questions about the process and the rules.

In March, American Quarter Horse Association members can watch an AQHA cloning forum online and ask questions.

“Based on member requests we’ve received, we are going to Webcast the cloning forum,” said Bill Brewer, AQHA executive vice president in a press statement. “We are fortunate that the forum lends itself to being Webcast so that more AQHA members have up-to-date information on equine cloning.”

You must be an AQHA member and have a Personal Identification Number to login to www.aqhamembers.com and access the Webcast.

The purpose of the forum is to discuss an AQHA Stud Book committee rule change that would allow a live foal produced via a particular type of cloning to be registered if its DNA matches that of a registered American Quarter Horse.

Katrin Hinrichs, a veterinarian involved in equine cloning at Texas A&M University; Sharon Spier, an epidemiologist at the University of California-Davis; George Seidel, a professor specializing in biomedical sciences at Colorado State University; and Blake Russell of ViaGen, one of only a few cloning companies in the U.S., will sit on the panel.

This forum is open to all interested AQHA members.

“We know our members are interested in the topic of cloning,” Brewer said. “We hope our members will provide some good feedback on the forum, while becoming more educated on the topic.”