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Royal (Dick) School to run equine nutrition course
Dr Jo-Anne Murray
Online course to be free of charge

Edinburgh University has been announced as the first university in the UK to join the Coursera consortium - an organisation which will provide free online undergraduate-level courses to anyone who wishes to access them - and an Equine Nutrition course will be one of the courses on offer.

Taught by Dr Jo-Anne Murray of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, the course is designed to provide knowledge of equine digestion and nutrition, including studying the anatomy and physiology of the equine alimentary canal. The course is expected to be 5 weeks long.

To date, the Coursera group of universities have taught more than 650,000 students from 190 countries and there have been more than 1.5 million course enrolments across 43 courses.

Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, Principal of The University of Edinburgh said: "Enabling wider access to excellent higher education is part of the core mission of the University of Edinburgh. We are therefore excited to join with our peers in North America in the Coursera consortium to offer Massive Open Online Courses on topics in which we have particular strengths."

For more information on the equine course, click here.

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Equine Disease Surveillance report released for Q4 2025

News Story 1
 The latest Equine Disease Surveillance report has been released, with details on equine disease from Q4 of 2025.

The report, produced by Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance, includes advice on rule changes for equine influenza vaccination.

Statistics and maps detail recent outbreaks of equine herpes virus, equine influenza, equine strangles and equine grass sickness. A series of laboratory reports provides data on virology, bacteriology, parasitology and toxicosis.

This issue also features a case study of orthoflavivus-associated neurological disease in a horse in the UK. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
NSA webinar explores sheep tailing and castration

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is to host a free webinar on the castration and tail docking of lambs.

The webinar, 'Understanding the tailing and castration consultation: A guide for sheep farmers', will be hosted online on Monday, 2 March 2026 at 7.30pm.

It comes during a government consultation into the methods used for these procedures. Farmers are encouraged to engage before the consultation period closes on Monday, 9 March 2026.

The webinar offers clear and actionable guidance to support farmers to contribute meaningfully to the consultation and prepare for potential changes.

On the panel will be former SVS president Kate Hovers, farmer and vet Ann Van Eetvelt and SRUC professor in Animal Health and Veterinary Sciences Cathy Dwyer. Each panel member will utilise their own specialism and expertise to evaluate risks and outcomes to sheep farming.

Find out more about the webinar on the NSA website.