WELCOME TO THE OREGON EQUINE REPRODUCTION CENTER

We offer comprehensive reproductive services for Mare & Stallion, in a quiet safe environment, by a board certified specialist inreproduction with 25 years experience. Dr. Friedman, a theriogenologist, is a Diplomate of the American college of Theriogenologists.
Our goal is to help your mare or stallion successfully breed with safety, efficiency, & economy.

Therio is a Greek word meaning beast; genology pertains to genesis, creation or origin. The term was coined by a group of veterinarians involved in reproduction. A board certified Theriogenologist is a veterinarian who having shown special competence in veterinary reproduction (male and female, large and small domesticated animals), is elected a Diplomate (pronounced dip-low-mate) by The American College of Theriogenologists, a professional organization sanctioned by the American Veterinary Medical Association to assess and officially certify advanced knowledge in the field of animal reproduction via “specialist” or diplomat designation.

In veterinary medicine practice options available to a new graduate veterinarian include joining or starting a practice or entering an internship. Internships are employment opportunities at busy hospitals with high caseloads. The internship offers the intern a 1-year experience with guaranteed hard work, long hours, and low pay, along with lots of experience under the guidance of an experienced practitioner. These internship opportunities used to be offered only at university veterinary teaching hospitals but are now offered more by private practices with high caseloads. These internships usually do not offer the opportunity to specialize but allow the intern to receive a broad high volume exposure in various fields. In human medicine internships are usually offered at large hospitals and are attended by most if not all new graduates. In veterinary medicine internships are more scarce.

In veterinary medicine as well as human medicine practitioners can gain additional specialized post graduate training in many disciplines. For example: internal medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, surgery, cardiology etc. This additional training is usually gained during a residency at a teaching hospital or private hospital with recognized criteria. Residencies are limited in number and available by competitive application. In veterinary medicine residencies are usually 2-3 years long and offer the resident additional training and responsibility, along with more hard work, long hours, and again low pay. Similarly to postgraduate training for physicians, residencies are open to applicants with at least one years experience in private practice or internship. Most if not all physicians complete residencies while the great majority of veterinarians do not.

Following successful completion of a residency the veterinarian is allowed to sit for a series of examinations in order to be recognized and certified by "boards". In some boards if a person hasn't completed a residency they may sit for preliminary qualifying tests, which if passed, allow them to sit for the certification exams. These boards are organizations formed by groups of veterinarians (e.g. the American College of Theriogenologists, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmology etc.) and are given the responsibility by the American Veterinary Medical Association of testing and certifying ‘specialists’. These colleges or boards evaluate and certify that veterinarians who pass their exams have demonstrated special competence in the field in question and grant them "Diplomate status".

Only veterinarians with Diplomate status are allowed to call themselves "specialists" or "board certified" but all veterinarians may limit the scope of their practice to one area. These classifications protect the consumer in that a veterinarian may claim "practice limited to ophthalmology" but not "specializing in ophthalmology" unless they are Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmology" and consequently demonstrated advanced proficiency in ophthalmology via a series of examinations. Other organizations or groups have been formed offering education and testing, granting certificates of completion, competence, and expertise. If these groups are not recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association its members cannot legally claim to be specialists.