Goodbye Shadows — with a promise
My beautiful Shadows left us today. What a sweet, gentle, soulful mare she was.
Shadows was euthanized this morning, and her ovaries collected for shipping to the University of Pennsylvania veterinary center in New Bolton, PA. There, oocytes will recovered and sent to the Equine Medical Services clinic in Columbia, Missouri. This clinic is a world leader in equine reproduction. There, the oocytes will be placed in an incubator. Mature ones will then be injected with tiny doses of semen, a revolutionary micro-technology called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Some of the embryos to be produced via ICSI will then be transferred into a recipient mare right away, and others will be frozen for transfer at a later date. Hopefully this will ensure several male and female offspring from this precious mare. I just wish this technology was both more affordable and more widely available ten years ago, when grand old mares like Javera Chelsea and Dakhala Sahra could have benefited from it.
The semen is from Jenny Lees Bahraini stallion Shuwaiman Al Rais.
Good rest to Shadows. Hopeful wishes toward the future continuance of her DNA via this exciting new technology.
Condolences on the passing of a grand mare.
Wishing you much success in getting embryos! I understand they “keep” very well.
So sorry you had to say goodbye to her. Wonderful you are in a position to take advantage in the latest technology in saving dwindling lines.
Reminds me of the Billy Sheets story you shared with me a while back, of the stallion that was killed and the recovered testicles. This is a much more professional and hopefully fruitful endeavor by comparison.
What’s the pedigree, again?
From the office of the vet clinic today:
“We are all set. The 7 oocytes have arrived and are in maturation media in the incubator. The oocytes that mature will be fertilized with Shuwain Al Rais semen tomorrow afternoon. After fertilization, we have to wait about a week to see if any embryos will result.”
You can tell I am in awe of this technology.
I am so excited about this. She was a beautiful mare, indeed. I wish you all the luck.
Sorry to hear about Shadows’ death. Best of luck with this technological adventure – may you have some lovely, healthy foals as a result of it!
Very sad outcome for Shadows. From the vet clinic today:
“As anticipated, the oocyte was not able to result in an embryo. We are sorry for the outcome despite our best efforts at developing an offspring for your mare.”