The Process

Equine Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is often used when pregnancies are sought from a limited sperm supply. In our case, from a male that has passed away.

Oocytes (eggs) of a valuable broodmare (donor mare) are fertilized in a lab. The oocytes are recovered from the mare's ovarian follicles and then cultured to induce maturation, mirroring the developmental changes that would occur in an oocyte immediately before ovulation. The maturation process usually takes 12 to 30 hours, depending upon the stage of maturation of the recovered eggs.

Matured oocytes are injected with individual sperm from the desired stallion. For this procedure, one sperm is injected into the cytoplasm of each oocyte under a high-power microscope. The resulting fertilized oocytes are cultured in the laboratory for 7 to 10 days to become suitable for transfer to a recipient mare.

Developed embryos are then shipped to a private embryo transfer facility for transfer to a recipient mare.