Appaloosa News Monthly – March 2022

Day one in the wet lab started with a demonstration of an ultrasound on a mare that was not to be bred while we were there.  Swabs were taken to allow the students to create a cytology slide, stain the slide and then observe the cells under the microscope.  As this was a first time for many of us, quite a number of the slides lacked enough stain to be clearly readable, but we were able to read the better stained slides.

The next step for wet lab was for each student to practice their insemination technique on a very patient mare.  While no insemination was taking place for this mare, each student learned to put on their glove without contamination, hold the insemination tube, and, in the mare’s vagina, learn the feel of the cervix, and placement of an insemination tube. This process was both exciting and a little anxiety provoking as it was a first time for many of us. 

The final day ended with the second wet lab back on the farm.  The Schembri family demonstrated the collection of two of their resident stallions.  The first stallion was not going to be bred that day, so his semen was used for teaching.  Students were back in the lab to look at the  semen under the microscope for morphology and motility. 

The second stallion that was collected was being used for insemination that day, so the class was privy to the entire process from start to finish.  The stallion was collected.  Sue took the semen to the lab to analyze, determine  concentration and extend it. The mare was brought in and bred with the freshly      collected semen.  The entire process was  efficiently done both safely and quickly. 

As a bonus for observation, Sue needed to place a foal alert monitor on a mare which the class observed.