Collecting the Boys

Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to be here at 9:30am, can anyone guess what time he actually arrived? It was almost 2:00pm. There always seems to be an emergency that comes before a scheduled appointment. I guess if it was my emergency that's how it should be. Dr. Hoerr shared an amazing story. He was out feeding his horses around 9:00am, when he saw one of his mares down delivering. The placenta was expelled with the foal, an early detachment which is usually fatal. The mare, being a first time mare left the strange placenta covered foal and joined the herd at the round bale feeder. The foal was not breathing at all by the time Dr. Hoerr got to it and cut through the placenta. He checked the eye and no response, this foal was dead. Instead of giving up Dr. Hoerr started nose to mouth resuscitation, after about 10 minutes the foal started gasping and the heart beat could be felt. He continued nose to mouth resuscitation for a few minutes more until he saw the foal take a true breath. At that point the foal was picked up and taken into a stall. The mare was brought in and introduced. She sniffed and sniffed some more then starting licking the foal an hour later the foal was sitting upright and just a bit later standing and nursing! Dr. Hoerr was pretty euphoric when telling the story, he was more than excused for being late! When we finally got busy here, we got Lexi sonagrammed, she has a 52 mm follicle and will be covered tonight then given a shot. Next up was Zalena, she is in and has a 47 mm follicle. We used Zalena to collect Evan. What was really exciting were the numbers. Evan produced 65 cc's of semen, the sperm count was 203,000,000 per cc with a motility rating of 90% an EXCELLENT rating! Evan was put back and Valiant brought out. Valiant produced 75 cc's of semen and his sperm count was 219,000,000 per cc with a motility rating of OVER 90%.  Like Father like Son! Raven consistently produced 75 cc's each time he was collected with counts right up their with Valiant's.
Evan's semen was extended then placed in the equitaner for shipping to Kentucky. Dr. Hoerr placed 60 cc's of Valiant's into Zalena, the rest was extended and placed in the equitaner for a mare at his clinic. It has been a long afternoon but so encouraging.
There was a terrible tornado in Oklahoma. A farm in the path, according to the internet, has many horses injured or dead. The picture below of the tornado was taken off facebook.