This past weekend, we were successful with our attempts at collecting Medallion on both Saturday and Sunday.  We were able to have him use the phantom mare with a teaser mare on Saturday, and without the teaser mare on Sunday.  Both times he used the phantom without any hesitation.  'Ata Boy!

Our preliminary semen analysis results are below.  Please keep in mind that the temperature was very cold on both days.  On Saturday, we did not have a cover to prevent the semen collection bag from becoming cold-shocked, hence the decreased motility initially.  On Sunday, we did have a cover for the collection bag, but the sperm seemed to be more fragile as Medallion had been live covering a mare as well as using the phantom all weekend, which could have caused a strain on his semen production.

Also, we've noticed that the cover slips that we're using on the slides aren't long enough and are not allowing the sperm to travel hindrance-free on the slide.  This could be affecting the motility negatively as a small slip would cause the sperm to group and crowd each other, thereby hindering their movement. 

All-in-all, Medallion's preliminary results are very promising and his values were either above or near the normal expected values.  We will collect from him again over the next few weeks in the hopes of improving our analyzing techniques.  When semen is shipped, we will send the industry standard of two syringes with a minimum of 1 billion sperm per syringe. 

SEMEN ANALYSIS

Day 1: Saturday, April 23 @ 6:15PM
Outside Temperature: 34^oF (2^oC)

Collected Volume: 35mL (normal 30-50mL)
Cell count: 295 million sperm per 1mL (80-600 million sperm per 1mL normal)
Progressive Motility: 75% (above 70% acceptable)
Morphology: 95% normal (above 75% acceptable)
24-Hour Motility: 60% (50% and above acceptable)
48-Hour Motility: 45% (30% and above acceptable)
72-Hour Motility: 15% (any viable sperm a bonus)

Day 2: Sunday, April 24 @ 11:05AM
Outside Temperature: 34^oF (2^oC)

Collected Volume: 40mL
Cell count: 83 million sperm per 1mL
Progressive Motility: 85%
Morphology: 95% normal
24-Hour Motility: 60%
48-Hour Motility: 40%
72-Hour Motility: 5%
  
Extender: Ticarcillin

KEUR-WOOD HAS A NEW HOME!

On June 10, we will officially take possession of our new horse facility.  The property is just under 20 acres of land that will predominantly be used as pasture for the broodmares and their foals.  It will be a nice, quiet place, but will also have a large riding ring so that I can continue schooling the horses in preparation for their competitions.  We're very excited to finally have some acreage close enough to Toronto where land is extremely expensive and difficult to find, that will be home to our horses and will allow Medallion to be available for stallion services in both Canada and the United States.