Our Services

Vita Nova is a LABORATORY only. We work closely with outside veterinarians and recipient farms throughout the process. First step is to locate a skilled, licensed veterinarian or breeding manager in your area. The initial goal is to determine and track your mare's follicular development. This will determine the best time to perform a trans-vaginal oocyte aspiration (TVA), also known as oocyte Pick-Up (OPU) — which is an ultrasound-guided retrieval of oocytes (eggs) directly from the mare's ovaries.

*Please be aware that each facility charges a different fee for these services and they are not associated with Vita Nova's costs and procedures.*

Once your mare is ready for aspiration, you, the attending veterinarian or your reproduction manager will need to contact Taryn, our office manager, at (469)815-2898 to book your mare on our calendar. We will need our contracts (found on our website under Contracts & Fees) on file at this time.

You will need to have all stallion contracts finalized and semen in place at our laboratory prior to the arrival of your oocytes. We have many stallions already on-hand to help simplify this step. Please contact Taryn if you have questions about the availability of specific stallions.

The ICSI procedure involves taking a single sperm cell and injecting it directly into mature oocytes from your mare under a microscope. This process makes it possible for us to use sub-fertile stallion semen, to conserve limited straws to stretch the useable life of individual stallions, and to obtain foals from aged or difficult mares. ICSI also makes it possible to obtain embryos from mares repeatedly throughout the year, as TVA/OPU does not require the mare to be in heat.

Once oocytes are retrieved from your mare by your veterinarian, they are shipped via FedEx, UPS, courier, or counter-to-counter services to our lab. Oocytes then undergo a maturation process for approximately 30-36 hours. Once mature, these oocytes are each individually injected with a single sperm cell from the stallion of your choice. Please know that not all oocytes sent from your mare will mature for this process. On average, we expect 50-60% to mature to be fertilizable.

Once fertilized, the Zygotes (fertilized embryos) are placed into our culture system for a 10-day period. We do not interrupt them in culture, except to check for cleavage at day 5. Cleavage is a marker that tells us that the oocytes were successfully fertilized and are continuing development in our system. They are NOT a useable embryos just yet.

Embryo evaluation begins on Day 7-Day 10 post ICSI. We consistently work with the recipient or veterinary facility of your choice to coordinate the fresh transfer of your developing embryos to a recipient mare. If you have multiple embryos or are not quite ready to transfer them, as is the case in the fall, we can vitrify (freeze) them for later use.

For performance and show mares who need to stay in competition, or for older/sub-fertile mares who struggle to carry, a recipient mare becomes necessary to carry foals. Whether you prefer to buy your own or lease them, we are happy to coordinate with you to increase your likelihood of success.

There is a lot to be said about utilizing an outside facility that has a professionally maintained herd of healthy, cycle-synchronized, proven recipient mares — allowing you to keep breeding, showing, or competing without interrupting your season. We have several facilities that we have worked with over the years with fantastic rates that we would love to point you to. While this may seem like the more expensive option, when you factor all the costs of feeding, farrier, teeth, vaccinations, hormone injections, palpations, and transfer costs- a recipient mare adds up.

We have typically seen lower pregnancy rates for personally owned recipient mares, usually due to poor synchrony, body condition, unknown fertility, lack of uterine preparation, and less skilled transfer techniques. Saving $2,500 on the cost of a mare may not be worth it if one of these factors leaves you with an open vessel to feed. If you are able to purchase your own recipient mares and have them closely managed by a skilled reproduction veterinarian, you likely will see higher pregnancy rates.

Please know we support you either way you go, but we want you to have the best possible chance at a foal. We are always happy to recommend facilities and managers we have had good success with if you need help. (Please know that we do not receive any kind of remuneration for our referrals)

Embryos can also be vitrified (frozen) for transfer at a later date, and we have many outside facilities capable of warming our embryos mare-side for transfer to increase your chances of success.

Whether you had a recipient mare not line up or work out for your flushed embryo, or you are just doing fall ICSI to get a jump-start on spring transfers, we are able to handle the cryopreservation and short-term storage of your embryos. This allows you to be better positioned for a successful outcome.

*Please note, we are NOT a long-term storage facility* We are happy to store frozen embryos produced from your ICSI sessions for a season or two following their production, but strongly encourage you to move embryos to a longer-term facility such as Select Breeders, if you are not planning to transfer anytime soon

Our Storage fee is $50 per QUARTER, or $200/year for each mare/stallion cross, or sperm sent for owner-only use. We do require a frozen commodities agreement to be on file for any genetic material kept in storage over 3-months.

Please note that it is the owner's responsibility to insure their genetic material against damage or loss while in our care.