In vitro fertilization, something we're all used to hearing about humans doing, but what about horses?
One local woman's love for her horse was so deep that she harvested the mare's eggs with the hopes of
maybe having offspring to carry on her legacy. It turns out she didn't just get one miracle.
Fox 29's Dawn Timoney has the amazing story and how Penvett helped make it all happen.
Super friendly. At just a week and a half. Good girl.
This beautiful foley pona gets her first taste of fun in a grass paddock.
Lisa Gario and her husband Jimmy can't get enough of their feisty girl and her antics
at their Chatsford farm. I love my legs. This is really good to get spread out and run. She's a runner.
The foal was born at Penvett's New Bolton Center on January 16th.
This is video of her surrogate mother Mercy delivering the precious cargo at 306 in the morning.
You're feisty little one already. Never in a million years do we think we would have this.
Epona is the first foal in a triple miracle birth. Definitely a boy.
A second, the only boy big man in town arrived on Sunday, January 22nd at 3.36 in the morning,
carried by his surrogate mom, Peace. A third surrogate Grace was the last to deliver her
filly on February 1st, El Vitorina, making her entrance at one minute before midnight.
Hello little one. These sweet foals all have the same biological mother and father,
thanks to amazing advances in veterinary medicine. It's Kyrie's babies.
There's no really reason other than our hearts.
Kyrie Eleson was Lisa's beloved half-Arabian, a national champion. She raised the horse from
a full. The bond between the two, immediate and strong. She was a horse that was just so different,
so human-like. Touched everybody's heart. Lisa would be separated from Kyrie for some 15 years
due to personal circumstances, but always vowing to find her. She tracked the mare down in Scottsdale
in 2013. Sadly though, Kyrie had developed severe laminitis. After bringing her girl home and despite
getting the best veterinary care, Kyrie was in pain and was declining. Lisa was forced to make
the tough decision to let her go, but she wanted Kyrie's legacy to live on. She was euthanized in
her own stall, and they took the ovaries within 20 minutes. After Lisa's vets harvested Kyrie's
ovaries, they were immediately taken to New Bolton's reproduction center, where Dr. Tamara
Dobby recovered 16 eggs. And those were then packaged and shipped overnight to Texas A&M,
where they performed the actual icksy procedure, where they inject a single sperm cell into each egg.
A difficult and delicate procedure done under a microscope. A frozen sperm coming from a
stunning stallion named Vittorio. The result? Four embryos that matured in the lab at Texas A&M
University and were then transferred into recipient mares there. Three successful pregnancies,
with peace, grace and mercy, all becoming sericants.
It is unusual to get so many pregnancies from A to C smear ovaries. You know, we're always very
thrilled if we get one pregnancy. Pretty uncommon. It was a shot in the dark. You know, it really was.
It's important for me to develop a good relationship with the mares. Penn veterinarian Dr. Michelle
Linton caring for the mares before delivery and then bringing the foals into the world.
Eat, sleep, play. And that's kind of what their job is. It was also personal for Dr. Linton.
It's special for us here because, you know, there have been so many people that have been involved
in the care of Kyrie when she was alive. And I knew her from being here. And so we all had
a special relationship with the mares. What are you doing, fresh girl? And the foals,
a lot like their mom, Kyrie. It's been pretty remarkable to meet these foals that are her foals
and seeing the similarities to her. Getting her back was a dream come true. And then when we lost
her, these miracles were just, you know, something I could never imagine. Three very special foals
to honor Kyrie's memory. The mirror that we lost, you know, is still here. We see her little eyes
every day. Lisa Goddio definitely has her hands full. She plans on keeping them all,
the three foals and the three surrogates who gave her such an amazing gift
once she wants other horse lovers to know about. Dawn Timoney, Fox 29 News.
