About a year later, one of my older daughters told an acquaintance about it, and they mentioned reading about Guardian masks. She visited your website, and told me to take a look.  I asked my vet about it, and she said we were grasping at straws.  I ordered Benny's first mask in May or early June of 2009.  By this time, he rarely moved unless he was right on the tail of my mule.  He was unstable under saddle, spooking and "planting" himself frequently, and sweated frequently for no apparent reason (other than not being able to see what monster was approaching).  I penned him up for several days when first putting on the mask.  By that time, my daughter had gone off to college, so it was just me and Benny, so I was seeing him frequently and knew his mannerisms well. 

 

Since I left for work very early in the morning, and got home at dusk most days, he spent 100% of the daylight hours in his goofy looking mask.  Within a week, I got the impression he was actually watching me come down the path to his pen. Within a month, he was watching the mule out in the pasture and calling for her.  His head tracked her even though she was quite some distance away, and I knew we were on the right track.  By month two, he was flitting around the pen, jumping  his water tub, and I decided to see how he handled being back out in the pasture.  I put him out on a weekend so I could watch him, and started crying when he took off at a full gallop, running along a new fence line, obviously fully aware of anything in his way. 

 

The blue color in his solid eye actually seemed bluer.  I took pictures to catalog the color, but didn't have a picture of the muddy blue it was when we started, so don't know if this is just my enthusiasm or not. The mask doesn't hold up to mesquite brush very well, so I ordered mask #2 after a few months.  Mask #2 has now been destroyed (not the eye cups-they seem made of iron- it is the velcro jaw straps that are repeatedly torn off!), and I have just ordered #3.  I also have the bridle mask, and he is back to being safely trail ridden. 

 

Just a note, however...my vain daughter hates the way he looks in the mask, and I have caught her riding him without the goggles, and he stumbles and trips over small obstacles, so the underlying light sensitivity has not been cured, just controlled.  Benny is now my 'full time' pony, and he always has his mask on.  He waits for me in the morning by the gate, where I hang the mask in the evening.  He puts his head in it himself, and if I sleep late, he parks himself there until I come out.  I know he is much more comfortable with it on, and he depends on it, too.  I imagine if a young New Mexican horse started out with a Guardian,  they would never develop the damage in the first place.  My vet is a convert and I am so proud that this lovely, kind horse  has a new lease on life, thanks to his Guardian. 

 

I am not one to write "testimonials", and am having trouble affording 3 masks a year, but seeing is believing.  This mask saves horses lives.  Thank you for developing it.