Hi,

I want to let you know that I have been using your Guardian mask for only a few days on my 22 year old quarter horse mare who has uveitis. She has recently lost her sight in her left eye. About 3 months ago. One of her (four) veterinarians who have been treating her uveitis for the past 3 years said that she had "some" vision loss in that eye just 4 months ago. To me it was never a consideration that she would lose her sight in that eye. I was in denial I guess...and if the vets told me that was a possibility, I didn't hear them.

What I did not know and would love for it to be shared is the importance of LENGTHY treatment of uveitis during flare ups. Sonnys current vet who works closely with an equine ophthalmologist, said that at one of the recent conferences she attended, recommend treatment for 4-6 weeks BEYOND RESOLUTION OF ALL SIGNS OF ACTIVE UVEITIS. Unfortunately I did not know this....and not blaming her other vets, but she was never treated for that long during flare-ups. Three weeks tops was a usual course.

I have been treating Sonny's eye as prescribed aggressively since January 10,2009. It is now April 14th,2009....and I am so pleased that she has been comfortable, eyes wide open, minimal tearing (worse on windy days). She has no cloudiness, the sort of sickly green haze in that pupil is now sort of a pewter color....but bright.

I always kept a fly mask on Sonny 365 days a year ....but because of my ignorance, I never thought she would lose her vision....never thought she would be "one of the poor horses that needed the Guardian mask". To me the Guardian mask was the last resort sort of thing. Well here we are three years later ~ I told Sonny's vet I was ordering a Guardian mask. She said, "Those are wonderful. They are so great. That's a great thing." I was a bit nervous to be sure I had the fit correctly on her (large) quarter horse head and jowls. Her vet was actually the first to put it on Sonny and adjusted it for us. After much peeking in through the back of the mask to be sure the eye cups were placed well....we turned Sonny out with her friend Rhea.  At first she was hesitant...not scared silly....just cautious and LOOKING around a LOT. After that she seems FINE.

What I loved about your mask is that when she rolls, she really gets into it....in MUD whenever available. In the past, her mask would be caked with it, and it would be covering her eyes/ vision field  on the mask too. I am hoping that with the protection of the Guardian mask design, the mud will hopeful just get on to the eye cups, but not IN her eyes.  I also want to say that the first day, when I brought her in late in afternoon, her eyes were clear as a bell ~ not ONE tear. She still has teary eyed days...but my hope is that with ongoing use of the Guardian mask, this too will stop.

She dives right in to your mask... Very cute when she holds her head down as if to say, "Go ahead. Put it on!  I'm ready!"

Just want to thank you for the great website. I have read every word on there, more than once. Thank you for the information about uveitis. I hope people do realize the severity of uveitis and its potential outcome. Also the importance of the protection your mask offers.

Sincerely,

Carol Taormina and Sonnys-Van-Danna