The last month or so has been manic. As well as having the June/July issue of Horsemanship Magazine to put together, I also had The Mule journal to get out for the British Mule Society and I was working an extra day at the stables as well. I haven’t had time to do much of anything, so after the journal was sent in I was really looking forward to Tuesday which was when the magazine deadline was due; after that it’s just a case of receiving and approving a few proofs, and then I give myself a week “off” where I don’t have to think about anything magazine-related (but inevitably do) until they deliver them.
On Tuesday morning my friend Katie came to visit us which was a lot of fun. Katie used to have mules so I gave her Xato and we took the boys out for a hike in the Punchbowl. It was such a great day! All the stress of the preceding weeks melted away as we strolled in the sunshine and Katie told me some hilarious (and painful) stories about her childhood mules.
As I had Tuesdays off again by this point, once we got back I took my time finishing up field chores and didn’t leave the yard until lunchtime. I remembered to run down with Xato and Iris’ fly masks before I left, as we’d forgotten them when we turned the mules out earlier.
Ben and I had to run errands in the afternoon, and didn’t realise the clock in his car was wrong so we got home about 6pm. I go into more detail in the vlog, but basically we got a call from Little Mare’s owner to say that there was something wrong with Xato’s fly mask, the band was covering his eyes and she couldn’t get near him.
Long story short, the poor boy has ulcerated both eyes and now requires multiple daily eye drops. At the moment he’s on regular drops, plasma, and a gel that gets put in overnight. He’s also on these super-strong painkillers which the vet said is usually given to colic cases.
The Haynet group on Facebook, #HorseBloggers Meet Up, had recently put up some video challenges – one of which was to record your day in three segments. I decided to adapt this to show you a sort of “day in the life” of Xato’s treatments.
The video then became this 22 minute mini-movie behemoth, but hopefully it’s entertaining to you anyway. It has ponies! A runaway mule! An eclectic soundtrack! Me awkwardly talking to the camera! The first song that plays (at around 22 seconds in) is called “Marty Gots A Plan” by Kevin MacLeod, by the way. Like, how perfect is that?! It should be our theme!