The most important thing we do in the summer is a paint the minis activity at the special needs camp. Right in the middle of Summer the horses caught a cold, not quite half the herd, but more sick horses at one time than we'd ever had before. Since we usually have none, this was frustrating for me and I had to get to the bottom of it. The vet wasn't too concerned and said the virus would run it's course in about 10 days. We were grounded and all activity had to cease for 10 days. We missed a volunteer week and the next week not all the minis that participate were well enough to go so we enlisted in our healthy donkeys who were never affected by the virus and with one spot left we filled it with our mascot Echo, the smallest (and now fatest) mule in Texas. Echo has been known to be honory and never worked out going to parties and events like some of his pals, but we needed him. He was placed under the supervision of his daddy Tibideaux the whole day. He did very well and stayed patiently tied to the trailer like his dad. He was even good about being hosed off after he was painted. Echo doens't mind these things normally anyway, but it is usually on his time schedule not ours. OK he's spoiled, extremely, not only by us but the other minis and donkeys too.
Echo's field trip started out with a good brushing and an hour ride to the camp. He then ate hay and waited for his turn to be painted. The whole day went well and he was such a trooper to fill in for the mini horses!
