Equus Story of the Horse Filmed in Iceland

Horses of Iceland has published part of the trailer for the new documentary Equus Worldwide tht features four horse breeds, including the Icelandic.  The series can be viewed at Horse and Country TV and, perhaps, PBS. 

Blessi Tries to Earn a Treat

After Blessi had his teeth floated, I sat in my lawn chair and read to block Blessi's access to the outside and grass as he recovered from the sedation.

Blessi always lets me know when he has recovered.  He walked over to the chair and started flipping pages in my book.  If he has enough fine motor control in his lips to flip a page without ripping it, he is ready to eat. 

When I got up from the chair, I moved it away from the exit.  Blessi surprised me.  

He started experimenting with the chair.  Do I earn a treat if I shake the chair?  

How about if I knock it over?   

Did Pam leave some peanuts on the seat?  (I had some peanuts in my pocket

so I am convinced that some of the odor must have transferred to the seat of the chair.  He doesn't usually spend a lot of time sniffing seats.  Boy, would Blessi do well if he got to work the entry line at US Customs and he got to check for peanuts, apples, and oranges.)  In between experiments, he put his nose to the camera to determine if he had achieved the threshold of innovative behavior required for a treat.

Later we on a long walk in search of the greenest grass.

Research Lavender as Aromatherapy for Horses

From Wikipedia.

Some trainers have claimed that the scent of lavender acts as a natural calmer for horses. One trainer used small dabs of diluted pure lavender (purity is important) to the high energy, reactive horses in a clinic. Even the heads of the more energetic horses lowered and they seemed calmer. The trainer said my horse Blessi was already quite calm and didn't need the scent of lavender. The audience persuaded her to try a bit, at which point Blessi started to follow her like she was covered in peanuts.

Research backs her up. Previous research found that horses exposed to stressors such as blasts from air horns exhibited significant reduction in stress when receiving sniffs of lavender from diffusers as shown by quicker returns to normal heart rates.
Researchers at University of Arizona looked at lavender aromatherapy in the absence of stressors. They measured heart rate and variability of dressage horses standing in a paddock.

""The heart rate didn't change; what changed is what's called the parasympathetic component of heart rate variability," Baldwin explained. "One of the parameters of heart rate variability is RMSSD, and that represents parasympathetic input, which is the relaxation part of the autonomic nervous system. If RMSSD goes up, that indicates the horse is relaxed. We found that when the horses were sniffing the lavender, RMSSD significantly increased compared to baseline.""

"The data were supported by the horses' observed behavior, which often included relaxation signals such as neck lowering and licking and chewing while the lavender was being inhaled." The relaxation persisted as long as the horse smelled the lavender.

They concluded that if a horse is nervous under conditions like shoeing that the owner could rub dab of lavender oil on her hands and let the horse smell them during the shoeing process.

Hum, I wonder if Blessi would like lavender sugar cookies?  I sure do.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180728084141.htm